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2016-01-27 Home Front: Politix
Trump will not take part in next GOP debate
[Iran Press TV] GOP front-runner Donald Trump says he will skip the next Republican debate as the Iowa caucuses approach.
I guess he's said what he's gonna say.
"I probably won't be doing the debate. I'm going to have something else in Iowa," said the billionaire former reality TV star at a news conference in a high school workout room in Marshalltown, Iowa, on Tuesday. "Let's see how much money Fox makes without me in the debate."

Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski confirmed to the Washington Post later that he would "definitely not" be there.

The Fox News debate is scheduled to be held in Des Moines, Iowa, on Thursday night.

Since a debate held last August, Trump has been engaged in a public spat with Fox News.

"He's definitely not participating in the Fox News debate," Lewandowski said. "His word is his bond."
Posted by Fred 2016-01-27 00:00|| || Front Page|| [11138 views ]  Top

#1 Sooooo the debate will probably be a snooze Cruz.

Good to see The Donald recognizes and is willing to exercise his advantages. Unlike a certain Apologist in Chief now in office.
Posted by gorb 2016-01-27 00:22||   2016-01-27 00:22|| Front Page Top

#2 "The Donuuuld" versus Megan Kelly.

Or twas it "The Donaaald"???

[BROADWAY'S "HAIR" = "LONG BEAUTIFUL HAIR" ANTHEM here].
Posted by JosephMendiola 2016-01-27 01:00||   2016-01-27 01:00|| Front Page Top

#3 I don't like the stuff he's saying about Kelly. I don't like it at all.
Posted by Besoeker 2016-01-27 01:15||   2016-01-27 01:15|| Front Page Top

#4 He is very high maintenance. Hopefull6y, Trump and Cruz will have unfettered debate on Mark Levin's show.
Today or Thursday

One thing to remember, these debates are not for Donald Trump, they are for the American People.
Posted by newc 2016-01-27 02:18||   2016-01-27 02:18|| Front Page Top

#5 these debates are not for Donald Trump, they are for the American People.

Politics as performance art?
Posted by g(r)omgoru 2016-01-27 03:35||   2016-01-27 03:35|| Front Page Top

#6 Good move by Trump. The other chumps in the race will try and take advantage of his absence and spend most of the evening attacking Trump. The debate will still be a boost to Trump in the polls.

The other day Trump says he could shot someone and not drop I the polls. I agree as long as he shots the right person.
Posted by Airandee  2016-01-27 06:24||   2016-01-27 06:24|| Front Page Top

#7 Not a Trumpalo, but I like some of the things that pour outta his mouth. This stupid tiff with Kelly? Not so much. It makes him look weak and petulant that he can't handle it. I think we've had enough weak and petulant at POTUS, haven't we?
Posted by Frank G 2016-01-27 06:47||   2016-01-27 06:47|| Front Page Top

#8 If Ducking Donald runs from a reporter, how is he to be trusted with someone far tougher, like Putin?
Posted by Voldemort Glunter6011 2016-01-27 07:21||   2016-01-27 07:21|| Front Page Top

#9 One thing to remember, these debates are not for Donald Trump, they are for the American People.

Maybe a long time ago. Now they're games in which the MSM declares themselves ring masters of the presidential elections and yes too often the fix is in with gatcha questions and softballs for the MSM anointed. The tail wags the dog in your political process. Looks like someone is taking the power back.
Posted by Procopius2k 2016-01-27 08:08||   2016-01-27 08:08|| Front Page Top

#10 Maybe a long time ago.

I think, long time ago, it was "Lets look at the record".
Posted by g(r)omgoru 2016-01-27 08:21||   2016-01-27 08:21|| Front Page Top

#11 Ridiculous. For the past couple of months I have vacillated on Trump - initially and occasionally impressed by his focus on mitigating illegal immigration...then he loses focus and acts like a spoiled child. From my perspective...and recent experience...we NEED a war time president this term! I don't care about Trump's money or his hurt feelings...that is kid's stuff.

