Donald Trump and the Fox News Channel are in talks about Trump possibly appearing on Fox on Monday night, according to a source with knowledge of the talks.
Trump has been lambasting Fox for days, ever since he was challenged in last week’s GOP debate. He has complained that the Fox moderators were unfair to him during the debate.
But on Monday, the poll-leading Republican candidate eased up on his criticism of the network, tweeting that Roger Ailes, the head of Fox News, had called him. Trump tweeted that Ailes “assures me that ‘Trump’ will be treated fairly on @FoxNews. His word is always good!”
The conciliatory tweet may increase the chance that Trump will appear on Fox Monday night.
It is “highly unlikely,” however, that Trump would appear at 9 p.m. with host Megyn Kelly, the source said, and that’s probably an understatement. Trump has repeatedly and personally insulted Kelly in recent days.
But talks are underway about a Trump interview with another prime time host, like Sean Hannity, the source said, adding that nothing had been confirmed as of Monday morning.
In the meantime, Fox has dramatically ratcheted down its coverage of Trump. It hasn’t covered Trump’s criticisms of Kelly and the two other debate moderators, Chris Wallace and Bret Baier.
Trump’s most recent tweet about Fox came on Sunday afternoon: “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!”
This is a true clash of titans. Fox News is the favored network of Republicans, and Trump is the Republican campaign front-runner.
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.
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.