Fox News’ Megyn Kelly weighed in Thursday on Donald Trump’s war against Heidi Cruz, wife of Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, by asking simply, “Seriously?”
Seriously? https://t.co/pPBJkKDUwG
— Megyn Kelly (@megynkelly) March 24, 2016
The billionaire businessman circulated a tweet late Wednesday evening featuring an unflattering image of Heidi Cruz alongside a picture of Trump’s third wife, Melania. Text superimposed over the side-by-side picture read, “no need to ‘spill the beans’ the images are worth a thousand words.”
“Spill the beans” is a reference to when the casino tycoon warned Tuesday he’d go after Cruz’s wife in response to an anti-Trump ad featuring a picture of a naked Melania from a G.Q. photo shoot.
“Ted Cruz just used a picture of Melania from a G.Q. shoot in his ad. Be careful, Lyin’ Ted, or I will spill the beans on your wife!” Trump said Tuesday evening on Twitter.
Cruz, whose campaign had nothing to do with the Melania-related political action committee ad, responded in a tweet, saying, “Pic of your wife not from us. Donald, if you try to attack Heidi, you’re more of a coward than I thought.”
Pic of your wife not from us. Donald, if you try to attack Heidi, you’re more of a coward than I thought. #classless https://t.co/0QpKSnjgnE
— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) March 23, 2016
Later, in an interview on CNN, the Texas senator said, “It reveals a lot about class, that Donald’s instinct is to try to attack my wife and sully her. That should be beneath Donald. Heidi, my wife, she’s the daughter of missionaries in Africa, she’s my best friend in the world.”
“If Donald wants to get in a character fight, he’s better off sticking with me because Heidi is way out of his league,” he added in a line ripped directly from “The American President,” starring Michael Douglas.
To this, Trump responded, “Lyin’ Ted Cruz denied that he had anything to do with the G.Q. model photo post of Melania. That’s why we call him Lyin’ Ted!”
Lyin’ Ted Cruz denied that he had anything to do with the G.Q. model photo post of Melania. That’s why we call him Lyin’ Ted!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 23, 2016
Kelly’s decision to weigh in on the slap fight between Trump and Cruz is notable given that she has been on the receiving end of the real estate mogul’s taunts and jeers for more than seven months.
Trump’s one-sided feud with the Fox News anchor (she rarely responds) dates back to August 2015, when Kelly moderated the first GOP primary debate. In that first showdown between the Republican candidates, Kelly appeared to catch Trump off guard with a question about his treatment of women.
“You call women you don’t like ‘fat pigs,’ ‘dogs,’ ‘slobs,’ and ‘disgusting animals,'” she said. “Does that sound to you like the temperament of a man we should elect as president?”
Trump responded with remarks about how “political correctness” is destroying the country. He complained after the debate that Kelly’s questions were “unfair” and “not nice.”
The Republican candidate later suggested in an interview with CNN that Kelly might have been menstruating during the debate.
“You could see there was blood coming out of her eyes. Blood coming out of her wherever,” he said, adding that her questions were “ridiculous” and “off-base.”
This touched off an ongoing public spat between the two in which Kelly has remained mostly silent, while Trump has raged on.
Since August, Trump has accused Kelly of bias, he has attacked her evening show repeatedly on social media and he even boycotted a Fox GOP debate in January, claiming that it wouldn’t be worth participating so long as the network’s “unfair” anchor was involved.
The increasingly bitter feud between Trump and Cruz comes as they continue battle for the most number of delegates heading into the Republican Party’s convention in Cleveland later this summer.
