Trump gets backlash for slamming female Fox News host

[webfact]

Trump gets backlash for slamming female Fox News host
FRAZIER MOORE, AP Television Writer

Donald Trump had already slammed the president, Democratic front-runner Hillary Rodham Clilnton and his Republican rivals in the race for the White House, as well as immigrants from Mexico, the Chinese and Sen. John McCain for being a prisoner of war.

To that fast-growing list he has now added Fox News Channel host Megyn Kelly.

The Republican Party has long wrestled with the public perception that it is waging a "war on women" and has struggled to convince more women that it's on their side.

By Sunday, as Trump made the rounds of the morning TV talk shows, he was insisting, "I cherish women."

And yet for the outspoken, combative Trump, Kelly would seem to represent a type of person primed to get his goat.

At 44, she is recognized as successful, whip-smart, commanding and, as she demonstrated during Thursday's first Republican presidential debate, a woman more than ready to stand up to the 69-year-old billionaire.

Trump's position on women might be signaled by his proud ownership of beauty pageants and by his wisecrack on a TV show a decade ago that he would date his own daughter, a former teen model who was then 24, if only he weren't her father.

Referring to her debate dust-up with Trump, Kelly said in an interview broadcast Sunday, "I'm sure he'll get over that. We'll be fine. And so will America."

But her appearance on Fox News Channel's "Media Buzz" was taped Friday, before Trump made his "blood coming out of her wherever" remark.

Since arriving at Fox News in 2004, Kelly has broken out as a superstar. Her prime-time program, "The Kelly File," which she launched two years ago in an upgrade from her afternoon slot, attracts upward of 2.5 million viewers — a high figure for a cable television news show.

A native of Syracuse, New York, Kelly had been a self-described "unhappy Washington lawyer" when she began as a weekend reporter for a local Washington station in 2003. A year after that, she was hired by Fox News chief Roger Ailes.

There she struck a different chord from the partisan hosts who surrounded her on the schedule, carving out an image as a calls-'em-as-she-sees-'em yet not-so-doctrinaire figure.

"I've never wanted to be an opinion host, and Roger Ailes hasn't wanted me to be an opinion host," she told The Associated Press in 2013. "I don't think I'd be very successful anyway. I'm not an ideologue. ... I think I'm too moderate and reasonable."

Kelly has cultivated an image of speaking up in ways that have even run counter to Fox's image.

On election night 2012 she left the set to go interview Fox's behind-the-scenes numbers analyst, tamping down the embarrassment of on-air contributor Karl Rove questioning the pronouncement that President Barack Obama had won re-election.

Her legal training helped Fox correct, quicker than its rivals, an initially wrong report on the Supreme Court's health care decision in 2012.

In June, she landed a huge exclusive: an interview with two of the Duggar daughters who had admitted to being sexually fondled by their brother, Josh Duggar, all stars of the TLC reality TV series, "19 Kids and Counting." Kelly also interviewed the parents, Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar, for what was the family's first discussion of the molestation episodes a dozen years before.

Kelly's latest showcase was joining fellow Fox News colleagues Bret Baier and Chris Wallace to moderate Thursday's debate with Trump, the current Republican presidential front-runner, and nine other contenders.

A tense exchange found her pressing Trump on his history of calling "women you don't like 'fat pigs, dogs, slobs, and disgusting animals,'" with Trump firing back, "What I say is what I say. And honestly, Megyn, if you don't like it, I'm sorry. I've been very nice to you although I could probably maybe not be, based on the way you have treated me. But I wouldn't do that."

By Friday, Trump had seemingly decided to be less nice.

"She's not very tough and not very sharp," he said during a phone interview on CNN, then, referring to Kelly's style of questioning him, he added, "There was blood coming out of her eyes, blood coming out of her wherever."

That startling outburst cost Trump an appearance before some 1,000 conservative activists at Saturday's RedState Gathering in Atlanta when he was promptly disinvited from the event. The Republication Party asked him to "immediately clarify" his remark. Saturday evening, he and a campaign adviser parted company.

But Sunday, Trump remained defiant.

"I apologize when I'm wrong, but I haven't been wrong," he declared, saying only "a deviant" would interpret his remark as a gynecological swipe.

While Kelly seemed to score a boost from the uproar, Trump was unbowed, even claiming credit for the debate's huge audience. Without him on hand, "I say with all due modesty, you would have had 2 million people and not 24 million people."

But despite a series of attacks by Trump that fortified his standing in the polls, CNN's Jake Tapper asked if targeting Kelly, "who's beloved by conservatives, beloved by Republican voters," might end up hurting him.

