Fox Uses, then Abuses, Donald Trump

It seemed that the Donald was on every Fox show, reportedly totaling more airtime than any other GOP candidate and, for the most part, he received kid glove treatment. Fox got ratings every time he showed up and, perhaps more importantly, he was driving up interest in the first GOP Presidential debate. Which Fox just happened to be hosting. No one ever said that Fox doesn't know how to promote its own best interests.

As time went on, though, it became more apparent that Mr. Trump's grasp of the issues wasn't quite there yet, not to mention the fact that some of the positions he had taken in the past were inconsistent with the far right territory that the Republicans Party is staking out and promoting today. (We'd love to hear Mr. Trump resurrect his millionaires' tax as a solution to the Federal debt - we think he would get a lot of takers on that one, but the party hierarchy would have a conniption.) And, at a practical level, he was alienating so many Americans that it was highly unlikely he could ever win a general election.

So when Rupert Murdoch tweeted his disenchantment with Mr. Trump recently, it probably was a foreshadowing of what was to come. The only question was just how quickly would Fox turn. Would they continue to use Mr. Trump to drive ratings throughout the rest of this year, figuring he would self-destruct at some point before the first caucuses and primaries? Or had they had enough already, and didn't want to take a chance that this guy just might become a serious contender for the nomination?

(Wallace/Trump debate images from uproxx.com)

Well, at this past week's first Republican Presidential debate, it didn't take long to find out. A pretty good case could be made that the Fox team had teamed up to "get" the Donald. The first question of the night asked all the candidates to raise their hand if they would not pledge to support the GOP nominee next fall. Our understanding is that Mr. Trump already was on record as reserving judgement on that issue. So, right off the bat, the Fox panel was going to make sure all Republican viewers knew he might not support the party's ticket.

It also was interesting how that question was phrased: the candidates weren't asked to raise their hand if they promised to support the GOP ticket. Nine men raising their hands wouldn't have been particularly dramatic. Rather, the question was asked as a negative, thereby forcing the solitary Mr. Trump to raise his hand.

Later in the debate, Mr. Trump's history of disparaging remarks against women was brought up, in conjunction with the assertion that such baggage would play poorly in a general election campaign against Hillary Clinton. A shrewd question designed to remind Republican voters of the gender gap that the party is hoping to overcome.

Mr. Trump also found himself defending his history of bankruptcies, the back and forth of which included, if we heard correctly, his being called a liar by Chris Wallace. Mr. Trump was explaining that it was his companies, not he personally, that had taken advantage of the bankruptcy laws of this country. Although we would like to understand those business bankruptcies in more detail, we have to give Mr. Trump the nod on this one, at least as it pertains to the facts he was trying to explain.

Of course, Mr. Trump, who is believed to be notoriously thin-skinned, did not appreciate the treatment he received by the Fox reporters that night and fired back in his usual take-no-prisoners fashion. How will all this play out? Some think the Fox attempt to "take down" the Donald is the beginning of the end of his campaign. Others think the Fox approach did not work and that Mr. Trump has the staying power to weather this first storm and keep on sailing.

Time will tell, but when it comes to Donald Trump, as long as he doesn't start to pout, we know the voyage won't be boring.