Donald Trump Relishes a Laid-Back Fox News Town Hall, as Republican Rivals Engage in Fiery Debate

While Ron DeSantis and Nikki Haley engaged in a frank CNN-hosted GOP debate that exposed glaring gaps between them, Republican front-runner Donald Trump offered a lucid counterprogramming, holding an uncontested, extended town hall with Fox News.

Trump embraced the unfettered adulation offered to him by his supporters as he walked onstage to applause and chants of “USA,” stayed at the end to sign autographs, and even chanced upon an audience member who blurted out “love you” when he took her question, reported Associated Press.

He was barely confronted by the hosts, who left several contentious issues on the table, including Trump's false claims about the 2020 election, his support for Capitol insurrectionists, and legal arguments this week in which his lawyers claimed he was immune from any potential crimes he committed while in office. 

Bret Baier and Martha MacCallum as moderators faced a challenging issue: to keep the town hall from going off course, as happened to a similar event that CNN aired in May, but also to avoid upsetting the Trump-supporting viewers on the network.

They succeeded by refraining from fact-checking Trump at all. MacCallum stated that DeSantis "would argue with your characterization" in response to Trump's criticism of DeSantis' response to COVID during his time as Florida governor. When Trump implied that "radical" Democrats condoned the slaughter of newborn babies during an abortion debate, hardly one disputed him. The occasion contrasted with the tough questioning from CNN's GOP debate moderators, who at times put both candidates on the defensive and exposed various policy disagreements between DeSantis and Haley.

This was Trump's first appearance since 2022, and so it was watched with great attention. Fox recently consented to settle a lawsuit about unsubstantiated statements they made in the wake of the 2020 election by paying Dominion Voting Systems $787 million. In the early days of the Biden administration, Fox implemented an unsaid ban against Trump, and the outgoing president has expressed dissatisfaction multiple times with certain Fox personalities' lack of commitment to him.

Baier questioned Trump on whether he could declare that political violence is never appropriate. "Of course, that's right," the real estate magnate replied, before calling President Joe Biden "bedlam." Trump's court fights also came up when MacCallum questioned how he'd respond to a DeSantis statement about a prospective Trump general election campaign being largely left up to a jury in a Washington D.C. courtroom. “It’s a witch hunt,” Trump said.

Trump was cut off multiple times, but only by cheers and even laughter. For example, he said that former opponent Chris Christie's prediction that Haley would be "smoked" in the election was "one of the few things he's been right about," with the audience breaking into laughter.

Most of those who asked questions at the town hall were Trump supporters. Among them was an anticipated caucus attendee who stated she had been indecisive and had reverted to the former president after visiting one of the other candidates' town halls.