"Her whole questioning was extremely unfair to me," Trump replied. But he insisted, "I have nothing against Megyn Kelly."
___

EDITOR'S NOTE — Frazier Moore is a national television columnist for The Associated Press.


-- (c) Associated Press 2015-08-10

[JakeSully]

What backlash? His poll numbers are better than ever.

[khwaibah]

Fornicate Fox News.

Edited August 10, 2015 by khwaibah

[NeverSure]

The three lame Fox anchors who tried to assassinate Trump will be the losers of this one. They look really bad for the deliberate and premeditated gotchas, and Trump went up in the polls.

Will these main stream candidates and reporters not see that many in the public are sick of politically correct but disingenuous politicians and are enjoying watching Trump mix it up? I'm not a big fan and I have no idea how he will do long term, but it's a kick in the pants watching him break every campaigning rule known to man and get away with it.

[Berkshire]

The three lame Fox anchors who tried to assassinate Trump will be the losers of this one. They look really bad for the deliberate and premeditated gotchas, and Trump went up in the polls.

Will these main stream candidates and reporters not see that many in the public are sick of politically correct but disingenuous politicians and are enjoying watching Trump mix it up? I'm not a big fan and I have no idea how he will do long term, but it's a kick in the pants watching him break every campaigning rule known to man and get away with it.

It's amazing how we can watch the same debate and see totally different things. I thought the Fox moderators were quite fair with Trump, as with all other candidates. They asked the same sort of questions that the general public would. The problem with Trump is his massive ego. He was expecting to be spoon-fed easy questions that would continue to make him look good. He didn't expect to actually be asked substantive questions.

I'm just glad this was Fox. If it was, say, CNN, Fox would be the first to jump on the "left-wing" media for trying to make their candidates look bad.

[chuckd]

The moderators of these political debates should be like referees in sports events. They should not be noticed if they are doing their jobs properly.

I'm a Fox fan, although I don't receive or watch Fox News, but the three moderators in this debate were the ones making the news.

They dominated the air time and left precious little time for the various candidates to state their positions. Fox was wrong on this one.

Fox moderators Chris Wallace, Megyn Kelly and Bret Baier spoke for 31 minutes and 53 seconds of the roughly two-hour broadcast, or 31.7% of the time.

http://www.theamericanmirror.com/fox-gives-trump-most-speaking-time-during-first-debate/

[Chicog]

"I've never wanted to be an opinion host, and Roger Ailes hasn't wanted me to be an opinion host," she told The Associated Press in 2013.

Always great to start the day with an hilarious ribtickler.

[Linky]

Attack the journalist. Sounds more and more like dear general every day.

Just imagine when the adults start asking questions.

[Fookhaht]

When has Trump been non-controversial? He thrives on it.

Every time he demeans the PC crowd, he gains untold millions of brownie points with the non-PC crowd who has become sick of political correctness. There are millions of them out there, I'm sure.

[otherstuff1957]

I am far from being a Trump fan, but I must admit that it was pretty obvious that the moderators were out to get him. The Republican establishment (which includes Fox News) is doing everything it can to discredit Trump. The polls, however, tell a different story.

[MJKT2014]

Fox News is infotainment not a real news channel.

[Ulysses G.]

Wrong. Fox News is a real news channel 12 hours a day when they do straight news. The rest of the time is mostly opinion journalism and it is very entertaining. .

[Linky]

Fox News is infotainment not a real news channel.

True, it is known around the world as the haven for loonies. Was watching Star Talk one night and even Neil DeGrasse Tyson and his guests were having a wry laugh about Fox 'News'.

[Basil B]

What's the chances for a none white or a woman being nominated as the Republican presidential candidate?

OK there was Sarah Palin the token woman put up to make out women as all being all dimwits

[Fookhaht]

Fox News is infotainment not a real news channel.

True, it is known around the world as the haven for loonies. Was watching Star Talk one night and even Neil DeGrasse Tyson and his guests were having a wry laugh about Fox 'News'.

Well that settles it.

If Tyson laughed about Fox, you've convinced me with your ironclad argument.

Moving on...

Edited August 10, 2015 by Fookhaht

[jackh]

Fox News....what a rag! I have no respect for them or antone who works for them. Reporting at it's worst. Kudos to Trump for his attack on that idiot woman.

[fvw53]

I am far from being a Trump fan, but I must admit that it was pretty obvious that the moderators were out to get him. The Republican establishment (which includes Fox News) is doing everything it can to discredit Trump. The polls, however, tell a different story.

