>> IF YOU BELIEVE HIS CAMPAIGN, DONALD TRUMP IS NOT GOING TO BE
APPEARING AT FOX'S -- FOX NEWS, I SHOULD SAY -- THURSDAY
REPUBLICAN PRIMARY DEBATE, DESPITE HOW MUCH PUBLICITY HE
HAS GOTTEN OUT OF IT, AND HE HAS BEEN A RATINGS DRIVER.
HE WILL
NOT GO, BECAUSE MEGYN KELLY HAS BEEN UNFAIR TO HIM IN THE PAST
BY READING THE TWEETS HE HIMSELF WROTE, HE IS BOYCOTTING BECAUSE
FOX REFUSED TO GET RID OF MEGYN KELLY.
ALTHOUGH THERE IS STILL
TIME, THEY MIGHT CAPITULATE.
SO AFTER THAT ANNOUNCEMENT, BOTH
SIDES ARE TRYING TO GET MAXIMUM POLITICAL GAIN OUT OF THIS.
HE
HAS TWEETED THAT HE IS NOT GOING TO CALL MEGYN KELLY A
BIMBO BECAUSE THAT WOULD BE NOT POLITICALLY CORRECT, BUT SHE IS
A BAD JOURNALIST.
FOX NEWS PUT OUT THIS STATEMENT --
>> I THINK WE CAN BOTH AGREE
ON THAT.
IT IS NEAR UNPRECEDENTED.
>> THIS IS THE LAST JOURNALISTIC STANDARD THEY REFUSE TO VIOLATE
AT FOX NEWS.
>>LEWANDOWSKI IS THE CAMPAIGN MANAGER --
>> BY THE WAY, MAKE THAT 133 AS OF TONIGHT WHEN HE IS
INTERVIEWED BY BILL O'REILLY.
DESPITE WHEN HE SAYS I DON'T
NEED TO MAKE THEM RICH.
CAN I GO ON YOUR OTHER SHOWS?
AND THEY
ADMIT, THEY HAVE PUT HIM ON SO FUCKING MUCH.
BUT SUPPOSEDLY HE IS NOT SHOWING UP.
>>FIRST OF ALL, THE BIGGEST DOWNSIDE OF THIS STORY IS THAT
FOX NEWS NOW GETS TO BE -- SHOW THEMSELVES AS JOURNALISTS.
>>AND MEGYN KELLY.
>>THEY ARE NOT JOURNALISTS, ALL THEY DO IS RIGHT-WING AND
REPUBLICAN PROPAGANDA.
BUT NOW, TRUMP HAS BEEN SO, YOU KNOW,
RIDICULOUSLY AGAINST THEM, THEY GET TO PRETEND THEY HAVE
JOURNALISTIC STANDARDS.
AND IN THIS CASE, THEY ARE RIGHT, HE IS
WRONG.
OF COURSE MEGYN KELLY CAN ASK ANY QUESTION SHE LIKES TO
DONALD TRUMP, AND THE QUESTIONS SHE ASKED WERE ENORMOUSLY
UNOFFENSIVE.
SHE ASKED ABOUT HIS QUOTES.
SHE SAID, WILL IT HURT YOUR CAMPAIGN IF IT IS PERCEIVED
AS MISOGYNISTIC?
>>THE WAY HE PITCHED THE TED CRUZ ELIGIBILITY ARGUMENT.
WILL THEY ATTACK YOU ON THIS?
>>NOW IT LOOKS AS THOUGH FOX NEWS IS FIGHTING FOR JOURNALISM.
OY.
ONTO THE MAIN EVENT, WHICH IS THIS MOVE BY DONALD TRUMP, IT
IS MAYBE THE BOLDEST MOVE I HAVE EVER SEEN IN A PRESIDENTIAL
RACE.
I KNOW THE ARGUMENT YOU WILL MAKE, AND IT IS A GOOD ONE.
ON THE ONE SIDE, YOU CAN SAY, MAN, THAT SHOWS HE'S STRONG.
HE IS WILLING TO NOT SHOW UP TO A DEBATE DAYS BEFORE THE MOST
IMPORTANT VOTE, IOWA CAUCUS, BECAUSE NEW HAMPSHIRE HE WILL
WIN.
FOR HIM TO WALK AWAY FROM THAT IS STRENGTH I HAVEN'T SEEN.
THE COUNTERARGUMENT I EXPECT JOHN TO MAKE IS, THAT IS NOT
STRONG AT ALL, HE IS RUNNING AWAY FROM MEGYN KELLY AND HE
CAN'T EVEN, YOU KNOW, FACE THE MOST REASONABLE QUESTION
THERE IS.
AND HE IS A COWARD.
>>I THINK IT IS COMPLICATED.
IT IS DIFFERENT TO NOT GO INTO A
DEBATE THAT IS GOING TO HAPPEN, THAN IT IS TO GET DEBATES TO NOT
HAPPEN.
