APPEARING AT FOX'S -- FOX NEWS, I SHOULD SAY -- THURSDAY

REPUBLICAN PRIMARY DEBATE, DESPITE HOW MUCH PUBLICITY HE

HAS GOTTEN OUT OF IT, AND HE HAS BEEN A RATINGS DRIVER. HE WILL

NOT GO, BECAUSE MEGYN KELLY HAS BEEN UNFAIR TO HIM IN THE PAST

BY READING THE TWEETS HE HIMSELF WROTE, HE IS BOYCOTTING BECAUSE

FOX REFUSED TO GET RID OF MEGYN KELLY. ALTHOUGH THERE IS STILL

TIME, THEY MIGHT CAPITULATE. SO AFTER THAT ANNOUNCEMENT, BOTH

SIDES ARE TRYING TO GET MAXIMUM POLITICAL GAIN OUT OF THIS. HE

HAS TWEETED THAT HE IS NOT GOING TO CALL MEGYN KELLY A

BIMBO BECAUSE THAT WOULD BE NOT POLITICALLY CORRECT, BUT SHE IS

A BAD JOURNALIST. FOX NEWS PUT OUT THIS STATEMENT --

>> I THINK WE CAN BOTH AGREE ON THAT. IT IS NEAR UNPRECEDENTED.

>> THIS IS THE LAST JOURNALISTIC STANDARD THEY REFUSE TO VIOLATE

AT FOX NEWS.

>>LEWANDOWSKI IS THE CAMPAIGN MANAGER --

>> BY THE WAY, MAKE THAT 133 AS OF TONIGHT WHEN HE IS

INTERVIEWED BY BILL O'REILLY. DESPITE WHEN HE SAYS I DON'T

NEED TO MAKE THEM RICH. CAN I GO ON YOUR OTHER SHOWS? AND THEY

ADMIT, THEY HAVE PUT HIM ON SO FUCKING MUCH.

BUT SUPPOSEDLY HE IS NOT SHOWING UP.

>>FIRST OF ALL, THE BIGGEST DOWNSIDE OF THIS STORY IS THAT

FOX NEWS NOW GETS TO BE -- SHOW THEMSELVES AS JOURNALISTS.

>>AND MEGYN KELLY.

>>THEY ARE NOT JOURNALISTS, ALL THEY DO IS RIGHT-WING AND

REPUBLICAN PROPAGANDA. BUT NOW, TRUMP HAS BEEN SO, YOU KNOW,

RIDICULOUSLY AGAINST THEM, THEY GET TO PRETEND THEY HAVE

JOURNALISTIC STANDARDS. AND IN THIS CASE, THEY ARE RIGHT, HE IS

WRONG. OF COURSE MEGYN KELLY CAN ASK ANY QUESTION SHE LIKES TO

DONALD TRUMP, AND THE QUESTIONS SHE ASKED WERE ENORMOUSLY

UNOFFENSIVE. SHE ASKED ABOUT HIS QUOTES.

SHE SAID, WILL IT HURT YOUR CAMPAIGN IF IT IS PERCEIVED

AS MISOGYNISTIC?

>>THE WAY HE PITCHED THE TED CRUZ ELIGIBILITY ARGUMENT.

WILL THEY ATTACK YOU ON THIS?

>>NOW IT LOOKS AS THOUGH FOX NEWS IS FIGHTING FOR JOURNALISM.

OY. ONTO THE MAIN EVENT, WHICH IS THIS MOVE BY DONALD TRUMP, IT

IS MAYBE THE BOLDEST MOVE I HAVE EVER SEEN IN A PRESIDENTIAL

RACE. I KNOW THE ARGUMENT YOU WILL MAKE, AND IT IS A GOOD ONE.

ON THE ONE SIDE, YOU CAN SAY, MAN, THAT SHOWS HE'S STRONG.

HE IS WILLING TO NOT SHOW UP TO A DEBATE DAYS BEFORE THE MOST

IMPORTANT VOTE, IOWA CAUCUS, BECAUSE NEW HAMPSHIRE HE WILL

WIN. FOR HIM TO WALK AWAY FROM THAT IS STRENGTH I HAVEN'T SEEN.

THE COUNTERARGUMENT I EXPECT JOHN TO MAKE IS, THAT IS NOT

STRONG AT ALL, HE IS RUNNING AWAY FROM MEGYN KELLY AND HE

CAN'T EVEN, YOU KNOW, FACE THE MOST REASONABLE QUESTION

THERE IS.

AND HE IS A COWARD.

