"I promise you Putin is a lot scarier than Megyn Kelly.”
That’s fron Ted Cruz, who mocked Donald Trump for boycotting the last GOP debate before the Iowa caucuses.
For anyone who somehow managed to miss it, Trump “isn’t bothering” with the event thanks to the fact that Fox anchor Megyn Kelly is one of the moderators.
The two famously clashed during the first Republican debate when Kelly dared to ask Trump whether he thought calling women “disgusting animals” was language befitting of a US President. In an effort to prove just how “presidential” he really was, Trump later suggested that the reason Kelly asked tough questions was that she may have had “blood coming out of her wherever.”
It’s been all down hill from there and you can find a timeline of the ongoing feud below courtesy of The Hill.
As far as Thursday’s GOP debate goes, it wasn’t enough for Trump to boycott the event. Although he’s convinced no one will be watching because he won’t be on the stage, Trump wants to ruin it altogether by hosting his own event at the same time.
“Donald Trump intensified his feud with Fox News just days before Iowa kicks off the presidential nominations contest, saying he will hold a rogue event Thursday while Republican rivals take part in a debate without him,” AFP reports adding that the brazen billionaire is “twisting the knife” by holding a "special event" to benefit veterans groups.
At the same time as the debate.
And in the same city.
"@GmoneyRainmaker: I hope @CNN has enough bandwidth tonight because not many will be watching @FoxNews. Watching Trump tonight #GOPDebate"
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 28, 2016
Speaking of veterans, Ted Cruz has a proposal for Trump. "The super PACs supporting Ted Cruz are offering $1.5 million to veterans charities if Donald Trump agrees to debate Cruz one-on-one before the Iowa caucus, heightening the stakes around Cruz's proposal just five days before the Iowa caucus," NBC said on Thursday.
"Not only would this be a heck of a debate, but it would also be a terrific opportunity to generate millions of dollars for the veterans," the Cruz campaign said on Wednesday night. "We’ll do 90 minutes, Lincoln Douglas, mano a mano. Donald and me. He can lay out his vision or this country, and I can lay out my vision for this country in front of the men and women of Iowa,” he added.
Cruz even reserved an 800-seat venue in Sioux City on Saturday night in hopes he can convince Trump to show up.
But Trump isn't taking the bait. " If [Cruz] is the last man standing and it comes down to a two-person race Donald Trump will be happy to debate him," the Trump campaign said. Trump himself wasn't nearly as "PC":
Even though I beat him in the first six debates, especially the last one, Ted Cruz wants to debate me again. Can we do it in Canada?
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 27, 2016
Carly Fiorina also made Trump an offer, saying she'd put up $2 million for a one-on-one debate and $1.5 million for a threeway debate with Trump and Cruz.
Upping the ante, I'm free tomorrow at 8pm, @realDonaldTrump. My campaign will give $2mm to veterans' cause to debate at Drake U. (2/2)
— Carly Fiorina (@CarlyFiorina) January 28, 2016
Cruz also took to Twitter to poke fun at Trump's decision to back out of Thursday night's event.
.@realDonaldTrump, trembling at being questioned by @megynkelly, channels Monty Python: https://t.co/6k5sNQ8VJb
— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) January 27, 2016
Something tells us the Monty Python reference might be lost on large swaths of the American electorate.
On Wednesday evening, Trump went on Fox News and told Bill O'Reilly he would not be reconsidering his decision.
“You have in this debate format the upper hand — you have 60 seconds off the top to tell the moderator, ‘You’re a pinhead, you’re off the mark and here’s what I want to say’. By walking away from it, you lose the opportunity to persuade people you are a strong leader," O'Reilly said.
While that would probably be true of any other candidate, it's probably not the case here. Trump will use this as yet another opportunity to set himself apart from the "establishment" in the hearts and minds of voters. In short, this will likely be a beneficial publicity stunt.
As for Kelly, here's what Trump told O'Reilly: “I have zero respect for Megyn Kelly. I don’t think she’s good at what she does and I think she’s highly overrated. And, frankly, she’s a moderator; I thought her question last time was ridiculous.”
And just in case that's in any way unclear, we'll close with two new tweets from Trump who is clearly intent on milking this scenario for all it's worth.
