Man: Slashing ‘Baby Donald Trump’ was matter of good versus evil
An Alabama man charged with criminal mischief in the slashing of a towering “Baby Trump” balloon has defended his actions, saying it was a matter of good versus evil. Al.com reports Hoyt Deau Hutchinson called the syndicated radio show “Rick & Bubba Show” on Monday to describe what happened. Hutchinson said he was shaking in anger when he drove past the balloon and its handlers Saturday during President Donald Trump’s visit to see Louisiana State play against the University of Alabama. He yelled at the protesters, but then realized they might have seen him, so he bought a University of Alabama shirt to better blend into the crowd and get close to the balloon, he said. Pretending he wanted a picture with the balloon, Hutchinson said he used a material cutter with a sharp razor to slice the symbol open. The orange, diaper-clad caricature of the president is often floated at Trump appearances to protest and mock the president, which the balloon shows clutching a cellphone. The balloon measures over 20 feet (6.1 meters) tall and was left with an 8-foot-long (2.4-meter-long) gash in its backside. “I get so mad about people not taking a stand,” he said. “The left wants to use religion against you like you shouldn’t act like this and stuff but I’ll tell you this — the Devil knows the Bible as good as we do.” Asked if the slashing was Hutchinson’s attempt to echo the Biblical story of Jesus turning over the temple tables of money changers, he said yes. “It comes a point when you gotta take a stand. We don’t have two parties anymore. We have good versus evil. When you got one party that says it’s OK to kill babies and by the way, this is the first time I’m ever seen a liberal get mad about chopping up a baby.” He said he yelled “Trump 2020” as he was being arrested. He later posted bail and was released. When asked about his motivations, the 32-year-old Hutchinson told the radio station he keeps up with politics by watching Fox News and his two favorite anchors, Tucker Carlson and Sean Hannity. “I’m not young but I’m not old. I’m sort of middle aged. I feel like a lot of people my age don’t keep up with the news and politics the way they should,” he said. Information from: The Birmingham News, http://www.al.com/birminghamnews. Republished with the permission of the Associated Press.
Fox News’ Sean Hannity gives Roy Moore ultimatum: Explain yourself or get out of the race
Once an ardent supporter of Alabama Senate nominee Roy Moore, Fox News’ Sean Hannity has stopped defending the embattled Republican. Late Tuesday night, Hannity told his viewers “the judge has 24 hours” to explain his “inconsistencies.” “You must immediately and fully come up with a satisfactory explanation for your inconsistencies,” Hannity demanded. “You must remove any doubt. If he can’t do this, then Judge Moore needs to get out of this race. You know I do not and will never rush to judgment, because we have seen the media and politicians get it wrong so many times.” Moore, who is running for Alabama’s U.S. Senate seat vacated by Attorney General Jeff Sessions, is fending off accusations from five women who allege he sexually pursued them when he was in his 30s and they were in their teens. The news has caused rapid fallout from dozens within the Republican Party who have called on him to withdraw his name from next month’s special election if the allegations are true. “The American people deserve a hundred percent truth and honesty,” Hannity added. “We need correct answers the first time on issues this serious. Judge Moore you owe that to the people of Alabama, the Republican Party that you represent and to the country which is suffering under so many problems. We deserve answers, consistent answers, and truth.” Moore has denied the sexual misconduct allegations. He faces Democrat Doug Jones in a special election on Dec. 12.
Jason Chaffetz, leaving Congress this week, heading to Fox News
A Republican who is quitting Congress at the end of the week is heading to Fox News. Fox News Channel announced on Wednesday that five-term Rep. Jason Chaffetz of Utah will be a contributor effective July 1, offering political analysis on various Fox programs. Chaffetz said earlier this year that he would not seek another term, then announced he would leave the House on June 30. Chaffetz has served as chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee and doggedly investigated Hillary Clinton before the 2016 presidential election. Chaffetz has been mentioned as a possible candidate for governor in Utah. Republished with permission of The Associated Press.
