GOP frontrunner Donald Trump is once again urging his supporters to turn against Fox News with a Tweet calling for a boycott of Megyn Kelly’s highly rated TV-show.
“Everybody should boycott the @megynkelly show,” the real estate mogul tweeted on Friday evening. “Never worth watching. [It is] always a hit on Trump. She is sick [and] the most overrated person on TV,” the tweet concluded.
Everybody should boycott the @megynkelly show. Never worth watching. Always a hit on Trump! She is sick, & the most overrated person on tv.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 18, 2016
Mere minutes later, Kelly’s fellow Fox News personality Geraldo Rivera jumped to his own Twitter account to defend Kelly but also to massage Trump’s ego.
@realDonaldTrump @megynkelly I love you man but basta. This obsession w @megynkelly is weird & unhelpful. She's doing her job, you do yours.
— Geraldo Rivera (@GeraldoRivera) March 18, 2016
Fox New’s Special Report anchor Bret Baier also chimed in:
Enough. @megynkelly is not crazy-she’s not sick. We’ll continue to cover this race fairly. https://t.co/8eKaVTLhd0 https://t.co/hiVJtV0zQN
— Bret Baier (@BretBaier) March 18, 2016
The network released a statement about Trump’s efforts to re-ignite his feud with Fox News and host Kelly.
“Donald Trump’s vitriolic attacks against Megyn Kelly and his extreme, sick obsession with her is beneath the dignity of a presidential candidate who wants to occupy the highest office in the land,” Fox News spokeswoman Irena Briganti said in a statement on Friday night.
The statement went on to praise Kelly as one of America’s “leading anchors.”
“As the mother of three young children, with a successful law career and the second highest rated show in cable news, it’s especially deplorable for her to be repeatedly abused just for doing her job,” the statement concluded.
The Trump campaign renewed its attack in reply to the Fox statement.
“Megyn Kelly is a highly overrated reporter and anchor that constantly disparages Mr. Trump with negative and inaccurate reports. Despite the fact he wants nothing to do with her and will not appear on her show due to her extremely biased reporting, much of the program is about him anyway on a nightly basis,” Trump spokeswoman Hope Hicks said.
Trump has repeatedly called Megyn Kelly “crazy Megyn” and accused her of being biased against him. But the feud goes back almost since Trump first announced his campaign for president.
At times it seemed to have been settled, but it continues to bubble. Only two months ago, for instance, Trump said that Kelly was unknown before he came along. “I might be the best thing that ever happened to her. Whoever even heard of her before the last debate?” he said on CNN at the end of January.
And as the debates neared earlier this year, the feud between Trump and Fox saw The Donald slamming Fox as “a disgrace” and Fox hastening to smooth the waters with an apology.
The GOP primary leader also attacked two more of his favorite targets, once again calling GOP opponent Ted Cruz “lyin’ Ted” and slamming Senator Lindsey Graham as a “jinx.”
Follow Warner Todd Huston on Twitter @warnerthuston or email the author at igcolonel@hotmail.com
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