BUT THERE IS SOME SIMILARITY, AND I DON'T CONSIDER
HILLARY CLINTON STRONG BECAUSE SHE GOT HER BUDDIES TO NOT SET
UP MORE DEBATES.
IT WOULD BE STRONG TO GO TO THE DEBATE, THAT
IS WHAT I THINK STRENGTH IS.
AND A LOT OF PEOPLE SAY THAT THIS
WAS A MASTER STROKE BY TRUMP, BECAUSE HE WILL BE IN THE NEWS,
WHICH IS OBJECTIVELY TRUE SINCE WE ARE TALKING ABOUT HIM RIGHT
NOW.
BUT IF THAT IS WHAT HE WANTED, IF HE JUST WANTED TO GET
IN THE NEWS AND NOT GO TO THE DEBATE, HE COULD HAVE MADE IT
ABOUT ALMOST ANYTHING ELSE.
HE COULD HAVE JUST SAID, YOU KNOW
WHAT?
SCREW FOX NEWS, THEY REPRESENT THE ESTABLISHMENT, PC
CULTURE, MUSLIMS -- WHATEVER.
INSTEAD HE MADE IT ABOUT MEGYN
KELLY.
AND ASIDE FROM SOME OF HIS SUPPORTERS WHO THINK SHE IS
A WOMAN, I HATE WOMEN SO I HATE HER, THAT IS WHY SHE IS GETTING
ALL THESE TWEETS CALLING HER THE C-WORD AND ALL THIS OTHER SHIT
TODAY, EVERYONE ELSE LOOKING AT THIS KNOWS THAT HE IS SCARED OF
HER STANDING UP TO HIM.
AND NOT EVEN IN A STRONG WAY, SHE JUST READ
SOME OF HIS TWEETS, BUT THAT NOW REPRESENTS SOME GIGANTIC DRAGON
OF AN OPPONENT TO HIM.
SO HE LOOKS LIKE SUCH A PATHETIC
WUSSY, AND IT LETS TED CRUZ SELL HATS THAT SAY "MAKE TRUMP DEBATE
AGAIN."
AND I HAVE BEEN HAVING SO MUCH FUN TWEETING ABOUT THIS
SINCE THE PAST THEY HAPPENED, IT MAKES HIM LOOK LIKE A
LAUGHINGSTOCK THAT HE CAN'T STAND UP TO MEGYN KELLY.
A
SPOKESPERSON FOR FOX PUT OUT THIS STATEMENT, AND I HAVE NEVER
SEEN A CHANNEL PUT SOMETHING LIKE THIS OUT ABOUT A CANDIDATE --
>> LET ME EXPLAIN THE CHRONOLOGY.
THEY PUT THAT
STATEMENT OUT BEFORE TRUMP CANCELED.
>>HE HAS BEEN TALKING ABOUT IT FOR DAYS, AND HE HASN'T ACTUALLY
CANCELED ANYTHING.
HE COULD 100% STILL SHOW UP.
I THINK THERE IS
A CHANCE HE STILL WILL.
HE HAS CONSISTENTLY, THROUGHOUT HIS
BOOKS ABOUT BUSINESS DEALINGS AND IN HIS RECENT COMMENTS ABOUT
IRAN, HE ALWAYS TALKS ABOUT YOU CAN'T JUST THREATEN TO LEAVE THE
ROOM, YOU HAVE TO LEAVE THE ROOM.
LET THEM STEW FOR A WHILE
AND THEY WILL CALL YOU BACK.
THAT IS ALL HE IS DOING.
HE
HASN'T SKIPPED THE DEBATE UNTIL THE DEBATE IS OVER.
UNTIL THEN,
HE COULD STILL SHOW UP, AND WE KNOW THIS IS A MOTHERFUCKER
WHO LOVES BEING ON TV.
MY MONEY IS STILL ON HIM SHOWING UP, I'M WILLING TO BE
PROVEN WRONG BECAUSE I HAVE ALMOST NO SHAME AT THIS
POINT, BUT I THINK THERE IS A GOOD CHANCE HE SHOWS UP.
>> THAT COULD BE A FUN WWE MOMENT -- HERE COMES DONALD
TRUMP!
OUT OF THE HALLWAY WITH A 2 X 4.
BUT THE REASON I WAS
TELLING YOU ABOUT THE CHRONOLOGY, FOX NEWS PUT OUT A
STATEMENT SAYING, WILL YOU BE SCARED OF THE AYATOLLAH AND
PUTIN?
AFTER THAT, TRUMP SAYS, I'M NOT COMING.
SOME HAVE SAID
FOX CROSSED THE LINE FIRST SO TRUMP DID THE RIGHT THING.
I
THINK THAT IS CRAZY TALK.
