I supposed that everyone has heard that Donald Trump and the folks at Fox News are fighting again, and this time it isn’t just Trump vs. Magyn Kelley. Trump tweeted recently that the entire Fox News network isn’t treating him fairly and in retaliation he says he won’t have anything to do with Fox “for the foreseeable future”. And oh, just for good measure, Trump picked another fight with Kelly. This time he called her a “lightweight” and suggested that she go on another unscheduled vacation like she did right after she tangled with him in the first debate. Not to be out done, Fox spokesmen indicated that Trump had has grown tiresome and they didn’t want him back in their studios.
It’s really quite a spectacle – a feud between the candidate leading the Republican pack and the voice box of the Republican Party, but the fight really should not surprise anyone. After all Trump is a thin skinned egomaniac that has run roughshod over the Republican establishment’s favorite candidates and led its far right wing zealots into rebellion. Fox is the Republican establishment’s media puppet that is obviously trying to ensure that an electable candidate wins the Republican nomination.
The GOP establishment hates Trump for agitating their unruly racist base on immigration and other issues that they know they need to avoid if they are to have any chance of winning the general election. Trumps bigoted rhetoric is forcing other Republican candidates to follow his lead to some extent to keep from alienating his supporters whose votes they will need to win the nomination if Trump is ever eliminated from the field.
I think that at least some on the Fox staff are trying their best to help the Republican establishment eliminate the “Trump problem”. So far they haven’t been successful in denting Trump’s popularity with the worse elements of the Republican Party, but I think that this is what is causing the friction between Fox and Trump’s camp.
However, I strongly suspect that Fox and Trump will sooner rather than later patch things up again because they need each other. Trump needs Fox to continue to reach his loyal supporters with his bombastic rhetoric and as long as Trump remains viable and the most interesting candidate in the race, Fox needs Trump to keep their ratings up.
Cajun 9/23/15