ATLANTA — Donald Trump’s attacks on Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly are backfiring among the conservatives who form the base of his support in the 2016 presidential race. Late Friday night, RedState founder Erick Erickson announced that he has withdrawn Trump’s invitation to appear at the annual RedState Gathering here in Atlanta. At roughly the same time, rising Republican candidate Carly Fiorina, the only woman in the GOP 2016 presidential race, announced that she stands with Kelly against Trump’s attacks.
The moves come after Trump escalated his criticism of Kelly for her sharp questioning of him at Thursday night’s Republican debate in Cleveland. Immediately after the debate, Trump met reporters to complain about Kelly’s questions focusing on disparaging statements he has made about women. “The questions to me were not nice,” Trump said. “I didn’t think they were appropriate. And I thought Megyn behaved very badly, personally.”
Not long later, in the wee hours of Friday morning, Trump extended the attack by calling Kelly a “bimbo” on Twitter. “The biggest loser in the debate was Megyn Kelly,” Trump tweeted. “You can’t out trump Donald Trump. You will lose!” And: “Fox viewers give low marks to bimbo Megyn Kelly will consider other programs!”
Trump spent much of Friday bashing Kelly. One of those attacks came on CNN, in which he said of Kelly: “She gets out and she starts asking me all sorts of ridiculous questions. You could see there was blood coming out of her eyes, blood coming out of her wherever.”
That was too much for Trump’s RedState host. “I have tried to give a great deal of latitude to Donald Trump in his run for the presidency,” Erickson said in a statement late Friday night. “But there are even lines blunt talkers and unprofessional politicians should not cross. Decency is one of those lines.”
Erickson continued:
A few minutes before Erickson’s announcement, Fiorina, who had been well received at an appearance before the RedState Gathering earlier Friday, sent out two tweets siding with Kelly against Trump. One said: “Mr. Trump: There. Is. No. Excuse.” and the other said “I stand with Megyn Kelly.”
It’s not clear where things go now. In conversations with RedState attendees here in Atlanta on Friday, several expressed anger over Fox News’ questioning of Trump, and specifically anger at Kelly. But those conversations were before reports of Trump’s “blood” comment; both reports of Trump’s words and Erickson’s reaction happened while many attendees were asleep.
In those conversations Friday, several RedState attendees were angry not because they actually support Trump but because they felt Fox News should not have subjected Republican candidates to such tough questioning. Judging from random conversations, most of the attendees support GOP candidates other than Trump, but some feel his presence in the Republican race has been a good thing in that it has forced rival candidates to clarify their positions on some issues, specifically immigration.
In addition, many of the attendees spoke glowingly of Fiorina’s speech at RedState. They were impressed by her performance in the debate the night before and doubly impressed seeing her in person. Now that Fiorina has criticized Trump, and Erickson has rescinded the invitation, it’s not clear whether RedState supporters will take their side against Trump, or side with Trump, or see no need to take sides at all. The only sure thing is that Donald Trump will remain the center of attention, even when he’s not here.