Bill O’Reilly’s influence remains despite termination at Fox
Despite the inglorious end to Bill O’Reilly‘s two-decade Fox News Channel career, observers say his deep imprint on Fox and other cable news outlets and his influence on barbed political discourse are intact for the foreseeable future. Fired on Wednesday amid a drumbeat of sexual harassment allegations, the vacationing host’s “The O’Reilly Factor” was quickly redubbed “The Factor” and Fox News announced his time slot will be filled by Tucker Carlson, another adamantly conservative Fox host who dovetails with the channel’s audience. But it was O’Reilly who created the template for how to succeed in cable TV punditry, delighting his viewers with unapologetic attacks on liberal politicians and media members that he delivered with gusto. “In many ways, he led Fox’s cable news revolution,” said Frank Sesno, a journalism professor at George Washington University and former CNN Washington bureau chief. “Cable news is someone standing on a mountain top shouting, and Bill O’Reilly was on the highest peak so he echoed across the landscape.” And he keeps echoing in the broader media landscape. O’Reilly’s success at appealing to like-minded viewers made him and Fox into cable news leaders. “That left CNN and MSNBC to figure out how to survive, and it shouldn’t come as a surprise that MSNBC figured out the only path to success was to segment and go for the liberal audience,” said Tom Hollihan, a professor at the Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism at the University of Southern California. That multiplying effect gave O’Reilly a role in a seismic change, he said. “He helped shape the kind of very polarized discourse that has come to define politics over the past few years in America,” Hollihan said. His ratings made him Fox’s most lucrative personality, with his show generating $178 million in advertising revenue in 2015, according to Kantar Media. There was the prospect of even more, with his audience larger in the first three months of 2017 than it has ever been. Then came an April 1 report in The New York Times that five women had been paid a total of $13 million to keep quiet about disturbing encounters with O’Reilly. While O’Reilly denied wrongdoing, dozens of his show’s advertisers fled within days even as O’Reilly’s viewership increased. Following the Times story, Fox parent company 21st Century Fox said it had asked the same law firm that investigated Ailes to look into O’Reilly’s behavior. 21st Century Fox leaders Rupert Murdoch and his sons Lachlan and James said in a memo to Fox staff that their decision to ax O’Reilly came following an “extensive review” into the charges. “I understand how difficult this has been for many of you,” Rupert Murdoch said in the memo. With a profit center gone, 21st Century Fox stock fell almost 1 percent Wednesday in heavy trading. O’Reilly lost his job on the same day he was photographed in Rome shaking the hand of Pope Francis. In a statement, he called it “tremendously disheartening that we part ways due to completely unfounded claims.” His exit came nine months after his former boss, Fox News CEO Roger Ailes, was ousted following allegations of sexual harassment. O’Reilly’s lawyers said he was the victim of an orchestrated campaign by liberal organizations like Media Matters for America, which contacted his advertisers to pressure them to leave the show. Conservative personality Glenn Beck — who once lost a job at Fox because a similar campaign choked his program of paying advertisers — came to O’Reilly’s defense on his radio show and called on viewers to pressure Fox, to no avail. O’Reilly had ruled the “no spin zone” on television with a quick smile and an even quicker temper. He pushed a populist, conservative-leaning point of view, and was quick to shout down those who disagreed with him. O’Reilly and President Donald Trump are both “crowd-pleasing showmen who know how to signal to loyalists in their audience that they are not taking themselves quite as seriously as their detractors are,” said news consultant Andrew Tyndall. “Half of the fun that they have with their audiences comes from watching the outrage that they manage to provoke.” Don’t expect O’Reilly to slip quietly away, said Annenberg’s Hollihan. “Some other media outlet is going to pick him up and syndicate what he does. He’s a brand on his own, as you can tell from all the best-selling books he’s got,” he said. O’Reilly’s “Killing” historical series, including “Killing Lincoln” and “Killing Reagan,” have consistently sold 1 million or more copies in hardcover, a rare achievement in publishing, and his platform on Fox enabled him to promote his work. He has also had best-sellers with everything from the memoir “A Bold Fresh Piece of Humanity” to his most recent work, “Old School,” which includes passages urging the respectful treatment of women. O’Reilly and co-author Martin Dugard are due to release another book in the “Killing” series in September, and a spokeswoman for publisher Henry Holt and Co. said that plans had not changed. Even with O’Reilly gone from Fox, Sesno said he doubts that the public appetite for his brand of “angry, high-decibel” chatter will give way to a new regard for civility. “I’m not sure I see much evidence of that; otherwise, Judy Woodruff would be off the charts,” he said, referring to the anchor of “PBS NewsHour.” Stephen Colbert, who mercilessly parodied O’Reilly on “The Colbert Report,” paid tongue-in-cheek homage to the deposed host Wednesday on Colbert’s late-night CBS show. “Nation, shame on you. You failed him, you failed Bill O’Reilly. You didn’t deserve this great man,” Colbert said, channeling his Comedy Central character. “And what, suddenly sexual harassment’s a crime?” Republished with permission of The Associated Press.