We need President, a LEADER, that will properly assess the ISIS threat, inoculate us agianst the spread by stopping the military aged male refugees from entering our country from that AO, prepare us to confront the threat mentally and militarily, direct preparation of a plan to destroy ISIS and execute that plan in detail. All else is foolishness.
Posted by Tennessee 2016-01-27 11:04||   2016-01-27 11:04|| Front Page Top

#12 If the ratings for the Fox debate goes into the toilet without Trump present, then Fox loses influence and money. They can then go stand in the corner with the National Review Online and whimper like puppies passing peach pits.
Posted by Chaith Oppressor of the Lutherans1517 2016-01-27 11:10||   2016-01-27 11:10|| Front Page Top

#13 If the ratings for the Fox debate goes into the toilet without Trump present, then Fox loses influence and money.

I think M. Kelly has lost some credibility as well. She was playing the victim last night on her show. Sadly petty, both of them.
Posted by jvalentour 2016-01-27 11:18||   2016-01-27 11:18|| Front Page Top

#14 Trump has nothing to gain from yet another debate. There is nothing he could do or say to disaffect his followers. Likewise nothing he could do or say to win over the 60% of the GOP who want to nominate a Republican.
Posted by Iblis 2016-01-27 11:29||   2016-01-27 11:29|| Front Page Top

#15 ...you mean the one's that elected a 'Republican' Congress that just rubber stamped Obama, Pelosi, and Reid's want list?
Posted by Procopius2k 2016-01-27 11:33||   2016-01-27 11:33|| Front Page Top

#16 It's another stunt to keep in the headlines - taking on the corporate media and all that rot. If not he's a thin skinner. Either way it's not moving the needle much. He calls his adoring crowds "loyal supporters". Others call them gullible rubes. You make the call.
Posted by DepotGuy 2016-01-27 11:51||   2016-01-27 11:51|| Front Page Top

#17 It was gonna be the "Megan and Donald Show" with a supporting cast of stooges. He took a pass. He's calculated that he doesn't need it and so far he's been right about such things. If he wants to start looking presidential he might want to avoid the type of junior high school girl questions she would certainly ask.
Posted by Ebbang Uluque6305 2016-01-27 12:05||   2016-01-27 12:05|| Front Page Top

#18  Likewise nothing he could do or say to win over the 60% of the GOP who want to nominate aRepublican. somebody besides Donald Trump.

Posted by Pappy 2016-01-27 12:21||   2016-01-27 12:21|| Front Page Top

#19 *Disclaimer - I have no interest in this debate or whatnots, just observations. I'm penciled in for some Wargame with South Park Movie after kiddie homework and bedtime. Runner up some Albion's Seed time.

There is a tweet from Kelley at IOTW which, if accurate, to paraphrase has Kelley promising the polls will look totally different on Friday.

If you were leading the polls, and knew the uhem moderator is out to get you, then why go?

As for will he hide from foreign leaders if that time comes? it is not the President's job to travel to Tehran, sit in a chair in from of the IC, and get heckled for an hour with no chance to respond.

Trump is taking an unorthodox risk. Fox is reminding me why I quit watching about a year ago. If Trump live-comments the debate, Fox will get their ratings and Trump could exploit the unorthodoxy with zingers and a formal response before the participants get done shaking each others' hands.

The Trump/Cruz debate, that needs to happen. Either camp, if I felt good about Iowa, I would wait until after that election. Both camps, if feeling good about coming in 1st or 2nd in the recent upcoming elections, I would wait until other runners got knocked out.
Posted by swksvolFF 2016-01-27 12:30||   2016-01-27 12:30|| Front Page Top

#20 I think Trump will show up for the debate. He's stolen the air out of two days worth of news cycles and every word from the moderators will be judged on how unfair FOX is towards Trump. Of course he looks like he bluffs a lot of if he does, but I think the positives outweigh the negatives.

Worst thing that could happen to Trump is that he doesn't show up and he's not mentioned during the debate. In that case I'm sure Trump has something planned to steal headlines on Friday and make it about him, again.
Posted by rjschwarz 2016-01-27 12:44||   2016-01-27 12:44|| Front Page Top

#21 What, apparently, pushed "The Donald" over the line was the below tweet from Fox. Until this came out, he was only considering a no-show:

"For its part, the conservative media giant quickly responded with Trump levels of snark.

“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 statement distributed to reporters by Fox News read."

Mr. Trump does not like to be dissed and took a stand.

