Donald Trump asks his Instagram, Twitter followers for advice on attending the Fox News debate


Who needs a campaign manager and cadre of advisers when your Instagram and Twitter followers can make decisions for you?
Should I do the #GOPdebate?A video posted by Donald J. Trump (@realdonaldtrump) on Jan 26, 2016 at 10:04am PST
Donald Trump said on Monday he wasn't sure if he would participate in the Fox News Republican debate on Thursday, and called moderator and Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly "biased" and "unfair." On Tuesday, he turned to his Instagram to further blast Kelly, proclaiming in a video: "Megyn Kelly is really biased against me. She knows that, I know that, everybody knows that. Do you really think she could be fair at a debate?" The video was captioned "Should I do the #GOPdebate?"
Not content to leave this decision in the hands of his Instagram followers, Trump went to Twitter and put up a poll: "Should I do the #GOPdebate?" So far, more than 33,000 people have weighed in, with 18 hours left of voting time. It might not matter what they say, though — during a press conference in Iowa Tuesday evening, Trump said he "most likely" won't do the debate, called Kelly a "lightweight," and questioned "how much money Fox is going to make from the debate without me."
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
In a statement, a Fox News spokesperson mocked Trump for bailing on the debate: "We learned from a secret back channel that the Ayatollah and Putin both intend to treat Donald Trump unfairly when they meet with him if he becomes president — a nefarious source tells us that Trump has his own secret plan to replace the cabinet with his Twitter followers to see if he should even go to those meetings."
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.
-
Elon Musk slams Trump's 'pork-filled' signature bill
speed read 'Shame on those who voted for it: you know you did wrong,' Musk posted on X
-
Art review: Jeffrey Gibson: The Space in Which to Place Me
Feature The Broad, Los Angeles, through Sept. 28
-
June 4 editorial cartoons
Cartoons Wednesday's political cartoons include a figurative black eye for Vladimir Putin, Democrats in search of young male voters, and a bedtime story from Sen. Joni Ernst
-
Elon Musk slams Trump's 'pork-filled' signature bill
speed read 'Shame on those who voted for it: you know you did wrong,' Musk posted on X
-
Depleted FEMA struggling as hurricane season begins
speed read FEMA has lost a third of its workforce amid DOGE cuts enforced by President Donald Trump
-
White House tackles fake citations in MAHA report
speed read A federal government public health report spearheaded by Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was rife with false citations
-
Judge blocks push to bar Harvard foreign students
speed read Judge Allison Burroughs sided with Harvard against the Trump administration's attempt to block the admittance of international students
-
Trump's trade war whipsawed by court rulings
Speed Read A series of court rulings over Trump's tariffs renders the future of US trade policy uncertain
-
Elon Musk departs Trump administration
speed read The former DOGE head says he is ending his government work to spend more time on his companies
-
Trump taps ex-personal lawyer for appeals court
speed read The president has nominated Emil Bove, his former criminal defense lawyer, to be a federal judge
-
US trade court nullifies Trump's biggest tariffs
speed read The US Court of International Trade says Trump exceeded his authority in imposing global tariffs