Trump Campaign: We Will not Participate in Thursday’s GOP Debate – IOTW Report

Trump Campaign: We Will not Participate in Thursday’s GOP Debate

Donald Trump’s campaign has stated this evening that they will “definitely not” participate in Thursday evening’s Fox News debate.
trump border hat

Tuesday Trump stated, “I probably won’t be doing the debate. I’m going to have something else in Iowa.”

However, Trump’s campaign said that Fox News went “too far” to defend Megyn Kelly. Because of this, Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski said, “He’s definitely not participating in the Fox News debate. His word is his bond.”

98 Comments on Trump Campaign: We Will not Participate in Thursday’s GOP Debate

  1. Exactly. I wonder in how many different ways the mods will ask the same question; “How do you feel about Mr. Trump refusing to appear at this debate tonight?” You KNOW Trump will be hanging in the air, haunting all of them. This just keeps getting more interesting.

  2. if he says he will do something, or not do something he sticks to it

    if he says I think, or I believe ‘pre’ or ‘post’, then it’s evolving thought. I used to believe in the tooth fairy …. l don’t anymore.

    …if you don’t get it, you don’t get it. πŸ˜‰

  3. The more debates, the better. That way, the candidates comments are enthroned for all of us to see as to whether or not they should be elected.
    Hearing recent soundbites of a very prominent candidate has got me shaking my head, frankly.

  4. Trump’s BIGGEST promise is building a wall and enforcing immigration. If he’s elected and is successful there’s a chance that America will survive. If he’s unsuccessful – sad to even say this – we’re done.

  5. This is META.
    Über Ultra META.
    Politics can be SUCH a p!Β§$ing match.
    Well, a Category 5 hurricane just passed over it.

    LOGIC (…and the Czarina) would say, “Trump should do it and stand his ground and crush Kelly and the other crappy moderators.”

    heh

    Not. This. Time.
    And. SURE. AS. H*LL. Not. With. Trump.

    Will Fox blink and remove Megyn? Will Trump then DO IT?! Or, will Trump stay away anyway?!?

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t_uA_W1wB5A
    STAY TUNED, DEAR VIEWERS, as the MEGA ULTIMATE B!TCH SLAPPER PLAYS THEM LIKE A FIDDLE!

  6. yes, Reagan skipped several ‘debates’ leading up to Iowa. He was so far ahead in the polls, he didn’t bother. Bush beat Regan in Iowa by a slight margin. Reagan went on to win NH with the famous “I’m paying for this microphone” quote, because he actually paid for the NH debate…. & the rest is histor.

  7. Ted Cruz was just on Levin and said about 100 times “…Trump is afraid of Megyn Kelly” –
    Is that all you got TC? Thought you were different. Guess not – just another windbag politician – talking point, talking point, talking point, ad infinitum

  8. Watching the “Trump Lovefest” is absolutely hilarious if it weren’t so important of an election. I wonder if the candidate making such a play weren’t supported by those absolving him, if they would still feel the same way and absolve that candidate as well or would the tone of posts be far more critical of his action?

    Seriously, he is worried about a Foxnews moderator. If Trump is such a master of the media than why not use their own forum against them and show the world what he is saying is true?

    Personally I don’t care either way; Trump or no Trump. I am far more interested in watching folks who support him and how they are reacting toward his action. It is much more entertaining, even more than Trump himself.

  9. think about it …..Trump may have just won the debate without bothering to participate

    Fox’s ratings will go down, big time …. & that’s what the story will be on Drudge the next day ….. No Trump, no ratings

  10. Hurt a cruise on Mark Levin, that is not all that he said. Ted Cruz Donald Trump tp a one-on-one debate on Mark Levin program. Without meg Kelley and without Mark Levin asking questions. Mark says that he will just warn them of commercial breaks and referee any outbreaks. This could be interesting.
    Much like the lincoln-douglas debates, Trump won’t do it!

  11. He handled that Scarborough interview this morning with such grace. He’s friends with Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid, and Chuck Schumer! Not to mention that prior post about Al Sharpton. He’s gotta stop shooting off his mouth because he’s losing the base quickly!

    When will The Donald pivot in stock shooting off his freaking mouth and getting his voters worried?