Talladega College raises over $600k to play at Donald Trump’s inauguration
The Talladega College Marching Tornadoes band found themselves in the middle of a national controversy over its decision to perform at president-elect Donald Trump‘s inauguration on Friday. Since agreeing to participate, the historically black Alabama college found itself struggling to raise the $75,000 necessary to travel to D.C. and participate. Enter a hopeful solution: a GoFundMe campaign. Hoping to crowdsource the necessary funds, the small school took to the internet to meet the fundraising goal, and did they ever. In just 14 days, with the help of 10,690 individuals across the country, the school has raised $619,669. That’s over eight time the $75,000 goal. What put the college over the top? An appearance from school president Dr. Billy C. Hawkins on “The O’Reilly Factor” on Fox News last Thursday night. “Some alumni have come at me pretty hard; they don’t want the band to participate and say I am a disgrace to my race,” Hawkins told O’Reilly during the segment. “This is about the students having an opportunity to participate in this national ceremony.” Following Hawkins’ appearance and O’Reilly’s plea to his viewers to help make the trip possible money poured into the site in hopes of making the trip a reality for the roughly 230 band members. “Congratulations to The Marching Tornadoes and President Hawkins!,” commented a man who donated $100 on the page. “I look forward to seeing you on television Friday! Make Alabama proud!” In a Friday news conference, Hawkins called the response “probably the single-greatest fundraising effort” for the school. The band is still taking donations.
Megyn Kelly leaving Fox News, will host 2 shows on NBC
Megyn Kelly, the Fox News star who’s had a contentious relationship with President-elect Donald Trump, said Tuesday that she’s leaving the network for NBC News, where she will host a daytime talk show and a weekend newsmagazine, as well as contribute to breaking news coverage. NBC News made the announcement Tuesday, ending months of speculation over whether she would re-up with Fox, where she has flourished while suffering bruised feelings in recent months, or start a new chapter in her career. Her contract with Fox expires this summer. Her last show on Fox will be Friday night. Kelly’s departure deprives Fox News of its second-most-watched host, behind only Bill O’Reilly, and a hole at 9 p.m. in its prime-time lineup. “While I will greatly miss my colleagues at Fox, I am delighted to be joining the NBC News family and taking on a new challenge,” Kelly said in a message on Twitter on Tuesday. Rupert Murdoch, executive chairman of Fox, said that “we thank Megyn Kelly for her 12 years of contributions to Fox News. We hope she enjoys tremendous success in her career and wish her and her family all the best.” Kelly’s star power grew after she became a flashpoint in the presidential campaign after Trump objected to her questioning in the first Republican presidential debate a year and a half ago. He tweeted angry messages about her and boycotted another Fox debate after the network refused to replace her as one of the debate moderators. She also became a central figure in the downfall of former Fox News chief Roger Ailes, telling in-house investigators of inappropriate conduct by Ailes that supported women who had made similar accusations. Details about Kelly’s new jobs at NBC will be revealed in upcoming months, said Andrew Lack, chairman of the NBC Universal News Group. “Megyn is an exceptional journalist and news anchor, who has had an extraordinary career” Lack said. “She’s demonstrated tremendous skill and poise, and we’re lucky to have her.” Kelly wasn’t immediately available for comment about what made her choose to leave Fox. But she said in an interview with The Associated Press in November that the factors she was weighing “mostly involve a 7-, 5- and 3-year-old,” her children. Her Fox show airs live at 9 p.m., giving her no time at home with her children in the evenings. She stressed that point in closing remarks on her program Tuesday, which she addressed to the audience. Kelly said she valued the “human connection” the show gave her with viewers, but said she needed more of that connection with her children. She expressed gratitude to her next employer, NBC, and current one. “I am deeply thankful to Fox News for the wonderful 12 years I have had here. I’ve grown up here, and been given every chance a young reporter could ever ask for,” Kelly said. As a star in demand, Kelly was no doubt able to seek a schedule that would give her more time at home in the evening. A former lawyer who was raised in upstate New York, Kelly turned to television and got a job in Fox’s Washington office. She was noticed by Ailes, and given a daytime