Source: Salon (verified).
Posted by Blossom Unains5562 2016-01-27 12:46||   2016-01-27 12:46|| Front Page Top

#22  If he wants to start looking presidential he might want to avoid the type of junior high school girl questions she would certainly ask.

Then he should start practicing with Ms. Kelley, who would be a relative softie compared to the hard-ballers the MSM will send to the White House press conferences. Funny how he's dropping out of the debate run by the more (relatively) "conservative" news network, and not the liberal ones that allow the democrat candidates to control the format of any interviews. As it is, Trump is validating the "War on Women!" meme that Hillarity is trying to foist off on the electorate. Count on her using this incident against Trump if he's the nominee.

I doubt if that one-on-one debate will happen, given that I hear that the RNC rules are that anyone who does side-debates won't be allowed to participate in further debates.

I figure Fox news has already factored in the impact of not having Trump in the line-up, and decided that their integrity was worth more than the ratings of a single debate. Bravo. When they say "Fair and Balanced", this little incident will allow them to also say, "AND we mean it!" (Count on Fox employees using this to spit in the eye of their competitors.)

I was reminded of the (Vulcan) saying: "Only Nixon can go to China". Trump's boast about being able to shoot someone and not have his popularity affected means he feels free to make a deal that would backstab those same supporters ("Only Trump can pull off Amnesty"). Art of the DEAL and all that.

I myself wasn't sure about Cruz until I read the twitter from Robert Reich quoted by Spengler in an update to his article on PJMedia. I immediately was reminded of how the Allies kept the German Command nervous and jumpy before D-Day by moving Patton around and not saying ANYTHING after his faux pas speech. I Totally agree with #11 (Tennessee): we need a war president, and we just got a panicked "cable" from the dark side stating how horrified they were that Ted was (shudder) a true believer, who went across the Capitol to the Tea Party Congressmen and (double shudder) got their cooperation.

Terror makes people do crazy sh*t, and if you're a democrat, you're already half-way to crazy. Ted strikes me as someone who isn't going to be cavalier and let the opportunity pass to stick the shiv into the Democrats and twist when they start making own-goals in their terror.


The whole process of "Republicans/Conservatives" going with the outsiders is precisely because the GOPe are not true believers.
Posted by ptah 2016-01-27 12:50||   2016-01-27 12:50|| Front Page Top

#23 It will be interesting to watch how professionally FOX conducts itself. Any snarks at an absent Donald will be used as ammunition against them.
Posted by Sven the pelter 2016-01-27 12:53||   2016-01-27 12:53|| Front Page Top

#24 Keeping in mind that Megan Kelly convened a special panel of anti-Trump writers from National Review to mark their launch of their attack on Donald J. Trump. Then She had on her show, and was fawning over, the far left anti-America anti-troop Michael Moore. Why? To criticize Trump. On top of Kelly, the Republican Nation Committee AND Fox also invited Nabela Noor an American Muslim Jihad terrorist supporting youtube star to the debate, specifically to mock question Trump. Interestingly, Bill Sammon — FOX News’s vice president of News and Washington managing editor — is the father of Brooke Sammon, who is Rubio’s press secretary. What else you might ask? Fox's owner Murdoch is the co-chair of what is arguably one of the most powerful illegal immigration lobbying firms in country, the Partnership for a New American Economy (PNAE). As Harvey would say, now you know the rest of the story"
Posted by Michael Mann  2016-01-27 13:07||   2016-01-27 13:07|| Front Page Top

#25 If he wants to start looking presidential

Your founders really should've partitioned the job into two: (1) chief executive, (2) titular head of state (looking presidential, cutting ribbons, etc...)
Posted by g(r)omgoru 2016-01-27 13:16||   2016-01-27 13:16|| Front Page Top

#26 Your founders really should've partitioned the job into two: (1) chief executive, (2) titular head of state (looking presidential, cutting ribbons, etc...)

Like to attend foreign funerals? That is what the vice president is for. "Send uncle Joe."
Posted by Sven the pelter 2016-01-27 13:29||   2016-01-27 13:29|| Front Page Top

#27 Our founders did a good job.
Posted by jvalentour 2016-01-27 13:38||   2016-01-27 13:38|| Front Page Top

#28 And there is this: Google and Fox TV Invite Anti-Trump, Hitler-Citing, Muslim Advocate to Join Next GOP TV-Debate

Google co-sponsor = yeah, it'll be slanted against Trump.

