Thursday

March 28th, 2024

Insight

Capitalizing on P.T. Trump's genius --- and some advice for the hen in the Fox house

Alicia Colon

By Alicia Colon

Published August 10, 2015

Capitalizing on P.T. Trump's genius --- and some advice for the hen in the Fox house

According to the DNC chair, Debbie Wasserman Schultz, the Democrat Party was jubilant over the chaotic GOP debate. She said, "I felt pretty good that we increased the chances that the Democratic nominee whoever it is, will ultimately be elected president of the United States." Dream on, Debbie. Thanks to Donald Trump and Fox, 24 million viewers got to hear what serious Republican candidates have to say and that is a very good thing. They also watched real journalists throw out hardball questions and learned that Fox is not necessarily in the tank for the GOP as liberals claim.

Many Trump supporters are incensed that Megyn Kelly went after Donald Trump so fiercely but she did her job well which was to expose how serious a candidate he is by pushing his buttons. There were no softball questions as the liberals usually toss out. Remember Barbara Walters and her, "If you were a tree, what tree would you be?" How about MSNBC's Melissa Harris-Perry asking AG Holder if he would quack like a duck to show how smooth he is. MSNBC is the absolute poorest example of the Fourth Estate.

Megyn Kelly is a beautiful woman and she knows it. She is also highly intelligent and she knows it. She is Fox's rising star and she and Roger Ailes know it. She is not quite as obnoxious as Bill O'Reilly and she's smart enough not to go there but fame saps humility so she needs to watch out. I confess that I rarely watch Fox anymore but I read the transcripts of their programs at my leisure. I do believe that their best interviewers are Bret Baier and Neil Cavuto. Chris Wallace is the son of the famed anchor Mike Wallace but more fair and balanced than his father was.

The Fox moderators did their homework on the candidates and knew which possible conflicts in their past statements need to be explained. The debate also had a very interesting heated exchange between Rand Paul and Chris Christie. Paul reminded the audience that Christie hugged Obama and Christie huffily replied that he only remembered hugging the families of the 9/11 victims. Good comeback or flat out lie?

Debra Burlingame, sister of the pilot of the doomed AA 77 flight that flew into Pentagon, posted a remark on her FB page that those families don't remember getting hugs from Christie and that he was too busy at the memorial schmoozing with political VIPs and ignoring the families. Whether he did or not, it appears that Christie bringing up 9/11 smacked of programmed desperation.

It had to be one of the liveliest political debates since I started watching as a teen in 1960 and for that the GOP should be grateful for Donald Trump being in the race. He may not be presidential material but he is saying out loud what many Americans say behind closed doors. It is not, however , true that he is the only one making these points.

Several candidates have expressed the same concerns as Trump has but for the low-info voter who only listens to network news or gets their news from Pravda-like newspapers, this is their first exposure to the Fox channel and hearing what conservatives have always preached. I'll bet many did not hear of Planned Parenthood selling baby parts nor do many even know what happened in Benghazi when Hillary was Secretary of State.

It was Ben Carson who railed about political correctness at his brave appearance at the 2013 National Prayer Breakfast while Obama scowled at his words. After that, we conservatives all wished he would run but he never got MSM coverage but those who watched this Fox debate were duly impressed.

Trump is being called a buffoon, a clown, a Democrat pawn and other derogatory names but I hope he stays in as long as possible because he is doing a great job at bringing those who are not interested in politics into the audience.

Conservative groups are distancing themselves from Trump and they are making a big mistake. Red State founder Erick Erickson disinvited Trump from a Saturday event because of sexist remarks Trump made about Megyn Kelly. Hundreds of Trump supporters signed up to hear him and have expressed anger at the cancellation. This also means as no-shows, they did not get to hear the other candidates as well.

I'm hoping that those who watched the debate at prime time also tuned into the earlier debate at 5pm because that is where the most qualified candidates were heard. This debate included three former governors, one sitting governor, a senator, a former senator and the only female in the GOP contingent. Carly Fiorina essentially won that debate followed by Gov. Perry and Gov. Jindal. She did not denigrate the second tier position but used it as a way to introduce herself to the public. She and the most successful governor on record, Rick Perry, deserve to be in the first tier next time. But let's get real, in order to stay in, they have to compete with the huge war chests of Jeb Bush and Donald Trump so break out your wallets.

Here's the bare naked truth. All of the other candidates for the prime time debate have handlers that prepare their responses. Donald Trump has no handlers and is unscripted. He speaks off the cuff and his supporters appreciate this. They are sick and tired of politicians as usual, period.

There will be many more debates before the first primary so let's allow Donald Trump to keep doing his P.T. Barnum gig and bringing in the crowds to hear the legitimate candidates that the MSM ignores. Hopefully, the smart ones will ditch their handlers and we just might end up with a candidate that really will bring back America.

Comment by clicking here.

Columnists

Toons