On Wednesday, Donald Trump issued a news release (tweet) drawing a line in the sand: No longer would he appear on Fox News after the shabby treatment he'd received at their hands. In his own words:
Oh, wait. That tweet is from the last time Trump was mad at Fox. Here, let's formalize this.
So Trump was mad at Fox after the first Republican debate, because he didn't like that the moderators called him out repeatedly and asked him "hard" questions. Then, Fox News honcho Roger Ailes called and made nice.
However. Fox News then had the gall to report on not-so-great Trump poll numbers, prompting Trump to lash out at Bill O'Reilly and Fox in general. This morning:
Fox says that Trump was angry that the network had canceled a Trump appearance, which sounds about right. But that said, the "foreseeable future" lasted about four days last time. Maybe he can break that record.
Meanwhile, Trump has been at war with the largest paper in Iowa for two months, ever since its editorial board called for him to drop out in not-nice terms.
Using that as an excuse, Trump declined to speak from the Register-sponsored soapbox at the Iowa State Fair, and, more recently, denied press credentials to reporters from the paper.
...As he did with the Huffington Post. That's almost certainly because the site relegated Trump news to its entertainment section, an editorial statement in its own right. It's worth noting that both HuffPo and the Register just had reporters attend events along with everyone else, and it all worked out fine.
Shortly before the most recent presidential debate, Trump was embarrassed by radio talk show host Hugh Hewitt, who asked him a question about the "Quds," but Trump thought he was talking about the "Kurds."
Some people suggested that this was because Trump wasn't familiar with the Quds Force, a unit of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps.
Anyway, Trump and Hewitt quickly mended fences -- mostly after Hewitt acknowledged that it was certainly possible that Trump misheard him and was otherwise prepared to expound at length on the nuances of the Iranian military. Hewitt has repeatedly said that Trump is the "best interview in America," which might incline a person to assume a hearing issue when it's not totally warranted.
Trump similarly made amends with NBC's Chuck Todd. Here's January:
And then, on Sunday:
And in his Tuesday appearance on Stephen Colbert's new late show, Trump had this to say about Todd: "The 'moron' has become a very nice guy."
All's well that ends with positive press for Trump.
Speaking of:
And then:
The status of Trump's feelings about The Fix might change shortly, as well.
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