Game of Thorns by Doug Wead

Author:Doug Wead
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Political Science / American Government / Executive Branch, Political Science / Political Process / Leadership, Political Science / Women In Politics
Publisher: Center Street
Published: 2017-02-28T05:00:00+00:00

THE REPUBLICAN DEBATES

On August 6, 2015, the first Republican primary debate took place at Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, Ohio. It was telecast by Fox News. It drew the largest television audience of any nonsporting event in cable history. It was also the biggest audience for any presidential primary debate in history. There was no doubt: Donald Trump was the reason.

Now leading in the GOP polls, and the nonstop subject of cable television and talk radio, Donald Trump was positioned front and center. And he delivered.

The moderator, Chris Wallace of Fox News, opened the debate by asking for a show of hands. Was any one of the candidates unwilling to pledge support “for the eventual nominee of the Republican Party and pledge to not run an independent campaign against that person”?25

Only Donald Trump raised his hand. It was a moment of supreme irony. Later, many of the candidates on that stage would refuse to support Donald Trump when he won the nomination, but now, convinced that he was a shooting star streaking quickly across the sky, they cloaked themselves in self-righteous commitments. Of course they would support the nominee. To do otherwise should be a disqualifier now.

One of the more mysterious and striking events in presidential debate history then unfolded. The coanchor of the debate was the Fox News star Megyn Kelly. She was a beautiful and erudite news anchor, trained as a lawyer, and she had prepared the perfect question for Donald Trump. The day before the debate, her question had been leaked to Trump Tower, and Mr. Trump had called the network irate, claiming that he was being set up.

Kelly had awakened that morning feeling fine, but that soon changed. The driver who picked her up offered her a cup of coffee. She declined. He persisted. She finally relented and within fifteen minutes she was deathly ill, vomiting violently. During the debate, she kept a blanket around her legs and a trash pail beneath the anchor desk.26

Undeterred Kelly posed a blunt question. “Mr. Trump, one of the things people love about you is you speak your mind and you don’t use a politician’s filter. However, that is not without its downsides, in particular, when it comes to women. You’ve called women you don’t like ‘fat pigs, dogs, slobs, and disgusting animals.”27

“Only Rosie O’Donnell,” Trump quipped, referring to a past public feud with the celebrity.28

Kelly went on to ask how Trump expected to be effective against Hillary Clinton with such a temperament.

Trump’s answer took the discussion back to his message but then quickly veered off course, turning confrontational. He accused Kelly of a personal attack on him.

To the annoyance of the other Republican contenders, the Trump-Kelly conflab dominated the discussion postdebate, and the nation followed the drama. Trump told CNN that “There was blood coming out of her eyes, blood coming out of her wherever.”29

Was Donald Trump intimating that her menstrual cycle had ignited her ire against him? Trump went on CNN’s State of the Union and denied these

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