show. Her poise and sharpness, and willingness to ask tough questions of all political sides, made her a star and led Ailes to give her a coveted prime-time slot on cable news’ most-watched network. Her contentious relationship with Trump began when she asked the Republican businessman about statements he had made about women, infuriating him. He tweeted his disdain for her and although they made peace when Kelly interviewed Trump for a prime-time special last May, the relationship never became warm. Trump made Kelly’s prime-time colleague, Sean Hannity, his preferred stopping place for interviews during the campaign and didn’t come on her Fox News Channel show. “I really had to choose – am I going to be an honest journalist … or am I going to suck up to Trump?” she told the AP. “I chose the former, and it’s worked out fine for me.” It put Kelly in an awkward position with Fox News Channel viewers who favored Trump, however. At one point during a Hannity interview with Trump, a live audience at a Trump rally booed the mention of her name. Kelly’s immediate silence after Gretchen Carlson’s lawsuit last summer alleging unwanted advances from Ailes, at a time other Fox News personalities were supporting their boss, was telling. She told investigators that Ailes had made sexually suggestive comments to her and tried to kiss her, then made an angry reference to her contract when she rebuffed him. Ailes has denied any untoward advances involving Kelly. Her move was a big boost for broadcast network news divisions, which had struggled somewhat during the presidential campaign given the non-stop coverage provided by the cable news outlets. NBC News had recently been experimenting with a new Sunday night newsmagazine, “Dateline NBC: On Assignment,” hosted by Lester Holt in a traditional format with a mix of news and feature stories, a template Kelly is expected to use. Weekday “Dateline” editions focus on criminal justice stories. The move was a blow to Fox and its parent company, 21st Century Fox, whose leaders James and Lachlan Murdoch had made re-signing Kelly a priority and were believed in the industry to be offering her more money to stay. In her tweet on Tuesday, Kelly said she was deeply grateful to Fox News, its leaders and Fox’s viewers, “who have taught me so much about what really matters.” Kelly gave a signal of her future direction with last May’s interview special on the Fox broadcasting network. It wasn’t a critical or commercial success, however. Fox News does make in-house talent development a priority, however, and recently installed Tucker Carlson as a 7 p.m. host following the abrupt departure of Greta Van Susteren last summer. With Kelly taking a break over the holidays, Fox used Sandra Smith, Shannon Bream, Martha MacCallum and
Fox News’ Chris Wallace extracts headline with follow-up question
Fox News’ Chris Wallace worked hard to keep the final presidential debate substantive with tough questions to Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump, but it was the simplest of queries that extracted the biggest headline. Noting Trump’s claims Wednesday night that the election was being rigged against him, Wallace asked the Republican whether he would accept the results win or lose, saying GOP vice presidential candidate Mike Pence had said that he would. When Trump answered that “we will look at it at the time,” Wallace seemed incredulous. The veteran newsman pointed out that a peaceful transition of power is one of the nation’s longest traditions, no matter how tough the campaign. “Are you saying you’re not prepared to commit to that principle?” Wallace asked. Answered Trump: “I will keep you in suspense.” Wallace walked the finest of lines during a campaign where debate moderators received an intense focus. As the first-ever general election moderator of Fox News, he had the hopes of an organization in the midst of a tough year riding on him along with additional baggage. Fox critics worried that he’d go easy on Trump because of the GOP bent of Fox’s prime-time lineup. He kept things straight and issue-oriented and rode herd on the audience and candidates to keep control. Wallace promised he would not take on the role of fact-checker and largely adhered to that, although he had one nasty exchange with Trump in correcting the candidate on statements made in Syria in the last debate. Wallace tended to open a subject area with a general question before boring in on specifics to each candidate. For instance, he asked each candidate about their philosophies in naming Supreme Court justices, then moved in to ask Clinton about partial-birth abortions and Trump about whether he sought to overturn Roe vs. Wade. “It was a fair and balanced debate,” said Megyn Kelly, Wallace’s Fox colleague. “He pressed both sides.” Wallace asked