A detente between two of the most powerful forces in Republican politics – Fox News and Donald Trump – appeared in danger of disintegration on Tuesday, with Fox chief Roger Ailes issuing a public statement calling on Trump to apologize for “verbal assaults” against anchor Megyn Kelly.
“Donald Trump’s surprise and unprovoked attack on Megyn Kelly during her show last night is as unacceptable as it is disturbing,” said Ailes in the statement. “Megyn Kelly represents the very best of American journalism and all of us at Fox News Channel reject the crude and irresponsible attempts to suggest otherwise.”
The offending language came in Trump tweets about Kelly during her Fox broadcast on Monday night, her first after a vacation break. One message retweeted by Trump called Kelly a “bimbo”:
"@mstanish53: @realDonaldTrump @megynkelly The bimbo back in town . I hope not for long ."
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 25, 2015
In his statement issued on Tuesday, Ailes called on Trump to apologize.
“Donald Trump rarely apologizes, although in this case, he should,” the statement said. “We have never been deterred by politicians or anyone else attacking us for doing our job, much less allowed ourselves to be bullied by anyone and we’re certainly not going to start now.”
Trump hit back quickly with a statement of his own on Tuesday afternoon, which made reference to the genesis of the conflict, a question Kelly asked Trump at a Republican debate earlier this month.
“I totally disagree with the Fox statement,” Trump’s said. “I do not think Megyn Kelly is a quality journalist. I think her questioning of me, despite all of the polls saying I won the debate, was very unfair. Hopefully in the future I will be proven wrong and she will be able to elevate her standards to a level of professionalism that a network such as Fox deserves.”
The resumption of friction between Fox and Trump followed a closely watched rapprochement earlier this month, in which Ailes called Trump and promised the Republican presidential candidate that the network would cover his campaign fairly.
The conflict began at the first Republican debate, which was hosted by Kelly and a fellow Fox anchor. In what would become the most widely circulated scene from the debate, Kelly asked Trump about his “disparaging comments about women’s looks”.
Trump conceded that he might have made such comments about Rosie O’Donnell, the comedienne, with whom he has traded barbs, but he denied that those remarks represented a pattern of behavior.
Trump then lashed out at Fox, accusing the network of treating him unfairly. A day later, amends were made. Kelly read a statement on her show saying the episode was behind her. Ailes called Trump.
“Roger called me the other day, and it’s absolutely fine,” Trump said at the time.
The candidate, who latest polls show is performing well among women in early voting states, could not resist returning to the attack, however, on Monday.
Trump tweeted that Kelly was “off her game,” and retweeted others’ attacks on her appearance:
"@bigpaulfla: @realDonaldTrump She has come back looking like Nancy Grace"
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 25, 2015
