Conservative event disinvites Trump over Megyn Kelly remarks
A major conservative gathering has disinvited businessman Donald Trump just hours before his scheduled appearance, over Trump’s comments about a female debate moderator.
The presidential candidate on Friday night told CNN that when Fox News debate moderator Megyn Kelly was asking him aggressive questions during Thursday’s GOP presidential debate, “You could see there was blood coming out of her eyes. Blood coming out of her — wherever.”
{mosads}In response, RedState Gathering announced overnight that Trump is no longer welcome to make his scheduled appearance Saturday in Atlanta. In his place, event organizers invited Kelly instead.
RedState head Erick Erickson explained the decision in a blog post, writing that the comments were “a bridge too far for me.”
“His comment was inappropriate. It is unfortunate to have to disinvite him,” he said. “But I just don’t want someone on stage who gets a hostile question from a lady and his first inclination is to imply it was hormonal. It just was wrong.”
Erickson noted that he had felt sympathy for Trump, because his candidacy was not being treated as legitimate, but said “there are just real lines of decency a person running for President should not cross.”
Trump’s campaign responded overnight that “this is just another example of weakness through being politically correct. For all of the people who were looking forward to Mr. Trump coming, we will miss you. Blame Erick Erickson, your weak and pathetic leader.”
Fellow GOP presidential candidate Carly Fiorina also criticized Trump’s comments overnight, tweeting “Mr. Trump: There. Is. No. Excuse,” before adding, “I stand with @megynkelly.”
Trump lobbed series of attacks at Fox News — and Kelly in particular — on Friday, a day after he had some contentious exchanges with moderators at a debate for Republican presidential candidates.
Kelly asked the businessman Thursday to answer for incidents where he called women “fat pigs, dogs, slobs and disgusting animals.”
Trump fired back, “If you don’t like it, I’m sorry. I’ve been very nice to you, although I could probably maybe not be, based on the way you have treated me. But I wouldn’t do that.”
The candidate also took issue with a focus group run by pollster Frank Luntz that appeared on Fox News immediately after the debate, where the panelists mostly panned Trump’s performance.
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