Donald Trump lashes out on Twitter at ‘unfair Fox’ for lacklustre GOP debate
Presidential hopeful Donald Trump has blamed Fox News for the criticism he has received in the wake of a televised debate among the Republican Party’s 10 candidates for the leader role.
The billionaire criticised the host of the debate Megyn Kelly and lashed out at those who felt his performance came up short. Kelly, who is a presenter for Fox News, was deemed by Trump to have treated him unfairly with questions that looked to clarify some of his controversial views such as women are “fat pigs”.
It was one flashpoint in a heated debate that tended to focus on Trump over the nine other hopefuls. Despite taking the limelight, the property tycoon was booed throughout by members of the audience and also seemed to offend some of his own supporters, according to a focus group conducted after the debate.
Trump shifted the blame from his own performance and onto to Fox News in the aftermath of the event. In a series of tweets (see below), he claimed that Kelly had treated him unfairly throughout the debate before dismissing findings from polster Luntz Global.
.@FoxNews you should be ashamed of yourself. I got you the highest debate ratings in your history & you say nothing but bad...
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 7, 2015
I really enjoyed the debate tonight even though the @FoxNews trio, especially @megynkelly, was not very good or professional!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 7, 2015
.@FrankLuntz, your so-called "focus groups" are a total joke. Don't come to my office looking for business again. You are a clown!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 7, 2015
.@FrankLuntz I won every poll of the debate tonight by massive margins @DRUDGE_REPORT & @TIME so where did you find that dumb panel.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 7, 2015
His performance during the debate, which saw him smirk as he admitted to making derogatory comments about women, sparked the most buzz on Twitter. He took 30 per cent of mentions - or nearly 30,000 mentions per hour - according to social media analytics business Spredfast.
The debate is the latest in Trump’s tumultuous push for the White House next year. He has emerged as a frontrunner for the Republican Party’s presidential candidate even though his comments have linked it to controversial views about Mexican immigrants.