After scolding Fox News on Wednesday over a snarky press release criticizing Donald Trump’s decision to boycott the upcoming GOP debate hosted by the network, on Thursday, NBC’s Today seemed to reverse course, with co-host Matt Lauer pointing out the irony of Trump being offended by the FNC statement.
Lauer proclaimed: “Isn’t the lunacy of this – if you look, Donald Trump says he’s angry over that statement that Fox News put out a couple of days ago, he said, ‘it sounded like it was written by a child’ and it mocked him. This is Donald Trump, this is the guy who’s run an entire campaign on mocking people and using childish words like ‘loser.’ How does he get away with this?”
MSNBC political analyst Nicole Wallace responded: “What’s interesting to me is that Donald Trump is now engaged in a very hot war against Fox News’s most prominent woman [Megyn Kelly]. And I think the universal consensus on his decision is that’s a show of strength, but I think this could represent a real weakness when women start evaluating him as a potential commander-in-chief.”
Lauer observed that Kelly was “the one who really has been victimized by the words of Donald Trump over the last six months.”
Later on the show, correspondent Willie Geist offered a full report on how “Trump's war against Fox News host Megyn Kelly is the latest in a long line of feuds with fellow celebrities going back to the '80s...”
After that report, Lauer noted: “And through every one of these battles and feuds, we give him tons of air time. He knows how to play the media.” Fellow co-host Savannah Guthrie chimed in: “He knows how to get publicity for sure.”
According to a new Media Research Center study released on Thursday, while the media have been obsessed with Trump’s “feuds” and other controversies, the broadcast networks have spent little time examining the Republican candidate’s liberal past.
Here is a full transcript of the January 28 segment with Wallace:
7:05 AM ET
SAVANNAH GUTHRIE: Let's bring in MSNBC political analyst Nicole Wallace, who served as an adviser to the McCain/Palin campaign. Hi, Nicole, good morning to you.
NICOLE WALLACE: Good morning, guys.
[ON-SCREEN HEADLINE: Trump Doubles Down on Debate Boycott; Tells Fox’s O’Reilly It’s “An Eye for An Eye”]
GUTHRIE: Well, first of all, do you think there’s any chance Donald Trump has a change of heart and just shows up tonight?
WALLACE: I would’ve said maybe before that O'Reilly interview. He dug in last night, he’s now planned an event to raise money for veterans. I don’t think so.
GUTHRIE: So if he’s not there physically, will he be there and loom as a presence no matter what? In some sense, he is going to be there.
WALLACE: Yeah, when you’re up as far as he is in the polls you’re always going to be there because that is still – they are still all running against him.
MATT LAUER: Isn’t the lunacy of this – if you look, Donald Trump says he’s angry over that statement that Fox News put out a couple of days ago, he said, “it sounded like it was written by a child” and it mocked him. This is Donald Trump, this is the guy who’s run an entire campaign on mocking people and using childish words like “loser.” How does he get away it?
WALLACE: I think we have to rewind the tape a little further. Megyn Kelly's original sin in the mind of Donald Trump is that she asked him a question about his past comments toward women like Rosie O’Donnell, where he called her a “fat pig.” She asked him if he was part of a war against women. What’s interesting to me is that Donald Trump is now engaged in a very hot war against Fox News’s most prominent woman. And I think the universal consensus on his decision is that’s a show of strength, but I think this could represent a real weakness when women start evaluating him as a potential commander-in-chief.
LAUER: And by the way, just to stay on the Fox side for a second, she’s the one who really has been victimized by the words of Donald Trump over the last six months. How do you think she must feel watching Bill O'Reilly try to get Donald Trump to give them forgiveness?
WALLACE: I think it’s probably a Twilight Zone point in her career for her. She’s tough. But listen, I think the fact that Fox News stood by her is an important one. I think all women in the work place would hope that their employer would stand by her. But I think Donald Trump is playing with fire. Fox News and the Trump universe have an overlapping base of support and followers. This is the highest stakes war he has started and I'm not sure it’s one he’s going to win in the end.
GUTHRIE: Well, that’s what I think is interesting. It’s kind of a Rorshach test. If you love Trump, you love that this is like –
WALLACE: And plenty of people do.
GUTHRIE: Right. An awesome dis of another cherished institution, this time Fox News. If you don't like Trump, it is petulant, it is icky, it is fourth grade. So to that sliver of undecided voters, how do you think this stunt plays?
WALLACE: Well, the sliver gets a lot bigger should he emerge as the Republican Party's nominee and have to appeal to a general electorate. I think he’s gonna have to dramatically change the way he combats people who don't agree with him. This is a fight – he’s treating Megyn Kelly like an enemy combatant because she dared to ask him a question that offended him about past comments against women. I think when you stand before the general electorate and want to convince independent voters, which include large numbers of women, that you can go toe to toe with people who don’t agree with you. This is a vulnerability, not a strength.
LAUER: You’ve already said that Donald Trump will be there, whether he’s there physically or not. Doesn't this also now change the focus a bit to Ted Cruz, aren't the other candidates on that stage tonight gonna level their attacks on him?
WALLACE: They might, but the other campaigns, I checked in with all of them last night, they are barely concealing their enthusiasm for a debate that is not dominated by questions for Trump and exchanges with him. You know, Trump actually had his best moment of his entire campaign when he stood in defense of New York values at the last campaign. So it’s a real missed opportunity for Trump, and one that the other campaigns are very much looking forward to.
LAUER: Alright, Nicole, thanks very much.
WALLACE: Thanks, guys.
LAUER: Nice to see you.