THEY ARE BOTH ENORMOUS LINE CROSSERS,
LET'S BE HONEST ABOUT THAT.
BUT IN THIS CASE, TRUMP STARTED THE
WAR, HE CONTINUED THE WAR, HE IS THE AGGRESSOR, AND LOOK --
YES, HE MIGHT STILL SHOW UP.
>>HE HAS THREATENED TO BOYCOTT MULTIPLE OTHER DEBATES.
>>AND HE CHANGES HIS MIND WILLY-NILLY, MAINLY BASED ON
WHATEVER WILL GET MORE ATTENTION AT THAT MOMENT, RIGHT?
RIGHT NOW IT IS GETTING ATTENTION TO SAY HE WON'T
SHOW UP, RIGHT BEFORE IT MAY GET MORE ATTENTION TO SHOW UP.
>>SURPRISE, ALL OF A SUDDEN HE SHOWS UP.
WE DIDN'T THINK HE WAS GOING TO.
>>RIGHT.
IT IS NOT LIKE HE IS A ROCKET SCIENTIST, BUT HE HAS ONE
THING DOWN, WHICH IS THE ART OF NOT THE DEAL, THE ART OF GETTING
ATTENTION IN THAT MOMENT.
THERE IS NO ONE BETTER AT IT THAN
DONALD TRUMP.
>>AGREED.
>>THIS COULD GO ONE OF TWO WAYS.
MAYBE, AND THIS HAS NEVER
HAPPENED, EVERYONE THINKS IT WILL BUT IT HASN'T, HE MIGHT
HAVE TRUMPED THE SHARK.
IN HIS ARROGANCE, HE WAS JUST SAYING
THE OTHER DAY I COULD SHOOT SOMEBODY DEAD ON FIFTH AVENUE
AND MY SUPPORTERS STILL WOULDN'T CARE -- SO IN THAT INTOXICATION
OF CONFIDENCE, HE MIGHT HAVE GONE TOO FAR AND PEOPLE WILL
LOOK AT IT LIKE JOHN DOES -- THAT IS A REAL WUSS MOVE TO BE
SO SCARED OF, IN THEIR WAY OF THINKING, A GIRL, THAT YOU HAD
TO RUN AWAY, AND NOW YOU WON'T EVEN SHOW UP TO DEBATE THESE
GUYS.
IT MIGHT COST HIM, IT MIGHT BE THE FINAL THING THAT
ACTUALLY GOES -- OR IT COULD GO COMPLETELY THE OTHER WAY, AND I
DON'T KNOW WHICH WAY IT WILL GO.
IN THE BEGINNING I THOUGHT IT
WAS CRAZY, IT IS HIS ELECTION TO WIN, I WOULDN'T HAVE TAKEN A
RISK LIKE THIS AND I AM A HUGE RISK TAKER.
BUT THEN I HEARD HE
SAID --
>>[BUFFERING]
>> IF HE DRAWS EVEN HALF THE AUDIENCE TO HIMSELF BY HIMSELF,
WHILE HELPING VETERANS -- DAMN, THAT MIGHT WORK AGAIN.
AND IF
CRUZ AGREED TO IT, THEY WOULD DRAW 80% OF THE AUDIENCE.
WHICHEVER WAY THIS GAMBIT WORKS OUT, AND RIGHT AWAY I AM UNCLEAR
AS TO HOW IT WILL WORK OUT, BUT IF HE WINS THIS GAMBIT, IT IS
OVER, TRUMP IS THE NOMINEE.
AND I WILL TELL YOU WHY.
IT IS NOT
BECAUSE HE DEFEATED THE OTHER CONTESTANTS -- "CONTESTANTS."
LOOK, WE HAVE TURNED THIS INTO A REALITY SHOW FOR GOOD -- IT WILL
BE BECAUSE HE DEFEATED FOX NEWS.
AND IF YOU CAN DEFEAT FOX NEWS
ON THE RIGHT, THERE AIN'T NOTHING THAT CAN STOP YOU.
SO
THIS I THINK WILL BE DETERMINATIVE.
HOWEVER THURSDAY
NIGHT GOES, IF TRUMP COMES OUT AHEAD ON IT, IT IS OVER.
TRUMP IS THE NOMINEE.
>>THAT IS POSSIBLE.
>>BY THE WAY, WE ARE COVERING IT LIVE ON THURSDAY.
TYTNETWORK.COM/LIVE, 8:30 PM EASTERN, WE WILL START PREGAME,
AND WE NEED A PREGAME ON THIS ONE, BECAUSE WE NEED TO SEE WHAT
TRUMP WILL DO.
WE WILL DO A PLAY-BY-PLAY ON THE DEBATE, AND
DO A POST GAME, AND JUST LIKE HE WANTS, TRUMP LOOMS LARGE WHETHER
HE IS THERE OR NOT.