The entire controversy surrounding Donald Trump’s withdrawal from Thursday night’s debate on Fox News has served to confirm – in no uncertain terms – what FNC’s critics have been saying for months: FNC is doing the bidding of the Republican elite which is petrified at the prospect of a Trump nomination or, God forbid, presidency.
Yes, this really has more to do with FNC than with Trump, so whether you love or hate the bombastic billionaire, ask yourself a question: would you show up for a debate hosted by a news organization that sent out the following press release three days before its debate:
“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.”
For all of Trump’s boorishness and self-centeredness, how can any credible news organization possibly compose and release such a thing, unless they are attempting a riverboat gamble to bring Trump low.
FNC’s own coverage of this controversy has been shockingly and thoroughly intellectually dishonest. Having watched much of their reporting since this story broke, I have seen not one of their correspondents even mention the press release, as they attempt to advance the false claim that Trump was pulling out because he either hates Megyn Kelly…or somehow fears her. Fact is, there was no issue about Trump participating in this debate even with the knowledge of Ms. Kelly’s participation for weeks now…until FNC bated him with its inexplicably juvenile missive.
Many who hate Trump are likely cheering right now, but would they be doing the same if the target was their candidate?
Is the role of Fox News to report…or decide?
There is much chatter about whether this move will reduce or enlarge Trump’s standing. Conventional wisdom has it pegged as a mistake, even a big mistake. But given how wrong conventional wisdom has fared in this election cycle, not to mention the months-long miscalculations of the Trump phenomenon among the chattering class, I’m not placing any bets on that proposition.