>>I THINK IT IS COMPLICATED. IT IS DIFFERENT TO NOT GO INTO A

DEBATE THAT IS GOING TO HAPPEN, THAN IT IS TO GET DEBATES TO NOT

HAPPEN. BUT THERE IS SOME SIMILARITY, AND I DON'T CONSIDER

HILLARY CLINTON STRONG BECAUSE SHE GOT HER BUDDIES TO NOT SET

UP MORE DEBATES. IT WOULD BE STRONG TO GO TO THE DEBATE, THAT

IS WHAT I THINK STRENGTH IS. AND A LOT OF PEOPLE SAY THAT THIS

WAS A MASTER STROKE BY TRUMP, BECAUSE HE WILL BE IN THE NEWS,

WHICH IS OBJECTIVELY TRUE SINCE WE ARE TALKING ABOUT HIM RIGHT

NOW. BUT IF THAT IS WHAT HE WANTED, IF HE JUST WANTED TO GET

IN THE NEWS AND NOT GO TO THE DEBATE, HE COULD HAVE MADE IT

ABOUT ALMOST ANYTHING ELSE. HE COULD HAVE JUST SAID, YOU KNOW

WHAT? SCREW FOX NEWS, THEY REPRESENT THE ESTABLISHMENT, PC

CULTURE, MUSLIMS -- WHATEVER. INSTEAD HE MADE IT ABOUT MEGYN

KELLY. AND ASIDE FROM SOME OF HIS SUPPORTERS WHO THINK SHE IS

A WOMAN, I HATE WOMEN SO I HATE HER, THAT IS WHY SHE IS GETTING

ALL THESE TWEETS CALLING HER THE C-WORD AND ALL THIS OTHER SHIT

TODAY, EVERYONE ELSE LOOKING AT THIS KNOWS THAT HE IS SCARED OF

HER STANDING UP TO HIM. AND NOT EVEN IN A STRONG WAY, SHE JUST READ

SOME OF HIS TWEETS, BUT THAT NOW REPRESENTS SOME GIGANTIC DRAGON

OF AN OPPONENT TO HIM. SO HE LOOKS LIKE SUCH A PATHETIC

WUSSY, AND IT LETS TED CRUZ SELL HATS THAT SAY "MAKE TRUMP DEBATE

AGAIN." AND I HAVE BEEN HAVING SO MUCH FUN TWEETING ABOUT THIS

SINCE THE PAST THEY HAPPENED, IT MAKES HIM LOOK LIKE A

LAUGHINGSTOCK THAT HE CAN'T STAND UP TO MEGYN KELLY. A

SPOKESPERSON FOR FOX PUT OUT THIS STATEMENT, AND I HAVE NEVER

SEEN A CHANNEL PUT SOMETHING LIKE THIS OUT ABOUT A CANDIDATE --

>> LET ME EXPLAIN THE CHRONOLOGY. THEY PUT THAT

STATEMENT OUT BEFORE TRUMP CANCELED.

>>HE HAS BEEN TALKING ABOUT IT FOR DAYS, AND HE HASN'T ACTUALLY

CANCELED ANYTHING. HE COULD 100% STILL SHOW UP. I THINK THERE IS

A CHANCE HE STILL WILL. HE HAS CONSISTENTLY, THROUGHOUT HIS

BOOKS ABOUT BUSINESS DEALINGS AND IN HIS RECENT COMMENTS ABOUT

IRAN, HE ALWAYS TALKS ABOUT YOU CAN'T JUST THREATEN TO LEAVE THE

ROOM, YOU HAVE TO LEAVE THE ROOM. LET THEM STEW FOR A WHILE

AND THEY WILL CALL YOU BACK. THAT IS ALL HE IS DOING. HE

HASN'T SKIPPED THE DEBATE UNTIL THE DEBATE IS OVER. UNTIL THEN,

HE COULD STILL SHOW UP, AND WE KNOW THIS IS A MOTHERFUCKER

WHO LOVES BEING ON TV.

MY MONEY IS STILL ON HIM SHOWING UP, I'M WILLING TO BE

PROVEN WRONG BECAUSE I HAVE ALMOST NO SHAME AT THIS

POINT, BUT I THINK THERE IS A GOOD CHANCE HE SHOWS UP.

>> THAT COULD BE A FUN WWE MOMENT -- HERE COMES DONALD

TRUMP! OUT OF THE HALLWAY WITH A 2 X 4. BUT THE REASON I WAS

TELLING YOU ABOUT THE CHRONOLOGY, FOX NEWS PUT OUT A

STATEMENT SAYING, WILL YOU BE SCARED OF THE AYATOLLAH AND

PUTIN? AFTER THAT, TRUMP SAYS, I'M NOT COMING. SOME HAVE SAID

FOX CROSSED THE LINE FIRST SO TRUMP DID THE RIGHT THING. I

THINK THAT IS CRAZY TALK. THEY ARE BOTH ENORMOUS LINE CROSSERS,

LET'S BE HONEST ABOUT THAT. BUT IN THIS CASE, TRUMP STARTED THE

WAR, HE CONTINUED THE WAR, HE IS THE AGGRESSOR, AND LOOK --

YES, HE MIGHT STILL SHOW UP.

