Jeb Bush meant it as an insult when he called Trump the “chaos candidate” back in December, but as usual the joke is on Jeb and the other long-suffering Republican candidates who are just living in Trump’s world. With his decision to skip Thursday night’s Republican debate—and to escalate his extraordinary war on Fox News—Trump has once again shown his ability to transform the race into pure psychodrama, unsullied by any of the issues that are ostensibly of interest to voters preparing to caucus in Iowa on Monday. The questions now clouding the campaign are, first of all, will Trump change his mind? Will Fox News continue to taunt Trump? Will Trump and Rupert Murdoch negotiate face to face? Did Trump’s campaign manager threaten Megyn Kelly with “terrorizations”? Will Trump take up Ted Cruz’s challenge to debate “mano-a-mano,” effectively thrusting all the other candidates into undercard hell?
For now, at least, Trump seems more than happy to keep swinging away:
I refuse to call Megyn Kelly a bimbo, because that would not be politically correct. Instead I will only call her a lightweight reporter!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 27, 2016The statement put out yesterday by @FoxNews was a disgrace to good broadcasting and journalism. Who would ever say something so nasty & dumb
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 27, 2016