  12. To the anti-Trump commenters — you’re really taking all the fun out of this situation. Believe me, if Senator Cruz had been in the same circumstances as Trump now finds himself in with FNC, Megan Kelly and the way in which FNC tried to kneecap him before the debate — ALL the Trump supporters here would be just as surprised, delighted and saying “good show!” about such a move against the mainstream media.

    I’m not trying to be flip about this, but it sure doesn’t seem very conservative to be defending the media — those Wall Street types who have been giving us crummy, unelectable RINOs forever.

    Let’s just enjoy this while it lasts.

  13. Sure, the “direct” interpretation, as you suggest, would be that he could “defend” himself against the attacks in person…just as he has for the last 7 (?) or so debates.

    This is the last one before the Iowa caucus.

    Another interpretation is that he is showing that “he’s the boss” and won’t be pushed around by a p!Β§$y little media operation which has bullied him in the past.

    YOU KNOW and I KNOW these debates – especially at this point – are HARDLY about “learning about the positions of candidates on the issues.”

    So, I suggest to you that he has his own way (e.g. rally) of communicating his “positions” on whatever issues HE feels are important to the IOWA voters. That’s why he’s there anyway, right?

    TO. F*ING WIN.

  14. Love it! Snarky Megyn Kelly has gotten a little too big for her britches. This will hurt Fox News and help Trump.
    Maybe Fox should replace her with Juan Williams (JUST KIDDING)
    That fool is on morning, noon, and night on damn near every Fox show these days. Thank God for FF on my DVR remote.

  15. His persona is really quite different in a press conference. You can tell he’s pretty well finished with bad reporting. I like that he doesn’t just let them steamroll him with bad questions and that he carefully/thoroughly corrects the record.

    P.S. I wanted to be part of the live chat during the show last night, but I couldn’t just jump in without signing in and I couldn’t do that without registering with Blog Talk Radio. So…I just called in πŸ™‚ Pretty fun to kind of talk with Mr. Pinko. I didn’t make my points very well. The thing about lofo voters was really about the charge that Trump supporters are called lofo’s. We’re anything but. And the thing about no labels was that Trump is building a very broad coalition that still doesn’t sacrifice a very conservative platform. He does himself and all conservatives a favor in not using ideological terms that alienate people.

    Wouldn’t it be fun to go to the convention?

  16. TO ALL NON-FANS OF TRUMP
    What was NOT said here – and what I want to make EXPLICITLY CLEAR – is what Fox said in their “release:

    “β€œWe 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,” Fox News said in the statement, adding this gem: β€œA 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.”

    F*KING INEXCUSABLY UNPROFESSIONAL.
    Trump was RIGHT in “farting in their general direction” after that!

  17. I know this will drive the CruzControlled crazy, but observe how Hurricane Donald doubles down and consolidates into a Category Five WIPEOUT!

    You CruzAiders are gonna wake up in a field half-naked with your ass stuck in an aquarium after DJT rocks your shit to its foundations.

    Sorry…is there still a truce in place??

  18. That link reminds me of the book I’m reading at the moment:

    “The Confidence Game – Why We Fall For It…Every Time”
    by Maria Konnikova

    The machinations of the psychopaths, the narcissists, the machiavellians…

    And THAT’S why they call it “politics”!

  19. So a 110 pound reporter is the pea under Donald’s mattress. And this guy thinks he will take on heads of state? This is petty, needless, and Obama-like. The last few weeks the glow for Trump has waned for me. Give me Cruz any day. This guy is a wreck in the making.

  20. You’re most welcome. He has a different level of tolerance for the press than for non-press. He doesn’t lose his cool at all, but he makes no bones about, as he says, “game playing.”

  21. @Meerkat …oh, pulleeeeeeeze ……that ‘good for the American people’ schtick went out with Bill Clinton…. (check out his clip, posted here, about his Lewinski affair where he said he needed to ‘get back to work for the American People’….yeah, about as believable as his wife’s claims)

    I my heart of hearts I truly believe EVERY candidate, except Donald Trump, is doing what they’re doing EXCLUSIVELY for the Good Of The American People.
    Trump’s in it to win….. isn’t everyone else?

  22. I will give it to him that he is being forthright as to how he intends to govern.
    CNN is even more biased against him, but he chooses to continually attack FOX and they are at least marginally a friend to our cause.
    I guess that a lot of people want a man that gives a pass to the hard left and attacks the right of center.
    Of course, Bill Clinton did the same thing, worked for him.

