Donald Trump and the Fox News Channel are about to televise their dispute.
Trump has been booked for a 7 a.m. Tuesday interview on “Fox & Friends,” co-host Steve Doocy said on Twitter on Monday afternoon.
He said Trump will be talking “about his relationship with Fox News.”
Trump has been lambasting Fox for days, ever since he was challenged in last week’s GOP debate on the network. He says the Fox moderators were unfair to him and that Fox should be “ashamed.”
Ever since then, Fox has dramatically ratcheted down its coverage of Trump. The channel has barely covered Trump’s criticisms of the moderators Megyn Kelly, Chris Wallace and Bret Baier.
But the motor-mouth Republican candidate eased up on his criticism of the channel on Monday morning, tweeting that Fox News chairman Roger Ailes had just called and assured him that “‘Trump’ will be treated fairly on Fox News. His word is always good!”
Tuesday’s appearance on “Fox & Friends” was confirmed soon afterward. It will be Trump’s first time on the channel since Thursday night.
There are also reports that he’ll be on Sean Hannity’s 10 p.m. show on Tuesday, but Fox has not confirmed that.
What’s unfolding is a true clash of titans. Fox News is the favored network of Republicans, and Trump is the Republican campaign front-runner.
He has complained over and over again about what he perceives to be the network’s unfair treatment. On Sunday afternoon he tweeted: “It amazes me that other networks seem to treat me so much better than Fox News. I brought them the biggest ratings in history, and I get zip!”
And he has repeatedly and personally insulted Kelly, Fox’s 9 p.m. host.
It is “highly unlikely” that Trump will appear with Kelly in the coming days, a source said — and that’s probably an understatement.
The fight started several days ago when Kelly and the other moderators posed tough questions to Trump and other GOP candidates.
Kelly was praised for asking Trump about sexist and misogynistic comments from his past. But Trump was furious.
On Friday night, speaking with CNN’s Don Lemon, Trump complained about Kelly’s “anger” at the debate by saying there was “blood coming out of her eyes, blood coming out of her wherever.” Many people believe he insinuating something about her menstrual cycle, but Trump denied that.
Kelly and her bosses at Fox News have said nothing publicly about the “blood” comments. Privately, though, they are disgusted by what Trump said and by the response from some of his supporters. There has been so much invective directed at her on the Internet that it’s created security concerns for Fox.
Kelly does not want to be seen as a victim; rather, she wants to stay above the fray and be seen as an independent-minded journalist.
There will surely be a lot of interest in what she says — and doesn’t say — on her 9 p.m. program on Monday night.
As for Trump, questions about his “blood” comments continued all weekend and into Monday morning. When he called into MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” on Monday, he said he doesn’t owe Kelly an apology.
“She should really be apologizing to me, if you want to know the truth,” he said.
Trump was uncharacteristically quiet when asked if he’d been in touch with Fox News chairman Roger Ailes over the weekend.
“I don’t want to say,” he said.
Then, a few hours later, Trump said Ailes had called him.
Ailes’ role in all this is critical. He was a masterful Republican media consultant for decades before creating Fox News. He is widely regarded as a television genius and a conservative power broker.
And he has a long history with Trump. Before this current presidential bid, Trump was a weekly guest on the network’s morning show “Fox & Friends.”
According to Politico, the two men met for a long lunch in late June, shortly after Trump entered the race.
So what is Ailes thinking in this case? Ailes has a reputation as a fighter — someone who has employed his network and his hosts to win many battles over the years.
Around the office, Ailes has been known to repeat advice from his father: “Don’t pick a fight with someone who likes to fight.”
Usually when he invokes it, he means it as a warning to others.
But this situation is tricky. Why? Because Trump is a fighter, too.