DES MOINES – Donald Trump's campaign announced Tuesday night that he would not be participating in the last scheduled debate before Iowa's primary caucuses next Monday night. His reason? Fox News would not oust Fox News commentator Megyn Kelly from the panel questioners.
Trump says Kelly is "unfair" because of a question she asked him in August 2015 at the first Fox News debate.
In August, Townhall.com's columnist Star Parker reviewed what happened that night:
[Megyn Kelly] opened the debate segment with, "Our first round of questions is on the subject of electability in the general election."
Ben Carson was asked about his absence of political experience. Marco Rubio about his absence of experience as an executive. Bush about dealing with the mentality that "the last thing this country needs is another Bush."
Then Kelly turned to Trump.
"You've called women you don't like 'fat pigs, dogs, and disgusting animals' … how will you answer the charge from Hillary Clinton … likely to be the Democratic nominee, that you are part of the war on women?"
Parker reviews the Republicans' failed history of winning American women's votes, why it is important that those votes are recovered in 2016 and then writes:
Projections indicate that the percentage of the American electorate in 2016 that is white will be down to 70 percent, a historic low. And of the total American electorate, 53 percent are women.
How much clearer can it be that it will be impossible to elect a conservative Republican in 2016 if that candidate does not have the skill and persona to attract some voters who don't traditionally vote Republican?
The last time a Republican presidential candidate won the women's vote was 25 years ago when George H.W. Bush squeaked by Michael Dukakis with 51 percent.
The women's vote will be a particular challenge in an election in which Democrats run the first woman candidate for president.
Parker, a black woman who worked herself up from welfare to head a nationally-recognized business and become a conservative leader, says the question that angered (and more so embarrassed) Trump was a very fair question.
So Megyn Kelly's question to Trump was smart, on target and very fair. The real question is how could Trump — whose big selling point is being a smart businessman — call this "unfair"?
So, we ask, what was so unfair about Megyn Kelly's question?
Trump's anger continued to boil as later on in the evening he tweeted:
Parker's August 11, 2015 column is HERE.
The Fox News debate will be broadcast live from Des Moines Iowa Thursday night, January 28, beginning at 5:00 PM CST with the first panel of Carly Fiorina, Mike Huckabee, Rick Santorum and Jim Gilmore. The second forum begins at 7:00 PM CST and will include Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio, Ben Carson, Jeb Bush, Rand Paul, Chris Christie and John Kasich.