  23. Tonight Kelly played t he question to Trump about his war on women bullshit. Which I and millions of viewers thought was pretty low. back then. However Kelly brought Mumbles Hume on who informed us that that Kelly.s question was fair and professional.
    I disagree.
    But now they are really putting the screws to Trump. They invited Michael Moore on FOX to straighten things out.
    WAAAAAAAHHHHHHHAAAAAAAAaaaaaaaaaaHaaaa.

    But I am pissed at Trump for his love of Pelosi, Reid, Schumer, and Sharpton , and his dislike of CRUZ, in the same breath!

    He’s a fucking Chinese puzzle and I have no time for that shit.

  24. I heard that too, Ted Cruz is a much better debater than anybody else (did it in college) – Trump is smart enough to not fall for that taunt. He would probably not fare too well one on one. Superior debate performance does not equal superior leadership skills.

    Really don’t care which one is the nominee – Trump is a better negotiator/manager IMHO

  25. Yea, I know. It’s a good play…Trump took on Fox News and won. The problem is where will his media coverage come from next? And how will he pander? Like today when he was on MSNBC Scarborough and said he is friends with Pelosi, Reid, and Schumer. So he is friendly with them in the past. Great. Thant does not mean THEY will be friendly with HIM in the future. And it is not about making deals with them. It is about them shutting down and refusing to make deals with Republicans. Especially presidents.
    So Trump thinks he can sweet talk them? No! The next president will need to take the argument (with the House and the Senate) to the American people! But… http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/donald-trump-is-really-unpopular-with-general-election-voters/

    Trump has the lowest approval rating among the American people.

    Please folks, let’s just take off the blinders and look at this as conservatives.

  26. Stop2think. I believe Trump is making a point. He’s not going to be owned by the media like the rest of these assholes. Cruz aside. Megan Kelly is a smart aleckly little gold digger. I’m glad Trump bitch-slapped her.

  27. “Reply” is not as it was. I tried to start a new thread and it kept replying to my last reply.

    I was just trying to start this thread and not as a reply to my previous reply which either WordPress or my browser wanted to do. So, there is a reason for this. We are all struggling through this new reply format, ΞœΞŸΞ›Ξ©Ξ ΛΑΒΕ.

  28. Being as I am in the Cruz camp more than Trumps, I am thinking this hurts Trump. The candidates will not spend a lot of time talking about Trump, I wonder if there will be an empty lectern on the stage? Trumps petulance will help drive home Cruz’s latest appeal of coalesce behind him and forget the other guys. His absence may solidify his FU to the Establishment crowd he already has but it will also help Cruz.

  29. Trump is steps ahead in the chess game. Trump is getting the upper hand with the media (Fox).
    The “scared” stuff is funny. It’s an immature school yard taunt.
    Trump knows how to negotiate and this is just a power pissing match between Trump and the shitty media.
    Watch who wins. πŸ˜‰
    Trump has said it before – sometimes you have to walk away in the negotiation process. He’s no dummy.

  30. Mr. Pinko I agree. But don’t dump on Cruz harshly . Give him a little dig now and again as you would a buddy, but don’t tell people that he is nastier than any of those motherfuckers on the demorat side. FFS Man!

  31. Obama, Pelosi, Reid, Schumer, Cummings, and a hoard of other
    Lefiies have turned this country up side down. Biden, Schumer and others haves deprived this country of great minds on the Supreme Court and, with the help of RINO s, have given us Constitutional dolts. For Trump to say “o I can get along with them, I love them, ” etc. That really gets my goat.

  32. I hope they have an empty podium up there. Kinda like when Clint debated the empty chair.

    And it I were the carpenter in charge? The podium would be covered in kitten hair spelling out:

    PUSSY

    Trump really thinks he is better than us?

    PUSSY!

    (sorry ladies)

  33. TO Meerkat

    No reason to…Cruz just put himself in the same weak position as !Jeb! did, challenging Trump to exactly the same one on one…it only highlights Trump’s power position to decide yay/nay on the matter.

    Bad move on Cruz’s part in my opinion.

  34. TO Meerkat

    Like I wrote above to your same suggestion: Trump has NO reason to…Cruz just put himself in the same weak position as !Jeb! did, challenging Trump to exactly the same one on one…it only highlights Trump’s power position to decide yay/nay on the matter.

