Is Donald Trump afraid of Megyn Kelly?

The Internet is all once again preparing for another political debate. We know this one is Republican, as it is during the week and not on a Sunday night during a playoff football game. It also is not without the Donald Trump controversy that seems to haunt every step of the primary so far.

The appeal of Donald Trump remains a mystery to a Republican elite that is either unwilling to see or is just simply ignorant.

Back in July in an article titled “The GOP’s Real Donald Trump Problem“, I discussed his appeal. Specifically, I noted “Whenever Trump speaks, it’s not sugarcoated and manufactured to pass an inspection from the PC Police. This bothers uptight moderates and mainstream political types who prefer to keep things at an unexcited degree of simplicity.” Right or wrong, this is reality.

So when Donald Trump’s presidential campaign officially confirmed that the controversial businessman would not be participating in the next debate, everyone engaged in their own form of spin. Supporters of Senators Rand Paul and Ted Cruz especially like to claim Trump is afraid of their respective candidate.

He’s not.

The favorite theory among Republicans in general is that Trump is afraid of Megyn Kelly. Sorry, thats wrong too.

This is all politics. We are mere days away from the Iowa caucus and anything anybody can do to excite their base is welcome. Senator Cruz has been rolling out endorsements from a number of right wing superheroes like Glenn Beck, while Senator Paul is going to have his popular and arguably more libertarian father on the campaign trail this weekend.

Donald Trump? He’s putting his foot down against a cable network that shills for the Republican establishment and raising his fist in defiance to an army of propagandists and pseudo-journalists who pose as impartial messengers of the truth.

You can disagree with Trump on his politics, approach or authenticity, that’s fine. But it‘s dishonest to claim Trump is afraid of two United States Senators, a network full of disingenuous blowhards, an openly biased news anchor, or the boogeyman hiding under your bed.

The last several months full of survived “Trump’s done” moments show he’s not afraid of really anything. And that‘s why he doesn’t pull any punches with anyone.

The Hill summed it up perfectly:

Trump won’t miss making news by skipping the debate. Trump is the news. I wrote last week in The Hill that the Republican Party and the media don’t pull Trump’s strings; he pulls theirs. This is what I meant. This is Trump pulling the media’s strings. After the debate, the big story isn’t going to be what former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush and Florida Sen. Marco Rubio argued civilly about or whose flat tax proposal The Wall Street Journal likes best. The story is going to be whatever Trump did instead of the debate.

With or without Trump, all the news headlines are going to be about Trump. With or without Trump, Fox News‘s team will still pit the stage against Trump and name drop the controversial businessman. It is going to be Trump, Trump, and more Trump.

It’s all only going to hurt Fox News and it’s going to help Trump days before the Iowa Caucus. And that’s why he’s doing it.

Chris Dixon

About Chris Dixon

Chris Dixon is a libertarian-leaning writer and managing editor for The Liberty Conservative. In addition to his political writing, he also covers baseball for Cleat Geeks and enjoys writing on a number of other topics ranging on Medium.