Megyn Kelly schools Trump on Trump U., and his flip-flops
Round Two of Donald Trump vs. Megyn Kelly turned out to be not much of a fight. During the prime-time debate Thursday night, Kelly landed a series of blows that seemed to leave the GOP’s front-runner reeling.
The candidate and the cable news host he seems to love to hate mixed it up for a second time since August at the Republican debate in Detroit. This time, Kelly put the party’s front-runner on the defensive with tough questioning about his failed for-profit school, Trump University, and by airing a series of video clips in which Trump made contradictory statements about accepting Syrian refugees, the war in Afghanistan and President George W. Bush’s record on the Iraq War.
“How is this telling like it is?” asked Kelly, the co-moderator at the event, after showing Trump on both sides of the issues — in one instance, as Kelly noted, in the course of a single day.
It was, in some respects, almost a payback performance by Kelly, whom Trump has savaged since the first Republican debate during the summer. In that encounter, Trump objected to Kelly’s opening question about his history of making disparaging comments about women. He later suggested that Kelly was biased and angry: “You could see there was blood coming out of her eyes. Blood coming out of her — wherever,” he said, in a comment many interpreted as vulgar and sexist.
Trump then began a long campaign of taunting Kelly on Twitter, calling her “a lightweight reporter,” “so average in every way,” and suggesting she was “a bimbo.”
Kelly has remained professional throughout Trump’s attacks on her, generally refusing to respond at all. The pair haven’t spoken since the first debate; he has appeared on several Fox News programs since then but not her prime-time program.
[Rivals pile on Trump in GOP debate]
On Thursday, Kelly, who is an attorney, came prepared to challenge Trump with a series of nearly prosecutorial questions and factual statements that countered Trump’s assertions.
At one point it appeared that the debate was between Kelly and Trump, not among Trump and rivals Marco Rubio, Ted Cruz and John Kasich.
When Trump argued that the Better Business Bureau had given Trump University an “A” rating for its business practices, the Fox host pointed out that its last rating — in 2010 — was “a D-minus” as a result of numerous complaints from former students.
“Let’s bring the viewers up to speed,” said Kelly over Trump’s objections. “Let me set the record, then you guys can have at it. Trump University, a business that you started, was marketed to many people, and now there is a class-action [lawsuit] of over 5,000 plaintiffs against you, Mr. Trump.”
When Trump countered that the lead plaintiff was abandoning the suit, Kelly fought back.
Read more at washingtonpost.com.
Republican presidential candidates, Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., and businessman Donald Trump argue as and Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, listens during a Republican presidential primary debate at Fox Theatre, Thursday, March 3, 2016, in Detroit. (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio)
Moderator Megyn Kelly speaks before a Republican presidential primary debate at Fox Theatre, Thursday, March 3, 2016, in Detroit. (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio)
Moderators Chris Wallace and Megyn Kelly take the stage before a Republican presidential primary debate at Fox Theatre, Thursday, March 3, 2016, in Detroit. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)
Republican presidential candidate, businessman Donald Trump arrives at the spin room his wife Melania after a Republican presidential primary debate at Fox Theatre, Thursday, March 3, 2016, in Detroit. (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio)
Moderator Megyn Kelly takes the stage during a Republican presidential primary debate at Fox Theatre, Thursday, March 3, 2016, in Detroit. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)