Trump about the Republican’s denials that he had groped or made unwelcome advances to women. Several women have come forward with stories following the release of a lewd “Access Hollywood” tape where Trump bragged of touching women against their will, after Trump denied that he had engaged in the conduct. “Why would so many different women from so many different circumstances over so many different years, why would they all in the last couple of weeks … make up these stories?” Wallace asked him. When Trump claimed that “nobody has more respect for women than I do,” some audience members in Las Vegas laughed – and Wallace was quick to scold them. “Please, everybody,” he said. While Trump twice made it a point to thank Wallace for questions posed to Clinton – including the former secretary of state’s claims in a leaked email about free trade – the Republican seemed visibly angry when the newsman tried to correct him on points made about Syria in a previous debate. “If I may finish the question,” Wallace said. His toughest exchange with Clinton came when he asked the Democrat about “pay-to-play” charges surrounding people who made contributions to the Clinton foundation. When Clinton answered by praising the work the Clinton foundation had done, Wallace interrupted her with a reminder to answer the question posed. She didn’t get the chance, since Trump interrupted at about the same time, and Wallace turned to him for a rebuttal. While occasionally wordy, Wallace’s questions seemed designed to get the candidates talking and he mostly let them go at it. The candidates – typical for most debates – bulldozed past his questions at times but there seemed fewer interruptions than in the previous two debates. The first debate, moderated by NBC’s Lester Holt, reached a record-setting audience of 84 million people. Last week’s second debate with CNN’s Anderson Cooper and ABC’s Martha Raddatz sharing the journalists’ duties reached 66.5 million. Ratings for Wednesday’s debate will be released Thursday. Republished with permission of the Associated Press.
Unlike first, second debate doesn’t set viewership record
An estimated 66.5 million people watched the second debate between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump, down from the record-setting audience who saw their first match but on par with the Obama-Romney contests four years ago. The first debate reached a total of 84 million viewers, more than for any other presidential debate on record, the Nielsen company said on Monday. The previous record of 80.6 million had been set for the only debate between Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan in 1980. In 2012, an estimated 65.6 million people watched the second debate between President Obama and Republican challenger Mitt Romney, after 67.2 million saw their first debate. On Sunday, the two candidates were competing against the NFL’s prime-time contest between the Green Bay Packers and the New York Giants, which was seen by 16.6 million people on NBC. A football game aired opposite the first debate, too, but it was on cable’s ESPN and reached only 8 million people. Sunday’s debate, moderated tightly by CNN’s Anderson Cooper and ABC News’ Martha Raddatz, was dominated early by questions surrounding Trump’s lewd conversation with Billy Bush in a recently resurfaced “Access Hollywood” outtake. In another clip getting wide airplay on Monday, Trump tells Clinton that “you’d be in jail” if he were elected. Raddatz on Monday said she could feel the tension in the room from the start. “When they came together at the beginning and didn’t shake hands, you knew you were in for a long evening,” she said on “Good Morning America” on Monday. The candidates shook hands at the end, following a disarming question from an audience member, who asked each candidate if they could think of one thing positive to say about the other. Raddatz and Cooper received generally good reviews for their sharp questioning and attempts to keep the candidates in line. Trump complained at times about not being treated fairly. At one point, when Trump objected to the Obama administration signaling in advance about an attack on ISIS positions in Iraq, Raddatz interjected with possible reasons for this tactic, including warning civilians to get out of harm’s way. CBS withdrawal from the political competition. CNN had 11.2 million viewers and Fox News Channel had 9.9 million, essentially flip-flopping their positions from the first debate. While that may be a reflection of a CNN personality serving as a moderator Sunday, it may also be an ominous sign of growing disinterest in the contest among Fox’s Republican-dominated fan base. A Fox personality, Chris Wallace, moderates the scheduled third and final debate Oct. 19. Republish with permission of the Associated Press.
