Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump on Monday night reignited a feud with Fox News that was thought to have ended at least once before in a truce.
On social media, Trump took several shots at Fox News star anchor Bill O’Reilly and the network at large.
“O’Reilly was very negative to me in refusing to post the great polls that came out today including NBC,” Trump wrote on Twitter, referring to a poll of Republican voters released Monday by NBC News that showed him leading the GOP field for the party’s nomination. “Fox News not good for me!”
In another tweet, Trump said, “O’Reilly, why don’t you have some knowledgeable talking heads on your show for a change instead of the same old Trump haters. Boring!”
About an hour later, Trump posted a third tweet. “I am having a really hard time watching Fox News,” it said. He then posted the messages of other Twitter users that sided with him against Fox.
Trump’s online activity is the latest installment of his ongoing clash with Fox. Previously, he had criticized Megyn Kelly, another anchor at the network, for questions she asked him during a GOP presidential debate in August.
That was supposedly cleared up by a phone call between Trump and Fox CEO Roger Ailes, only to start up again when Trump hurled more insults at Kelly on social media and in news interviews.
O’Reilly responded Tuesday on NBC’s “Today,” saying that Trump was only engaging in “theater.”
“I’ve known Trump a long time, he wants people to like him,” O’Reilly said. “When people criticize him he takes it personally. And this machine, this tweeting thing, the worst thing you can give Donald Trump is this tweeting thing.”
Fox personality Geraldo Rivera, who was a contender on Trump’s NBC “Celebrity Apprentice” reality show, told the Washington Examiner media desk that Trump is a friend but is overreacting toward the network.
“By all means, react to charges that are false,” Rivera said. “But you can’t be so thin-skinned as to try to squelch other points of view.”
