Fact is 1st question of the 1st GOP debate was designed by Fox to derail Trump by Having Megan Kelly ask an utterly absurd “gotcha” question designed to enmesh Trump in the Dems primary campaign meme of “GOP War on Women”. It was a question that might as well been written by the DNC. It was an absurd shameful joke of a question. Millions of Americans saw it for what it was and it was the start of the end for Kelly at Fox. Prior to that she was starting to beat BOR as top watched show on Fox, after that she faded into obscurity.
Very true. And remember what happened almost a week prior to that. After being warned in back channels, she breathlessly opened her show with the recycled "Raped his wife" slander, interviewing the Daily Beast smut peddler, using BREAKING! graphics and chyron scroll, going for the decapitation strike.
If you look for the concurrent threads here, you will see that some of us were watching live and noticed she got kinda cold feet towards the end realizing she really stepped in it ( she's a lawyer, she's been divorced, she knows what this was all about, but went forward anyway ). But it was too late for her, as Michael Cohen contacted them and was on the next night ( IIRC ).
So ironically, what she did that night with her tactical smear was make a huge strategic mistake in firing before she saw the whites of his eyes. Trump got pissed, went on offense and by the time the debate rolled around he walked into that arena loaded for bear and she never stood a chance. She shot herself in the foot and very few folks to this very day realize that it was a fait accompli before that loaded debate question was ever asked.
She may very well have knocked him badly at the debate had she not prematurely spent her ammo. We'll never know. The truth is this, inside of five days, she changed the course of history for Fox News going forward as well as taking herself out in the process. What a career move, she joined the Dixie Chicks knowing full well what that meant. 