Wrong number? Donald Trump’s TV telephone interviews in spotlight
In television news, a telephone interview is typically frowned upon. Donald Trump‘s fondness for them is changing habits and causing consternation in newsrooms, while challenging political traditions. Two organizations are circulating petitions to encourage Sunday morning political shows to hang up on Trump. Some prominent holdouts, like Fox’s Chris Wallace, refuse to do on-air phoners. Others argue that a phone interview is better than no interview at all. Except in news emergencies, producers usually avoid phoners because television is a visual medium — a face-to-face discussion between a newsmaker and questioner is preferable to a picture of an anchor listening to a disembodied voice. It’s easy to see why Trump likes them. There’s no travel or TV makeup involved; if he wishes to, Trump can talk to Matt Lauer without changing out of his pajamas. They often put an interviewer at a disadvantage, since it’s harder to interrupt or ask follow-up questions, and impossible to tell if a subject is being coached. Face-to-face interviews let viewers see a candidate physically react to a tough question and think on his feet, said Chris Licht, executive producer of “CBS This Morning.” Sometimes that’s as important as what is being said. Trump tends to take over phone interviews and can get his message out with little challenge, Wallace said. “The Sunday show, in the broadcast landscape, I feel is a gold standard for probing interviews,” said Wallace, host of “Fox News Sunday.” ”The idea that you would do a phone interview, not face-to-face or not by satellite, with a presidential candidate — I’d never seen it before, and I was quite frankly shocked that my competitors were doing it.” Since Trump announced his candidacy in June 2015, Wallace has conducted three in-person interviews with him on “Fox News Sunday,” and four via satellite. Chuck Todd, host of NBC’s “Meet the Press,” has done phoners with Trump but now said he’s decided to stick to in-person interviews on his Sunday show. He’s no absolutist, though. “It’s a much better viewer experience when it’s in person,” Todd said. “Satellite and phoners are a little harder, there’s no doubt about it. But at the end of the day, you’ll take something over nothing.” Morning news shows do phoners most frequently. At the outset of the campaign, Trump was ratings catnip. The ratings impact of a Trump interview has since settled down, but it’s still hard to turn him down. He’s the leading contender for the Republican presidential nomination. He’s news. There appear to be no network policies; different shows on the same network have different philosophies. Licht has turned Trump down for phoners on CBS but concedes there may be exceptions for breaking news. “CBS This Morning,” in fact, aired Trump commenting by phone following Tuesday’s attack in Belgium. Since the campaign began, Trump has appeared for 29 phone interviews on the five Sunday political panel shows, according to the liberal watchdog Media Matters for America. Through last Sunday, ABC’s “This Week” has done it 10 times, CBS’ “Face the Nation” seven and six times each on “Meet the Press” and CNN’s “State of the Union.” None of these shows has done phoners with Ted Cruz, John Kasich, Hillary Clinton or Bernie Sanders, said Media Matters, which is urging that the practice be discontinued. The activist group MomsRising said the disparity “sends