I liked the way Donald Trump disrupted the GOP establishment, but enough is enough of his childish attacks. Before the last debate, before Iowa has even begun, the GOP frontrunner is back to bullying Fox News anchor and debate moderator Megyn Kelly. In a disjointed, rambling rant at a press conference in Iowa, Trump backed out of Thursday's scheduled debate. Sounding like an egomaniac, Trump accused Fox of "playing games," blasting Kelly as "lightweight" and declared, "It's time that somebody plays grownup" - just not him!
In an interview earlier this week with CNN, Trump told Wolf Blizter that before the first GOP debate, which Kelly also co-moderated, "no one even heard of her." Sorry Donald, like you, Kelly was hugely famous before she moderated that first debate. You didn't make her a star. She made herself one long ago, before you decided to run for president.
"Does that sound to you like the temperament of a man we should elect as president, and how will you answer the charge from Hillary Clinton, who was likely to be the Democratic nominee, that you are part of the war on women?" Kelly asked Trump in last year's first GOP debate, and it's an even better one now.
I defended Trump after Fox's treatment of him during the first debate. While some, including me, felt Kelly dealt with him unfairly, asking him personal questions that she didn't ask other candidates, I now believe Trump needs to get over it and move on.
Journalists have the right to ask whatever questions they choose. Candidates and elected officials aren't always going to like them or their questions. But men and women who seek to be elected to the highest office in the nation should try to behave like leaders.
They answer questions from reporters in debates - whether they think the reporters are biased or not - to prove they can handle the heat and are worthy of the job. In Iowa, Trump said America needs a leader "to make great deals with Russia." But if Trump is afraid of Megyn Kelly, can we trust that he really knows how to stand up to world dictators and terrorists, or will he throw a tantrum?
Fox News made the same observation, albeit slightly facetious, in its published response to his threatened exit from the upcoming debate, releasing the following statement yesterday:
"We learned from a secret back channel that the Ayatollah and Putin both intend to treat Donald Trump unfairly when they meet with him if he becomes president - a nefarious source tells us that Trump has his own secret plan to replace the Cabinet with his Twitter followers to see if he should even go to those meetings," a Fox spokesperson said.
So Trump "doesn't like" Kelly. Yeah, we get that. But his obsession with her is starting to make him sound a little unhinged - like a rejected suitor. Could it be that Trump has a little crush on Megyn that's not reciprocated? Or was Kelly right in the first debate that Trump has a problem when it comes to women?
Whatever the answer, it's time for Trump to act like a leader, move on to important issues, and stop attacking Kelly.
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Opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessary represent those of Headlines and Global News.
Crystal Wright is the author of the newly published book "Con Job: How Democrats Gave Us Crime, Sanctuary Cities, Abortion Profiteering, and Racial Division" and editor and publisher of the blog Conservative Black Chick. As a black conservative woman living in Washington, D.C, some would say she is a triple minority: woman, black and a Republican living in a Democrat-dominated city. Wright is the principal owner of the Baker Wright Group, LLC , a full service public relations firm, specializing in communications counseling, media relations, message development, media training and crisis communications. Follow her on Twitter at @GOPBlackChick.
