Subject: In Donald Trump vs. Fox News, we have a clear winner: Trump - The Washington Post
From: "Eric Schwerin" <[email-masked]>
To: "Hunter Biden" <[email-masked]>, "Alexander S. Mackler" <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 11 Aug 2015 19:35:21 -0400

In Donald Trump vs. Fox News, we have a clear winner: Trump - The
Washington Post

http://www.washingtonpost.com/pb/news/the-fix/wp/2015/08/11/donald-trump-faced-down-fox-news-and-won/

In Donald Trump vs. Fox News, we have a clear winner: Trump

Real estate tycoon Donald Trump flashes the thumbs-up as he arrives on
stage for the start of the prime time Republican presidential debate on
August 6, 2015 at the Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, Ohio. AFP
PHOTO/MANDEL NGANMANDEL NGAN/AFP/Getty Images

Fox News Channel is *the* power player in Republican politics. The size of
the network's audience coupled with the conservative bent of that audience
makes its airwaves the gold standard for GOP candidates running for
president. Which is what makes the fact that Donald Trump just won a
stand-off with Fox all the more remarkable.

In the wake of last Thursday's Republican debate, Trump made quite clear --
as only he can -- that he thought he had been mistreated by the Fox
moderators and, in particular, Megyn Kelly
<https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/629557762427604992>.

Wow, @megynkelly <https://twitter.com/megynkelly> really bombed tonight.
People are going wild on twitter! Funny to watch.

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 7, 2015
<https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/629557762427604992>

Then Trump hit Fox where they live -- ratings. He phoned into a series of
Sunday television talk shows except, of course, Fox News Sunday. Chris
Wallace, the moderator of "FNS", insisted that Trump's absence was the
result of its refusal to allow the real estate mogul to call in by phone
<http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2015/08/10/why-the-news-networks-let-donald-trump-phone-it-in-literally/>.
Regardless, the snub fueled speculation that Trump was boycotting Fox,
which, clearly caused consternation from the top brass at the network.

On Monday morning, Trump tweeted this out
<https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/630764447716540417>:

Roger Ailes just called. He is a great guy & assures me that “Trump” will
be treated fairly on @FoxNews <https://twitter.com/FoxNews>. His word is
always good!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 10, 2015
<https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/630764447716540417>

That's Roger Ailes, chairman and CEO of Fox News. And, yes, Trump made sure
to emphasize that *Ailes called him* -- not the other way around.

Then there's this reporting from New York magazine's Gabriel Sherman, the
definitive source for all internal Fox scuttlebutt:
<http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2015/08/fox-news-picked-trump-over-megyn-kelly.html>
"According to a source briefed on the negotiations, Ailes called Trump
'multiple' times yesterday morning 'begging' him to tweet out that they had
made peace."

Sherman also reported that Ailes had offered Trump the chance to sit down
with Kelly on air  but Trump refused; "Ailes offered other shows, and Trump
agreed to appear on *Fox and Friends* and *Hannity*, two venues that have
been loyal boosters of his candidacy," writes Sherman.

Right around the same time Sherman's item posted, Trump tweeted this
<https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/631155501913538560>:

Will be interviewed by @seanhannity <https://twitter.com/seanhannity>
tonight for the full hour. Hope you enjoy it and, more importantly, hope
you agree!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 11, 2015
<https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/631155501913538560>

An hour-long, primetime sitdown with Sean Hannity, who is not among Fox's
toughest questioners of Republican candidates (to put it kindly), amounts
to Ailes' olive branch to Trump.  Hannity is very unlikely to press Trump
-- either on his comments about Kelly or his past inconsistencies on
subjects like abortion and single-payer. Instead, Hannity will almost
certainly echo Trump's castigation of all things political and Washington.
Plus, an hour with Hannity is something any of the other Republicans
running for president would do almost anything for. How did Trump get it?
All he had to do was to go after one of the network's star primetime
anchors and rising stars.

Donald Trump has done a lots of things I thought were impossible
<http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2015/08/04/boy-was-i-wrong-about-donald-trump-heres-why/>
in the course of this campaign.  Staring down Fox News and winning might be
his most amazing feat yet.

Sent from my iPa