the message that some candidates can play by different rules, without consequences, and that’s just un-American.” A study by mediaQuant and The New York Times estimated that Trump has received the equivalent of $1.9 billion in free advertising given the media attention paid to his campaign. A Trump spokeswoman did not immediately return a request for comment. What’s unclear is whether other candidates were denied opportunities given to Trump. CNN chief executive Jeff Zucker said Trump opponents frequently turn down interview requests. During an appearance on CNN last week, former GOP candidate Carly Fiorina complained about media attention paid to Trump, leading Anderson Cooper to shoot back: “Donald Trump returned phone calls and was willing to do interviews, which was something your campaign, frankly, was unwilling to do.” Cruz spokeswoman Catherine Frazier tweeted last week that she saw Trump being interviewed via phone on “Fox & Friends” a day after Cruz was told that he couldn’t do a phone interview with the show. Fox said that since then, “Fox & Friends” has offered to conduct a phone interview with Cruz five times and has been turned down each time. Cruz did appear in the studio Wednesday. Frazier did not return requests for comment. NBC’s Todd believes that complaints about phoners are a surrogate for people who want to blame the media for Trump’s success. “You’re shooting the messenger while you’re ignoring what he is tapping into,” he said. “It becomes a little silly when you look at the bigger picture here. The media is getting criticized for interviewing Donald Trump. If we weren’t questioning him, we’d be criticized for not questioning him.” For years, cautious candidates have tended to be stingy with press access. Trump is the complete opposite. In a fast-moving information age, he may be changing the expectations for how often a candidate submits to interviews. Todd doesn’t believe it’s a coincidence that he’s had more access to Clinton during the past six weeks than he had during the six years she was in the Obama administration. Both Clinton and Cruz appeared in phone interviews following the Belgium attacks. “Trump’s opponents fall into two camps: Those who complain and continue to get crushed by the media wave, or those who grab a surfboard and try to ride it,” said Mark McKinnon, veteran Republican political operative and co-host of Showtime’s political road show, “The Circus.” Republished with permission of the Associated Press.
Fox gets 16.9 million viewers for GOP debate
The 16.9 million people who saw Fox News Channel’s coverage of the Republican presidential debate on Thursday have made it the fourth most-watched debate in a primary season ever. The Nielsen company said Friday that’s also the fourth most-watched Republican debate of the 2016 campaign cycle, a testament to the extraordinary interest these events have had for television viewers. The debate stages are getting less crowded, with the Detroit debate featuring Donald Trump, Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio and John Kasich. It was the 11th Republican debate so far; the Democrats have had six. The two previous debates on Fox News Channel reached 24 million viewers last August and 12.5 million in January. The next Democratic debate is Sunday. Former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders will debate at 8 p.m. Sunday in Flint, Mich. Republished with permission of the Associated Press.
