Donald Trump has been disinvited to Saturday night’s RedState conservative event after making comments about Fox News’ Megyn Kelly about “blood coming out of her wherever.”
“You could see there was blood coming out of her eyes. Blood coming out of her wherever,” Trump told CNN’s Don Lemon on his show Friday night.
RedState editor Erick Erickson said the remark crossed the line and disinvited Trump from the RedState Gathering, a conservative event in Atlanta featuring Republican presidential contenders. Trump was supposed to deliver the keynote speech to 900-1000 conservatives planning to attend.
“I have tried to give a great deal of latitude to Donald Trump in his run for the presidency,” Erickson said.
“He is not a professional politician and is known for being a blunt talker. He connects with so much of the anger in the Republican base and is not afraid to be outspoken on a lot of issues. But there are even lines blunt talkers and unprofessional politicians should not cross. Decency is one of those lines.”
Trump backtracked early Saturday on Twitter and tried to clarify his comment, saying: “Re Megyn Kelly quote: ‘you could see there was blood coming out of her eyes, blood coming out of her wherever’ (NOSE). Just got on w/thought”
https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/629997060830425088
https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/629992743788523520
The GOP presidential frontrunner sparked backlash with his fiery rebuttal in which he called Kelly’s debate question referencing misogynistic comments “off base” and “ridiculous.” Additionally, Trump said Kelly’s line of questioning was not “professional”and although he can handle tough questions, they should be spread around to all the candidates.
During the GOP debate, Kelly asked Trump to defend remarks in which he called women, “fat pigs, dogs and disgusting animals” to which the real mogul answered, “Only Rosie O’Donnell.”
While Trump spoke to Lemon during Friday night’s episode of “CNN Tonight,” he doubled down on criticism of Kelly, saying he didn’t think she was a good journalist.
“I don’t have a lot of respect for Megyn Kelly. She’s a lightweight. I don’t think she’s very good. And she came out there you know reading her little script and trying to be tough and trying to be sharp and when you meet her you realize she’s not very tough and not very sharp,” Trump said.
Trump’s aformentioned reference to Kelly “reading her little script” echoes TheWrap’s report Friday that confirmed Fox News Chief Roger Ailes’ involvement in crafting questions for the debate.
“There’s very few moments occurring on the network that Ailes doesn’t have a hand in. Times that by 100 for a GOP presidential debate,” a Fox News insider told TheWrap.
Though moderators Kelly, Chris Wallace and Bret Baier were been widely praised in the media for their performance, the individual told TheWrap that the three hosts had pep talks with Ailes before Thursday’s live showdown between the Republican contenders.
With Ailes likely behind the tough line of questioning toward Trump, he may not be an active supporter of a Trump nomination. Some Fox anchors have covered Trump favorably to date. This could be problematic for Trump since Ailes is such a powerful figure in Republican politics and media.
“My advice to Trump: criticize the media at your own peril,” Joe Peyronnin, former Fox News president and CBS VP, told TheWrap. “He diminishes himself, and opens himself up to more tough grilling. Everything Fox News anchors asked Donald Trump was fair game. I believe the anchors all saw this as a great opportunity, and collaborated on questions, which were all read.”
“I’m not sure that Fox is fair necessarily,” Trump said Friday after the debate, claiming the other candidates told him they were glad they didn’t field the tough questions he did and “congratulated” him.
https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/630007166129303552