Trump won’t participate in Fox debate

Fox News had just announced Thursday night’s debate line-up when Trump said “wise-guy press releases” from the network made him rethink his participation. This will be the final debate before the Iowa caucuses.

Trump was referring to a statement from Fox News sarcastically dismissing the candidate’s complaints about Megyn Kelly moderating the debate: “We learned from a secret back channel that the Ayatollah and Putin both intend to treat Donald Trump unfairly when they meet with him if he becomes president – a nefarious source tells us that Trump has his own secret plan to replace the Cabinet with his Twitter followers to see if he should even go to those meetings.”

“Most likely I will not be doing the debate,” Trump said at a press conference announcing fellow immigration hawk Maricopa County, Ariz. Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s endorsement. “Let’s see how much money Fox makes” without his participation, he added. His campaign manager Corey Lewandowski subsequently told reporters Trump would definitely not do the debate.

Trump has previously sparred with Fox News, particulary anchor and moderator Kelly. “Megyn Kelly is a lightweight,” Trump reiterated Tuesday.

The two got off on the wrong foot at the first Republican presidential debate in August. “You’ve called women you don’t like fat pigs, dogs, slobs and disgusting animals,” Kelly began a question.

“Only Rosie O’Donnell,” Trump said, trying to defuse the situation with a joke. Kelly followed up by enumerating other examples and Trump later complained that her treatment was unprofessional and unfair.

For Trump supporters, the fight with Fox highlights that even reputedly conservative media is biased against their candidate. They like that Trump won’t play by the media’s rule. But to Trump’s critics, it reinforces concerns about the billionaire’s temperament and makes him look thin-skinned and afraid to debate. His foes have already begun a #DonaldDuck hashtag to ridicule his withdrawal from the event.

Trump pre-emptively tried to swat down the latter criticism in his press conference Monday. “I’ve done six [debates],” he said. He pointed to online polls conducted after each exchange with his fellow primary candidates. “They said I won all the debates.”

The Trump campaign vowed to hold an event competing with the debate that will “raise money for the Veterans and Wounded Warriors, who have been treated so horribly by our all talk, no action politicians.”

“As someone who wrote one of the best-selling business books of all time, The Art of the Deal, who has built an incredible company, including some of the most valuable and iconic assets in the world, and as someone who has a personal net worth of many billions of dollars, Mr. Trump knows a bad deal when he sees one,” the campaign said in a statement. “FOX News is making tens of millions of dollars on debates, and setting ratings records (the highest in history), where as in previous years they were low-rated afterthoughts.”

“Roger Ailes and FOX News think they can toy with him, but Mr. Trump doesn’t play games,” the statement continued.

By skipping the last debate before the Iowa caucuses, Trump risks allowing the other candidates an opportunity to stand out. He’s likely to be criticized by everyone who shows up and will not be there to rebut them. Ted Cruz, with whom Trump is locked into a fierce battle for Iowa, will get to make the conservative case against him uninterrupted.

Cruz campaign spokesman Rick Tyler gave a preview when he publicly criticized Trump’s behavior as “erratic” and “inexplicable.”

But Trump has risen in part due to his ability to get earned media. Pulling out of the debate will help him continue to dominate the news cycle ahead of the caucuses, especially if he holds his own event. He won’t have to share the airtime with his GOP rivals.

The polls show a close race between Trump and Cruz in Iowa. Trump is attracting large crowds, but Cruz is likely to have a more experienced organization.