Posted by Blossom Unains5562 2016-01-27 13:58||   2016-01-27 13:58|| Front Page Top

#29 Moderator "Gotcha Events" are NOT debates.
Posted by Unelet Protector of the Sith2424 2016-01-27 14:24||   2016-01-27 14:24|| Front Page Top

#30 "Keeping in mind that Megan Kelly convened a special panel of anti-Trump writers from National Review to mark their launch of their attack on Donald J. Trump."

A lot of people think National Review shot themselves in the foot with that, so there take on why they did it is definitely news.

"Then She had on her show, and was fawning over, the far left anti-America anti-troop Michael Moore."

Journalists should cover news, even if the news makers are horrible people.
Posted by rjschwarz 2016-01-27 14:53||   2016-01-27 14:53|| Front Page Top

#31 Megan is a big girl. Journalist need sources but Mrs. Kelly doesn't feel that she needs the Donald and vice-versa. OK, let us see how this plays out.
Posted by Sven the pelter 2016-01-27 14:59||   2016-01-27 14:59|| Front Page Top

#32 Being that Trump marries supermodels and Megan is that pretty... whose to say there isn't some past "off the record" incident between the two fueling this spat.
Posted by 3dc 2016-01-27 16:20||   2016-01-27 16:20|| Front Page Top

#33 Just another RINO.

(Been waiting)
:)
Posted by Shipman 2016-01-27 16:37||   2016-01-27 16:37|| Front Page Top

#34 Looks like I've gotten some snark in response to my comment about Trump not being much of a Republican.

If someone wants to bring up evidence of his long support of the party, Republican activism and the like -- well, I'd like to see it because as far I as know he has never even registered as a Republican or voted in a Republican primary.
Posted by Iblis 2016-01-27 17:15||   2016-01-27 17:15|| Front Page Top

#35 I have no use for any of these "debates". Lincoln & Douglas died a long time ago.
Posted by Anguper Hupomosing9418 2016-01-27 17:20||   2016-01-27 17:20|| Front Page Top

#36 It's a really question of whether you're a member of the 'Inner Party' or 'Outer Party'.
Posted by Procopius2k 2016-01-27 17:34||   2016-01-27 17:34|| Front Page Top

#37 Short rant. My 92 year old mother lives with me. She likes to watch the news and it can grandma-sit her. Today I had to turn it off and put on 192 Dalmatians. The media frenzy over the Trump Megan Kelly spat was driving her nuts.
At this point I feel the need for a new reality TV show where bowling pins are replaced by the heads of TV news people sticking through holes in the pin area and folks fed up with them get to bowl!
Posted by 3dc 2016-01-27 18:27||   2016-01-27 18:27|| Front Page Top

#38 I don't watch TV, 3dc, but I'd watch that!
Posted by Barbara 2016-01-27 19:24||   2016-01-27 19:24|| Front Page Top

#39 Trump playing the media. A master at work. He leads and all just follow and then guess what he is up to. They have predicted his demise many times and failed. Fox is really another liberal media outlet. I pay no attention to them. What bothers me is the Senate and the shenanigans being pulled right now. Lindsey Graham is up to no good.
Posted by Dale 2016-01-27 19:44||   2016-01-27 19:44|| Front Page Top

#40 Kelly is supposed to be a moderator of the debates, not a participant.
Posted by charger 2016-01-27 20:07||   2016-01-27 20:07|| Front Page Top

#41 More like a ringleader at a circus.
Posted by CrazyFool 2016-01-27 20:16||   2016-01-27 20:16|| Front Page Top

#42 My dog isn't in this race.

This is the same thing Candygram Carley did vs. Romney.

As for the GOP picking its own winners, I would direct you to Milton Wolf vs. Pat Roberts. Willing to lose the Senate seat to keep the old man. Damn near did.
Posted by swksvolFF 2016-01-27 22:10||   2016-01-27 22:10|| Front Page Top

#43 Dawg help us all that it has come to this. For damnz sake Slow Uncle Joe looking good.
Posted by Shipman 2016-01-27 23:25||   2016-01-27 23:25|| Front Page Top

05:05 Whiskey Mike
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03:23 Besoeker
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