Stroke of bleeding genius - Trump's petulant play to give the last FOX debate a pass.. UPDATE

Until Trump announced he is passing up the last Fox debate, I thought he was merely petty.  The light came on when he actually bugged out of Fox's show.  He's doing "God's work", doing the right a big favour, opening a road around the media's left bias.  Instapundit nails it, calling the American press "Democratic operatives with bylines".   It's the same here at home in Canada.

It's not a debate between the press and the candidates.  It's a debate AMONG candidates and that calls for a moderator, not an adversary.  The "adversary" part is between candidates.  Why we still let CBC and CTV and such like own the stage and define the debate, is beyond me.  They can report it but are just in the way claiming to moderate it.

Source

If Trump pulls off some good ratings for his "off-Broadway" show in Iowa, raising funds for veterans, and if Roger Ailes loses about half the debate viewers in Trump's absence, the next election cycle will have proper debates with referees, not insurgents like Candy Crowley hogging the mike.  The networks and newspapers don't own the message today and will be busy enough trying to salvage a workable business plan just to stay in the game.

Crazy like a fox!  Trump has attracted a lot of new attention and his off-Broadway show will be in Iowa winning voters a couple days before the Primary.


UPDATE:  It gets better. Trump says he'll talk chairman to chairman with Murdoch but won't pick up for Ailes.   Petulance or genius?  I like his face-to-face approach.  Talk to the principals and skip the UN speeches.

UPDATE: FOX is doubling down and wrong-footing it: "Fox News and Google have invited three YouTube personalities to ask questions at the Jan. 28 GOP debate — including a Muslim advocate who describes Donald Trump as a bigot and who visually portrayed him as being in agreement with national socialist Adolf Hitler."

UPDATE:  Quoted at smalldeadanimals:  "Democrats are watching. Trump is framing himself as an enemy of their enemy. (Democrats hate FOX News.)"  And from Kate's link to Scott Adams of Dilbert fame:    "For starters, tell me what you learned about all the other candidates today.
Nothing?   Trump sucked the oxygen out of the room.   Again."   Scott also says Donald will twitter-feed all over the FOX debate: If they bring a knife at him, he'll bring a gun.

UPDATE:  You can call it a fit of pique or showmanship but not lack of courage.  A hundred million people were lined up ready to mock him for lacking a spine before Meagan.  This was a given.  And they are all going to tune in next week to see what Donald does next.  He's done shows for years and you always end a good one with a cliff-hanger for the next.