Megyn Kelly’s appearance at the debate seems to have spurred Trump’s refusal to participate, and this stems way back to FNC’s coverage of the first GOP debate nearly six months ago, when Trump took exception to Kelly’s frankly legitimate questioning. The feud between Trump and Megyn Kelly/Fox News has grown increasingly nasty lately, with Trump ultimately pulling out of this latest FNC-hosted debate.
It will be interesting to see how ratings do for the FOX GOP debate tonight with no Trump involved. In the previous GOP debates, Trump’s personality and sparring with other candidates have led to strong ratings for the various networks that have covered them (24 million watched the first debate on FOX news), and FNC presumably sold ads for tonight’s event with the assumption Trump would be there to boost equally strong ratings.
While you won’t see Donald Trump at the debate, you can watch what he is doing this evening, if you are so inclined. Trump will hold a campaign rally at Drake University in Des Moines, at about the same time as the debate. C-SPAN will air live coverage of the Trump campaign rally beginning at 8pm ET. Apparently Mike Huckabee and Rick Santorum will also be attending Trump’s rally following their appearance in the “undercard” debate on FNC at 7pm ET. Ah, politics.
The Fox News Channel Republican presidential primary debate airs live Jan. 28 at 9pm ET on FNC.
Donald Trump’s campaign rally airs live Jan. 28 at 8pm ET on C-SPAN.