Viewer’s Guide: GOP debate about Donald Trump vs. everyone else
And then there were four. Ben Carson‘s departure from the GOP presidential race means the quartet of remaining Republicans on the debate stage Thursday night get more time for attacks as Donald Trump treads a path to the GOP nomination and his three rivals try to trip him up. Cheered on by many Republican leaders, Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio and John Kasich are racing the primary clock to March 15, likely their last chance to stop Trump in a series of winner-take-all contests. Some things to watch Thursday night as the candidates meet at 9 p.m. EST for the Fox News Channel debate in Detroit: HE WHO WAS NOT NAMED Love him or loathe him, Trump has taught the poohbahs of the Republican Party what a power grab really is — and he’s done it by winning over large swaths of the GOP’s own core supporters far from Washington. His wobbling over whether to disavow the support of former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke finally gave the Republican leaders of Congress a way to go after the billionaire publicly — without uttering Trump’s name. Trump responded by saying House Speaker Paul Ryan would have to get along with a President Trump or pay some sort of “big price.” On the eve of the debate, Ryan’s office confirmed that Trump’s campaign had contacted the speaker’s staff in a first sign of outreach. Notably, Trump has started talking about unifying the GOP. Look for Trump to be asked about the existential rift in the party and how he expects to govern. ___ RUBIO, RUDE? TRUMP, TOO? The Florida senator who once insisted on staying above the scuffling has leapt right into it, emulating Trump’s schoolyard-taunting style. At campaign events in the past week, Rubio made sometimes crude jokes about everything from Trump’s tan to the size of his hands — he even suggested that the billionaire wet his pants at the last debate. Look for whether a newly confident Rubio, emboldened by his first primary win in Minnesota Tuesday, keeps it up or takes a more statesmanlike approach. And what to expect from Trump? “I can’t act overly presidential because I’m going to have people attacking from every side. A very good man, Ben Carson’s not there anymore, so now we’re going to have more time for the fighting,” he said. “When people are hitting you from different angles, from all different angles, unfortunately you have to hit back. I would have a very, very presidential demeanor when I win, but until such time, you have to hit back,” he told NBC on Thursday. ___ CRUZ’S STAND Thanks to Rubio’s win Tuesday, Cruz can no longer say he’s the only Republican who has shown he can beat Trump. But he won three states on Super Tuesday — Alaska, Oklahoma and his home state of Texas. And the delegate math shows that Cruz is emerging as the candidate who might stop Trump. Look for some confidence from Cruz, because on Super Tuesday alone he came close to Trump. For the night, Trump won at least 237 delegates and Cruz won at least 209. Rubio was a distant third with at least 94. Even Sen. Lindsey Graham, who a week earlier joked at a dinner about killing Cruz, acknowledged on CBS that the Texas senator might be the party’s best hope to beat Trump. ___ KASICH, STILL The debate setting is likely most helpful to Ohio Gov. John Kasich, who is looking for a strong showing in Michigan in the state’s March 8 contest, to survive. __ FOX AND TRUMP, FRENEMIES Trump has uttered barely a peep about the fact that Fox News Channel is hosting the debate, and that his sometime-nemesis Megyn Kelly, is one of the moderators. This is a marked change from the upheaval that led to Trump boycotting Fox’s debate just before the leadoff Iowa caucuses. Trump had demanded that Kelly be removed; Fox refused and Trump headed a few miles away to host his own event. He later said that could have been one of the reasons he lost Iowa to Cruz. Trump has not tweeted about Kelly in weeks. In an interview with the Associated Press this week, Kelly said she thinks Trump has more confidence now. “He knows he can handle me. He can handle any interviewer,” she said. ___ TRUMP UNIVERSITY How good is a degree from Trump University? “Worthless” — as are his promises — according to former GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney. Romney will brand the billionaire businessman as “a phony, a fraud” in a Salt Lake City speech on Thursday, as party of a push by GOP establishment figures to paint the billionaire as unfit to represent the party. Trump should have a few things to say about it. He already started slugging on Thursday morning, saying that Romney “begged” him for his endorsement four years ago, and called him a “failed candidate.” ___ REMEMBER BEN CARSON? Kelly said he wouldn’t have gotten much attention even if he had stuck around for the debate. Fox will concentrate its questions on Trump, Cruz and Marco Rubio — making for potentially awkward moments for Kasich. Republished with permission of the Associated Press.
Donald Trump says Fox News apologized to him in feud
Donald Trump says Fox News Channel apologized in their feud leading up to Thursday’s presidential debate in Iowa, but he was still a no-show for the last scheduled forum before voters begin to make their voices heard. Fox News Chairman Roger Ailes, in conversations with Trump, “acknowledged his concerns” about a statement the network had made in the days leading up to the debate, Fox said. But Fox said Trump had demanded a $5 million contribution to his charities in order to appear, which the network rejected. The network and presidential contender had been feuding since Trump demanded Megyn Kelly be removed as a debate moderator. Trump was holding a competing event in Iowa that Fox rivals CNN and MSNBC were broadcasting. Republished with permission of the Associated Press.