"@gene70: @FireFlyFury @megynkelly @realDonaldTrump And this is the bimbo that's asking presidential questions? pic.twitter.com/oU1uUGnuWb"
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 28, 2016
"@BradCross4: @Drudge_Report_ @realDonaldTrump pic.twitter.com/Ur1qgG291Z"
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 28, 2016
* * *
Timeline of Trump/Kelly feud via The Hill
Aug. 6: The opening salvo
Trump and Kelly first squared off during the GOP’s first debate in Cleveland, where the Fox anchor almost immediately questioned him about accusations of sexism.
“You've called women you don't like fat pigs, dogs, snobs and disgusting animals,” she said. "Does that sound to you like the temperament of a man we should elect as president, and how will you answer the charge from Hillary Clinton — who is likely to be the Democratic nominee — that you are part of the 'war on women?' ”
While Trump cast the criticism as people being too politically correct, the line of questioning from Kelly served as a ground zero for their feud.
Trump repeatedly bashed Kelly in the wake of the debate, most notably a day later when he made a comment some believed was referring to menstruation.
“You could see there was blood coming out of her eyes, blood coming out of her wherever,” the real estate tycoon said on CNN.
The episode prompted a telephone conversation between network head Roger Ailes and Trump to clear the air.
Aug. 24: ‘Bimbo’-gate
Weeks after that cease-fire, Trump took to Twitter for a rant against Kelly where he retweeted a person calling her a “bimbo” and intimated that Kelly’s vacation from her show came as punishment for her treatment against him. Fox News repeatedly denied that accusation and a handful of Fox hosts took to Twitter in Kelly’s defense.
Sept. 22: Trump boycotts Fox programming
Trump hit back with another tweet-storm in September in which he referred to Kelly as a“lightweight” and “highly overrated.”
He then canceled an appearance on Fox’s “The O’Reilly Factor” before declaring that he would boycott the network’s shows for the “foreseeable future” because the network has treated him “very unfairly.”
That prompted a promise of another meeting between Ailes and Trump, but the parties never publicly addressed whether a meeting took place. Trump returned to Fox programming soon after.
Nov. 4: ‘Facts matter’
Trump once again took to Twitter to accuse Kelly of touting polls where he doesn’t perform as well.
“Isn't it terrible that [Kelly] used a poll not used before (I.B.D.) when I was down, but refuses to use it now when I am up?” he asked on Twitter in reference to the Investor’s Business Daily poll that showed rival Ben Carson within striking distance of his lead.
“Facts matter,” Kelly responded on Twitter, showing a graphic of the poll.
Dec. 15: Trouble with numbers
An error during a broadcast of Kelly’s “The Kelly File” awoke prompted another wave of criticism from Trump.
The show’s graphic correctly noted Trump’s 41 percent support in a recent Monmouth University poll, but Kelly understated the billionaire's 27-point lead over Ted Cruz as a 15-point lead.
Trump pounced, calling Kelly an “overrated anchor” who is “very bad at math.”
“I wonder if [Kelly] and her flunkies have written their scripts about my debate performance tonight. No matter how well I do – bad,” he added in another tweet.
A network official blamed the misstep on a script error.
Jan. 4: A profile in ‘Vanity’
Thrust into the spotlight thanks in large part to the feud with Trump, Kelly sat down for a cover interview with Vanity Fair where she said that she “can’t be wooed” by Trump.
Trump responded during an exclusive interview with The Hill days later, where he said that “the last person in the world I would try to woo is Megyn Kelly.” He added that he didn’t expect her to be “fair and balanced” during the upcoming GOP debate, but said he “probably” would participate anyways.
Jan. 25: Trump pulls out
Fox News stood firm by its decision to keep Kelly on as a moderator despite Trump’s calls for the network to drop her from the event, which led to Trump publicly waffling on whether he’d attend.
But the following day, the network put out a harsh statement knocking Trump.
“We learned from a secret back channel that the Ayatollah and Putin both intend to treat Donald Trump unfairly when they meet with him if he becomes president — a nefarious source tells us that Trump has his own secret plan to replace the Cabinet with his Twitter followers to see if he should even go to those meetings,” a spokesman said. (Trump had tweeted a poll asking followers whether he should attend Thursday's debate.)
That statement led Trump to declare — not even an hour after Fox News announced the debate's main stage lineup — that he would skip Thursday’s GOP debate, leaving Fox without its star candidate, who has likely contributed to a ratings uptick for televised debates.
The network shot back and accused Trump’s campaign manager of threatening Kelly and the network. Instead of attending the debate, Trump has promised a competing event that will raise money for veterans.