Well, I just go through watching the GOP debate a few minutes ago, and it pretty much lived up to expectations. The second half was a little more ho-hum, but that first hour, and especially that first half hour, were fucking bonkers. They had a setup for Trump right at the outset. Even I didn’t think they’d be this obvious, but damned if they weren’t. What was that first question? The contenders were asked to raise their hand if they refused to rule out running as an independent. Of course the only person this applied to, was Donald Trump. He raised his hand and admitted he would not rule that out.

A short time later, Fox’s Megyn Kelly came at him again, with a question about how he had bad-mouthed various women over the years. Trump’s response?giphy (3)

Take a look at how the media is portraying this:1

The Mashable article calls The Donald’s response a “sexist attack.” They weren’t the only ones to go down this road. It seems like the mainstream media is trying to play up some more of the “war on women” themes…again. Here’s a Salon post that says he’s “attacking” Ms. Kelly:

“No, it wasn’t,” Kelly replied. “It was well beyond Rosie O’Donnell. You once told a contestant on ‘The Celebrity Apprentice’ that it ‘would be a pretty picture to see her on her knees.’ Does that sound to you like the temperament of someone we should elect as president,” and “how would you answer the question from Hillary Clinton…that you are part of the war on women?”

Trump replied that “the big problem this country has is being politically correct. I’ve been challenged by so many people, I don’t have time for total political correctness.” He said “what I say is fun, it’s kidding, we have a good time.”

“Honestly, Megyn, if you don’t like it, I’m sorry. I’ve been very nice to you, even though I don’t have to be given the way you treat me, but I wouldn’t do that.”
I can only imagine that this theme is going to continue. To me, it was anything but a sexist attack. I’m not the only one who feels that way, either. Even people who don’t care for Trump at all are chiming in with a similar opinion:

https://twitter.com/lizzyf620/status/629491778924756992

The crowd sure didn’t seem to mind. I don’t think most of the country will give two shits, either. They’re sick of the “gotcha” games that have defined our politics over the last 30 years or so.

https://twitter.com/BuzzFeedAndrew/status/629460197120065536

Not everyone was happy with Megyn Kelly, by the way…

https://twitter.com/k_mcq/status/629501982013792256

I expected Trump to be taking heat for something coming out of this thing, I just didn’t expect it to be so paper-thin. I thought he handled himself pretty well, and was one of the top 2 or 3 people on stage. Of course, he did get a lot more time than everyone else.

I’ll keep updating this post as more comes in. If you want to watch this full exchange for yourself, here’s the video, courtesy of RealClearPolitics:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaPTOpgNDZA

 

UPDATE: The GuardianVox, & Slate join the hatchet-job parade…

 

UPDATE II: Here’s Trump’s response so far…

The questions to me were not nice,” Trump said. “I didn’t think they were appropriate.”

Trump especially took issue with Megyn Kelly, the Fox News host who began her first question to Trump by listing the derogatory remarks he’s made about women he doesn’t like.

“I think Megyn behaved very nasty to me,” he said.

Trump weathered the incident by making light of the matter while arguing that the United States suffers from “being politically correct.” But his treatment by Kelly and her co-moderators was clearly an issue for him.

“All I know is everybody came up to me and said, ‘You had the toughest questions,’” he said.

Despite his complaints, Trump said he enjoyed the debate.