Donald Trump, Megyn Kelly set for rematch at Detroit debate
Photo Illustration: Yahoo News, photos: Lorenzo Bevilaqua/ABC via Getty Images, David J. Phillip/AP, Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
Donald Trump and Megyn Kelly will face off Thursday night for the first time since they first butted heads last summer.
The Fox News anchor is set to moderate the Republican presidential debate in Detroit with her colleagues Bret Baier and Chris Wallace.
After winning seven states on Super Tuesday, Trump can expect an onslaught from his competition for the party’s nod: Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, Florida Sen. Marco Rubio and Ohio Gov. John Kasich. Some speculate that Kelly’s presence might reawaken old hostilities, but she disagrees.
“Frankly, I have been ready for seven months to move beyond what happened after that August debate,” Kelly said in an interview with Reuters. “I feel like it’s getting boring. Trump has bigger things to worry about, and so do I.”
The feud started in early August at this election cycle’s first Republican presidential debate in Cleveland, where Kelly grilled Trump on demeaning comments he has made about women he dislikes.
Afterward, the real estate mogul took to Twitter to criticize the Fox moderators for their alleged lack of professionalism and to lambast Kelly in particular for — in his view — treating him unfairly.
Fox News moderators Megyn Kelly and Bret Baier, right, listen as Chris Wallace, left, makes introductions during the first Republican presidential debate in Cleveland last August. (Photo: John Minchillo/AP)
“Wow, @megynkelly really bombed tonight. People are going wild on Twitter! Funny to watch,” he tweeted at the time.
Trump also retweeted supporters who called Kelly a “total failure” and a “bimbo.”
In an interview with CNN, Trump said he has no respect for Kelly as a journalist and thinks she asks “all sorts of ridiculous questions.” Then he provoked outrage by his infamous comment: “You can see there was blood coming out of her eyes, blood coming out of her wherever.”
Many interpreted this as Trump implying that Kelly was so hostile to him because she was menstruating. But he later said that “wherever” meant “nose” and that “only a deviant would think anything else.”
The rivalry added fuel to Trump’s hot-and-cold feud with the right-leaning Fox News Channel.
They would have met again on Jan. 28 at the second debate hosted by Fox News, but Trump decided to boycott it — accusing Kelly and Fox News yet again of bias.
“Based on @MegynKelly’s conflict of interest and bias she should not be allowed to be a moderator of the next debate,” he tweeted days before the event.
Instead, that night, Trump, a bona fide ratings juggernaut, held a fundraiser for veterans at Drake University. VoteVets.org, a progressive military veterans group, accused the flamboyant billionaire of using men and women in uniform as a shield to protect himself from Kelly’s questions.
The absence of Trump’s telegenic bravado hurt Fox News’ ratings. According to Nielsen, the channel’s first debate drew a record-setting 24 million viewers, whereas their second debate attracted only 12.5 million.
