Megyn Kelly Says Donald Trump Won Debate, Backlash Ensues
On Thursday night, former Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly took to Twitter to declare President Donald Trump the winner of the final presidential debate against Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden.
“Trump won this debate, handily. Biden wasn’t a force at all. Trump was substantive, on-point, well-tempered. Definitely helped himself, when it mattered most.”
Public figures opposed to Trump were quick to attack Kelly for making such an evaluation.
“Do you have windmill cancer? I’m getting concerned,” actress Patricia Arquette asked in a tweet, seemingly mocking the president’s opposition to windmills as a source of electricity.
“Nah, just don’t suffer from Trump Derangement Syndrome and can still engage in fair analysis. You wouldn’t understand,” Kelly tweeted back.
In a tweet, commentator Keith Olbermann slammed Kelly as “an intensely inane, racist, incompetent person.”
“On behalf of Americans with IQs over 75, please exit the stage,” he wrote.
Podcast host Debbie Millman attacked Kelly as well, tweeting that the former Fox News anchor’s expectations for the commander-in-chief were too low and calling on her to “really rethink everything about who you are and why you think you still matter.”
Radio host Dean Obeidallah tweeted that Kelly is auditioning for a job on the television channel Trump reportedly plans to launch once he’s out of office.
In a follow-up Twitter message, Obeidallah likened Kelly to Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, arguing that she seems “desperate” to get on Trump’s good side, even though he repeatedly attacked her and her husband.
Author John Pavlovitz echoed Obeidallah’s suggestion, tweeting “I hope whatever you received for your soul was worth it.”
Writer Jason Bailey quote-tweeted Kelly’s post, blasting her for seemingly praising the president even after he “humiliated her on national television.”
Associated Press reporter Jonathan Lemire tweeted a screenshot showing that Trump shared the anchor’s praise with his followers.
Journalist Roland S. Martin joined his colleagues in attacking Kelly, suggesting that the commander-in-chief cannot be considered the winner because he “repeatedly” made false and misleading statements.
Wait. Substantive? @megynkelly, he lied. REPEATEDLY. Were y'all playing the puff puff pass pass game while this debate was happening? Hitting the chronic is the only explanation for this analysis https://t.co/X68uOY4yKu
— rolandsmartin (@rolandsmartin) October 23, 2020
FiveThirtyEight contributor Matt Grossmann took to Twitter to point out that post-debate polls suggest Biden won. In a CNN poll conducted by SSRS, for instance, 53 percent of respondents declared Biden the winner, while 39 percent said Trump won.
As previously reported by The Inquisitr, in an interview on Friday, GOP pollster Frank Luntz suggested that Trump did well at the debate, but not good enough to make an impact in terms of changing the trajectory of the race.