>>HE HAS THREATENED TO BOYCOTT MULTIPLE OTHER DEBATES.

>>AND HE CHANGES HIS MIND WILLY-NILLY, MAINLY BASED ON

WHATEVER WILL GET MORE ATTENTION AT THAT MOMENT, RIGHT?

RIGHT NOW IT IS GETTING ATTENTION TO SAY HE WON'T

SHOW UP, RIGHT BEFORE IT MAY GET MORE ATTENTION TO SHOW UP.

>>SURPRISE, ALL OF A SUDDEN HE SHOWS UP.

WE DIDN'T THINK HE WAS GOING TO.

>>RIGHT. IT IS NOT LIKE HE IS A ROCKET SCIENTIST, BUT HE HAS ONE

THING DOWN, WHICH IS THE ART OF NOT THE DEAL, THE ART OF GETTING

ATTENTION IN THAT MOMENT. THERE IS NO ONE BETTER AT IT THAN

DONALD TRUMP.

>>AGREED.

>>THIS COULD GO ONE OF TWO WAYS. MAYBE, AND THIS HAS NEVER

HAPPENED, EVERYONE THINKS IT WILL BUT IT HASN'T, HE MIGHT

HAVE TRUMPED THE SHARK. IN HIS ARROGANCE, HE WAS JUST SAYING

THE OTHER DAY I COULD SHOOT SOMEBODY DEAD ON FIFTH AVENUE

AND MY SUPPORTERS STILL WOULDN'T CARE -- SO IN THAT INTOXICATION

OF CONFIDENCE, HE MIGHT HAVE GONE TOO FAR AND PEOPLE WILL

LOOK AT IT LIKE JOHN DOES -- THAT IS A REAL WUSS MOVE TO BE

SO SCARED OF, IN THEIR WAY OF THINKING, A GIRL, THAT YOU HAD

TO RUN AWAY, AND NOW YOU WON'T EVEN SHOW UP TO DEBATE THESE

GUYS. IT MIGHT COST HIM, IT MIGHT BE THE FINAL THING THAT

ACTUALLY GOES -- OR IT COULD GO COMPLETELY THE OTHER WAY, AND I

DON'T KNOW WHICH WAY IT WILL GO. IN THE BEGINNING I THOUGHT IT

WAS CRAZY, IT IS HIS ELECTION TO WIN, I WOULDN'T HAVE TAKEN A

RISK LIKE THIS AND I AM A HUGE RISK TAKER. BUT THEN I HEARD HE

SAID --

>>[BUFFERING]

>> IF HE DRAWS EVEN HALF THE AUDIENCE TO HIMSELF BY HIMSELF,

WHILE HELPING VETERANS -- DAMN, THAT MIGHT WORK AGAIN. AND IF

CRUZ AGREED TO IT, THEY WOULD DRAW 80% OF THE AUDIENCE.

WHICHEVER WAY THIS GAMBIT WORKS OUT, AND RIGHT AWAY I AM UNCLEAR

AS TO HOW IT WILL WORK OUT, BUT IF HE WINS THIS GAMBIT, IT IS

OVER, TRUMP IS THE NOMINEE. AND I WILL TELL YOU WHY. IT IS NOT

BECAUSE HE DEFEATED THE OTHER CONTESTANTS -- "CONTESTANTS."

LOOK, WE HAVE TURNED THIS INTO A REALITY SHOW FOR GOOD -- IT WILL

BE BECAUSE HE DEFEATED FOX NEWS. AND IF YOU CAN DEFEAT FOX NEWS

ON THE RIGHT, THERE AIN'T NOTHING THAT CAN STOP YOU. SO

THIS I THINK WILL BE DETERMINATIVE. HOWEVER THURSDAY

NIGHT GOES, IF TRUMP COMES OUT AHEAD ON IT, IT IS OVER.

TRUMP IS THE NOMINEE.

>>THAT IS POSSIBLE.

>>BY THE WAY, WE ARE COVERING IT LIVE ON THURSDAY.

TYTNETWORK.COM/LIVE, 8:30 PM EASTERN, WE WILL START PREGAME,

AND WE NEED A PREGAME ON THIS ONE, BECAUSE WE NEED TO SEE WHAT

TRUMP WILL DO. WE WILL DO A PLAY-BY-PLAY ON THE DEBATE, AND

DO A POST GAME, AND JUST LIKE HE WANTS, TRUMP LOOMS LARGE WHETHER

HE IS THERE OR NOT.