The Republican establishment will push so hard until they force Donald Trump to run as a third party candidate...and we know what that means.

[Chicog]

Attack the journalist. Sounds more and more like dear general every day.

Just imagine when the adults start asking questions.

Kelly a "journalist"?

My god, they just get funnier.

Keep them coming.

[Seastallion]

The three lame Fox anchors who tried to assassinate Trump will be the losers of this one. They look really bad for the deliberate and premeditated gotchas, and Trump went up in the polls.

Will these main stream candidates and reporters not see that many in the public are sick of politically correct but disingenuous politicians and are enjoying watching Trump mix it up? I'm not a big fan and I have no idea how he will do long term, but it's a kick in the pants watching him break every campaigning rule known to man and get away with it.

What does that say about Fox viewers, and other Americans who, by the polls, like a man to refer to a woman's menstrual cycle if he doesn't like her questioning?

"Ahh, you've just got your period...you're grumpy, you don't know what you,re saying!"

Uncouth. No class.

Trump should audition for Duck Dynasty. Redneck boor.

[JetsetBkk]

I'd rather look at Kelly than any other presenter on any other channel.

[tx22cb]

Fox News like to hire pretty peroxide blonde female contributors to stir things up ... Ann Coulter was the most controversial, some of her views were hilarious.

[bamnutsak]

Famous quote from The Donald, ca. 1992, describing his outlook on women...

"Sometimes you have to treat 'em like sh*t."

Doesn't sound as cool as he does with that painful Queens accent.

And anyone who disagrees with him is a loosah. There all loosahs. He's a winnah.

Edited August 10, 2015 by bamnutsak

[Emster23]

A segment of American populace have a very difficult time thinking things through, and they think reality shows are real. They see role of President as that of cheerleader football coach type. Their simplistic view of the world and problems is jaw dropping ignorance at it's best. "Invade them" and "bomb them" are their solutions to international politics. Any political problem that has complexities and nuances is beyond them. Look at invasion of Iraq: was that thought through? They had no plan on what to do after they won, and Middle East we have today shows that. And how dare that woman question him about his bigotry? Rather than explain, he attacks (not that he could explain his unacceptable behavior).

[chuckd]

The three lame Fox anchors who tried to assassinate Trump will be the losers of this one. They look really bad for the deliberate and premeditated gotchas, and Trump went up in the polls.

Will these main stream candidates and reporters not see that many in the public are sick of politically correct but disingenuous politicians and are enjoying watching Trump mix it up? I'm not a big fan and I have no idea how he will do long term, but it's a kick in the pants watching him break every campaigning rule known to man and get away with it.

What does that say about Fox viewers, and other Americans who, by the polls, like a man to refer to a woman's menstrual cycle if he doesn't like her questioning?

"Ahh, you've just got your period...you're grumpy, you don't know what you,re saying!"

Uncouth. No class.

Trump should audition for Duck Dynasty. Redneck boor.

"Ahh, you've just got your period...you're grumpy, you don't know what you,re saying!"

Got a link to that quote?

[Berkshire]

I do have to agree with Trump on this particular tweet:

"I just realized that if you listen to Carly Fiorina for more than ten minutes straight, you develop a massive headache. She has zero chance!"

http://edition.cnn.com/2015/08/09/politics/donald-trump-attacks-carly-fiorina-on-twitter-2016/index.html

Edited August 10, 2015 by Berkshire

[fvw53]

look at Bill Maher show on this subject (it's only 6 minutes)

https://youtu.be/-Sx0P6XHvE4

[bamnutsak]

if you listen to Carly Fiorina for more than ten minutes straight, you develop a massive headache.

I can confirm this effect.

[impulse]

I'd rather look at Kelly than any other presenter on any other channel.

Me too.

But then her lips move.

And blood words come out...

[Linky]

Fox News is infotainment not a real news channel.

True, it is known around the world as the haven for loonies. Was watching Star Talk one night and even Neil DeGrasse Tyson and his guests were having a wry laugh about Fox 'News'.

Well that settles it.

If Tyson laughed about Fox, you've convinced me with your ironclad argument.

Moving on...

Selective comprehension seems an issue for you. Try reading all the post.

[Linky]

Attack the journalist. Sounds more and more like dear general every day.

Just imagine when the adults start asking questions.

Kelly a "journalist"?

My god, they just get funnier.

Keep them coming.

Yes i know, using Fox News and journalist in the same subject is maybe pushing it too far from reality but forgive me for some literary licence just once.