    Bad move on Cruz’s part in my opinion.

  35. Wouldn’t surprise me if Fox did that (minus the cat hair).

    But let me ask you, do you *really* think Trump – with his tangible accomplishments of hotels, golf courses, casinos, etc – is the same as the REAL President Empty Chair?

    I don’t.

  36. John Hawkins, Townhall:
    When you have genuine affection for someone, it’s easy to block out his faults. In Trump’s case, this is being taken to such an extreme that it’s starting to feel like we’re in Jonestown a few days before the Kool-Aid is handed out. Tell me I’m wrong if you like, but even Trump made reference to that when he said,

    β€œAnd you know what else they say about my people? The polls! They say I have the most loyal people. Did you ever see that? Where I could stand in the middle of 5th Avenue and shoot somebody and I wouldn’t lose any voters. It’s incredible.”

    Since when do conservatives engage in this type of blind loyalty towards ANY politician?

    Similarly, Donald Trump talks incessantly about polls that are favorable to him, but the polls have also consistently shown that he loses to Hillary Clinton. Worse yet, his favorable/unfavorable ratings are 33/58. That’s the same as Jimmy Carter in early 1980. It’s WORSE than Walter Mondale. Trump even has a higher unfavorable rating with the general public than Nixon AFTER Watergate. It would be easier to rehabilitate Enron’s image than to make Trump President with those poll numbers.

    Saying that a candidate with those poll numbers couldn’t win an election without a miracle is something that anyone who knows something about elections would normally agree on. Yet, with Trump, many people seem unfazed. Basically, they think he’s going to use some kind of β€œTrump magic” that will guarantee a victory.

    The problem with that is that successful though Donald Trump may be, he fails all the time. He’s had four bankruptcies. Then there’s Trump steaks, Trump Vodka, Trump the Game, Trump Magazine, Trump Mortgage, Trump Airlines, Trump University, Trump Casinos, the New Jersey Generals and happily, he also lost a lawsuit and was unable to take a widow’s home via eminent domain so he could build a limo parking lot. Trump has been a successful businessman, but an awful lot of investors who put money into his ill-advised projects because they just assumed he’d find a way to win have gotten burned doing business deals with him. Again, barring a miracle, that’s what would happen to all of his supporters if he becomes the GOP nominee in 2016. Many of them don’t see it for the same reason Ron Paul’s fans couldn’t see it in 2012. Sure, Paul had a diehard following that voted for him in Internet polls and showed up at his events, but he alienated too many people to ever win a general election while he was building up his fanbase. Trump has done the same thing, except a little bigger and better.

    Getting beyond that, early on, I was willing to give Trump an opportunity to flesh out his policies and prove he’s a conservative. Unfortunately, he never did that and there’s little reason to think that a man who has switched political parties 5 times in his life and has never voted in a Republican primary suddenly became a diehard conservative in his mid-sixties. People who wouldn’t buy this from any other politician are swallowing it hook, line and sinker with Trump even though his positions on some issues have switched from week-to-week.

    Keep in mind that the most consistent political position Donald Trump seems to have held over the last 15 years is that we need a full government takeover in healthcare, which incidentally, would be WORSE than Obamacare. Trump was still pushing that less than six months ago, but now says he supports a free market plan. Do you believe him? If so, why?

    In 2013, Ted Cruz was leading the fight against Marco Rubio’s gang-of-8 amnesty bill while Trump was talking up amnesty, the Dream Act and comprehensive immigration reform. Nobody with half a brain in his head would believe any other politician claiming to be tough on immigration if he was fighting for amnesty three years ago. So, why believe Trump?

    After having read several of his books, I can tell you that Trump has core principles that he believes in personally and in business, but that doesn’t seem to be the case with politics. Since Trump is first and foremost a dealmaker, what makes you think you’d like the deals someone who doesn’t share your principles would cut on your behalf any more than you liked the deals John Boehner made? What makes you think Trump would be any different than another celebrity like Arnold Schwarzenegger who talked a good game and then ended up governing from the left-of-center once he was in office?

