Trump sits down with Megyn Kelly, and neither one draws blood
Donald Trump poses at Trump Tower on May 17. (Photo: Lucas Jackson/Reuters)
Calling a truce on a feud that has been a prominent storyline of the 2016 election cycle, Donald Trump buried the hatchet, at least temporarily, with Megyn Kelly, telling the Fox News host during a primetime special Tuesday that he “absolutely” has “regrets” about some of his behavior during his unlikely bid for the White House.
But the presumptive Republican presidential nominee stopped short of saying what exactly his regrets were or formally apologizing for the personal attacks he’s lobbed at Kelly and others during his campaign. He insisted that the tone and tenor he’s adopted as a candidate is the reason he’s winning and that to backtrack would be a mistake.
“If I were soft, if I were, you know, presidential… In a way it’s a bad word because there’s nothing wrong with being presidential, but if I had not fought back the way I fought back, I don’t think I would have been successful,” Trump said.
The real estate mogul and former reality television star described himself as a “counterpuncher” who couldn’t help but respond when he felt he was under attack. “When I am wounded, I go after people hard, and I try to unwound myself,” he said. “I view myself as a person that — like everybody else — is fighting for survival. That’s all I view myself as.”
The heavily promoted one-on-one interview was less about breaking news than about the dynamics of the relationship between Trump and Kelly, whom he has savaged in often personal terms after she asked him about his derogatory views toward women in a GOP debate last August. In response, Trump repeatedly accused Kelly of being biased toward his campaign and used Twitter to personally attack her, calling her “crazy” and “overrated.”
“I refuse to call Megyn Kelly a bimbo, because that would not be politically correct,” Trump tweeted in January. “Instead I will only call her a lightweight reporter!”
In April, Kelly met privately with Trump, “to clear the air,” as she put it, which led to the interview that was taped earlier this month but aired Tuesday. The two were clearly conciliatory — with Trump telling Kelly that he had “great respect” for her for even reaching out. “I wouldn’t have done that,” he said. “I don’t say that as a positive [for me]. … It’s a negative.”
Still, Trump seemed slightly embarrassed when Kelly began to tick through the personal attacks he’s lobbed at others and at her — including the use of the word “bimbo.”
“Did I say that?” Trump asked Kelly.
“Many times,” she replied.
“Oooh, OK,” Trump said, his face turning a little flush. “Excuse me.”
Still, he told Kelly, “Not the most horrible thing… Over your life, Megyn, you have been called a lot worse. Is that right? Wouldn’t you say?”
As he looks toward the general election, Trump said he would be more serious in his tone and messaging. But he also offered a blunt assessment of the stakes for him in the race. He is not looking toward even a place in history, he told Kelly. “If I don’t go all the way, and if I don’t win, I will consider it to be a total and complete waste of time, energy and money.”
