“Let’s address the elephant not in the room,” Fox News moderator Megyn Kelly asked Ted Cruz to open tonight’s Fox News debate, referring to her nemesis without mentioning his name and lobbing a softball to Donald Trump’s main rival. Cruz — who has been sucking up to Trump and his supporters for the past six months — side-stepped the opportunity, choosing instead to gently rib the frontrunner.
“I’m a maniac, and everyone on this stage is stupid, fat and ugly. And Ben, you’re a terrible surgeon. Now that we’ve gotten the Donald Trump portion out of the way,” Cruz said, mocking his rival.
“I kind of miss Donald Trump, he was like a little teddy bear to me,” Jeb Bush joked.
But most viewers on Twitter were none too amused by the lame, Trump-centric opening to Fox News’ debate:
Fox says "Trump offered to appear at the debate" IF the network contributed "$5 million to his charities." You might call that a shakedown
— Brian Stelter (@brianstelter) January 29, 2016
Pretty sure @realDonaldTrump is delaying start of his own event so he can see what Fox does w/ the opening round of questions at #GOPDebate
— Joel Pollak (@joelpollak) January 29, 2016
Can we stop making Trump the topic? He isn't there for a reason. Stop giving him airtime when he refused to show! #GOPDebate #DebateWithFFL
— Caroline Craig David (@CarolineCDavid) January 29, 2016
As his rivals debate down the street, Trump is in the wings at Drake University. "Tiny Dancer" blasts from the speakers.
— Ed O'Keefe (@edokeefe) January 29, 2016
Check out our GOP debate recap here:
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