    Also, as entertaining and successful as Trump may be, he doesn’t have the right temperament to be President. It’s a serious, sober job and even if you like him, you have to admit that he’s crude, mean-spirited, narcissistic, unpredictable and conspiratorial. Would you consider any other candidate who trashed POWs, β€œI like people that weren’t captured,” made fun of the disabled (He’s done this more than once), said he never asked God for forgiveness and keeps making creepy comments about how he’d like to date his daughter, “(Ivanka) does have a very nice figure. I’ve said if Ivanka weren’t my daughter, perhaps I’d be dating her?” Even if you’re willing to overlook those comments because you love Trump so much, people who aren’t Trump fans will not give him a pass. That will be doubly true after the Democrats hammer him with a billion dollars’ worth of negative ads that he won’t be able to effectively respond to because even Trump admits that he doesn’t know how he would finance his campaign in a general election.

    Trump also spends an inordinate amount of time insulting people on Twitter. It amazes me that anyone complains about people hammering Trump when these are just some of the comments on his Twitter account over the last three days….

    “@Rketeltas: Rubio isn’t experienced enough to be Commander in Chief. Rubio is a carbon copy of Obama. We need a true leader Vote Trump”

    “@red77angelluis: @realDonaldTrump @NeilTurner_ @YouTube LET’S GET TRUMP!! GO TRUMP!! USA!USA!”

    “@Knight276: @C4Constitution trump right again #With_Cruz_you_lose! Nobody supports Canuck Cruz #MakeAmericaGreatAgain #trump2016

    “@M0ther0f2kids: @meetthepress @NBCNews @clewandowski Everyone B smart! U know deep down Trump is the ONLY 1 able to best LEAD”

    A wonderful article by a writer who truly gets it. I am for the people and the people are for me. #Trump2016…

    “@realOllieTaylor: Isn’t it time we had a president? Let goofy Glen keep Canada Cruz who can’t win. The American people have Trump!”

    “@WhiteGenocideTM: @realDonaldTrump Poor Jeb. I could’ve sworn I saw him outside Trump Tower the other day! ”

    Trump wants to be the GOP nominee, but he sounds like one of the mean kids running for third grade class President.

    Incidentally, the last tweet is from a white supremacist who spends a lot of time raving about Hitler and β€œJewmerica.” Despite the fact there were numerous articles criticizing Trump for retweeting a white power nut, he did not take down the tweet. If, let’s say, you’re black or Jewish, ask yourself how comfortable you are with Trump now that he’s knowingly retweeting white supremacists?

    Look at all of this and tell me that you trust someone who is this petty, immature and erratic with the responsibility of handling the IRS, the DOJ, the DHS, our military and our nuclear codes. I certainly wouldn’t. It’s fine to say that you don’t trust Sanders or Hillary either, but if even many Republicans don’t think he’s together enough to handle it, why would the American people?

    It’s great to be supporting a candidate who you believe is winning, but I think back to the saying, β€œPlay stupid games, get stupid prizes.” The prize for getting Trump to the finish line as our nominee would be losing to whomever the Democrats nominate and then watching helplessly as Obamacare stays in place, all of Obama’s executive orders stand and the Democrats pick four more Supreme Court Justices.

    If we nominate Trump, we’ll have our third straight lose/lose election where most conservatives will have a candidate who doesn’t truly represent their views as the GOP nominee. Of course, if Trump is our nominee, I will vote for him and I will try to do what I can to help him win, but it would be easier to ski uphill than to get a wildly unpopular Rockefeller Republican like Trump into the White House.

  37. Right he’s gonna make deals because they like him. Just like the “liked” Bohener and the “like” McConnell and the “like” Ryan. They all made deals. But Nooo! Trump will swoop in like, what was it that Obama said in 2007 about talking?, OK forget that Trump is different! Talking is no deals, and Trump is about deals, brother!

    The deal is the fact that he will make deals like these: Trump steaks, Trump Vodka, Trump the Game, Trump Magazine, Trump Mortgage, Trump Airlines, Trump University, Trump Casinos, the New Jersey Generals and happily, he also lost a lawsuit and was unable to take a widow’s home via eminent domain so he could build a limo parking lot. Trump has been a successful businessman, but an awful lot of investors who put money into his ill-advised projects because they just assumed he’d find a way to win have gotten burned doing business deals with him. (http://townhall.com/columnists/johnhawkins/2016/01/26/why-this-former-trump-fan-doesnt-support-him-anymore-n2109815/page/full)

Comments are closed.