Donald Trump, the Republican presidential frontrunner and not exactly friend of women, was expected to say some confrontational things at the first Republican presidential debate on Thursday.
But when his machismo went up against Megyn Kelly, the Fox News personality, debate moderator and nonstop voice for women’s issues, he didn’t stand a chance. In fact, Kelly spent most of the debate grilling Jeb Bush, Scott Walker and more candidates with surprisingly tough questions over reproductive rights and beyond.
“You’ve called women you don’t like fat pigs, dogs, slobs and disgusting animals,” Kelly began her question, about as directly as you can.
“Only Rosie O’Donnell,” Trump interrupted with a sneer, earning cheers from the crowd.
Kelly wasn’t having it. Any of it.
“For the record, it was way beyond Rosie O’Donnell,” Kelly said – before launching into a laundry list Trump’s most misogynistic moments:
Your Twitter account has several disparaging comments about women’s looks. You once told a contestant on the Celebrity Apprentice it would be a pretty picture to see her on her knees. Does that sound to you like the temperament of a man we should elect as president? And how do you answer the charge from Hillary Clinton – that you are part of the war on women?
Trump, unchastened, responded with a misdirect: “I think the big problem this country has is being politically correct.”
Then he made a veiled threat at Kelly herself.
“What I say is what I say, and honestly, Megyn, if you don’t like it, I’m sorry. I’ve been very nice to you, although I could probably maybe not be based on the way you’ve treated me, but I wouldn’t do that.”
O’Donnell herself fired off a tweet shortly after the exchange, in an apparent rebuke to Trump.
try explaining that 2 ur kids
— Rosie (@Rosie) August 7, 2015
Twitter was quick to cheer Kelly’s taking Trump to task for his comments.
Uh oh, the Donald just picked on Megyn Kelly. This will not end well. #GOPDebate
— Jill Filipovic (@JillFilipovic) August 7, 2015
Is someone going to tell Megyn Kelly she's not judging an episode RuPaul's Drag Race, with all that shade?
— Ronan Farrow (@RonanFarrow) August 7, 2015
.@megynkelly hitting them like... pic.twitter.com/Ia1pzatQJE
— Goldie Taylor (@goldietaylor) August 7, 2015
Even liberals backed Kelly, the longtime prime-time Fox star. Guardian columnist Jessica Valenti wrote: “I’m not generally a Fox News fan, but I may have to turn in more often if I’m going to see Kelly be such a bad-ass.”
Kelly earned praise again with her blunt question on abortion to Governor Scott Walker, who recently enacted restrictive anti-choice legislation in Wisconsin. “Would you really let a mother die rather than have an abortion?” she asked.
Praying for @megynkelly to interrupt one of them with this #GOPDebate pic.twitter.com/f9qwVLhb3z
— Elizabeth Plank (@feministabulous) August 7, 2015
Megyn Kelly could not be enjoying this more.
— Irin Carmon (@irin) August 7, 2015
Later in the debate, Jeb Bush bragged that he had defunded Planned Parenthood as governor of Florida and “defended a culture of life”. He looked on the defensive after asking earlier this week if it was worth spending half a billion dollars on women’s health issues. It was Kelly, once again, putting him there.
Kelly then pushed Rubio on his position on a rape-and-incest exception for abortion.
Then Kelly turned back to Trump, once again, on women’s issues.
Megyn Kelly's on fire #GOPDebate pic.twitter.com/LI0ftGwmAW
— HuffPost Politics (@HuffPostPol) August 7, 2015
“When did you actually become a Republican?” she asked.
“I am pro-life,” Trump said. He said he had evolved on abortion – that he used to “hate abortion” but that he had seen a child who had “become a superstar”.
Then Trump turned to a rambling answer about Bush, Obama and ... well, Megyn Kelly turned back to a question referring to a report about Bush reportedly calling Trump a “clown”, “a buffoon” and something that “couldn’t be repeated on television”: “asshole”.
