Trump in Fox news anchor jibe

It also follows an interview Trump gave with CNN on Monday, during which he accused FOX’s debate moderator Megyn Kelly of “bias” and treating him “unfairly” in the past.

His Republican rivals have criticised him for dropping out while his closest rival in Iowa, US Senator Ted Cruz of Texas, challenged him to a one-on-one debate.

Just 48 hours before the face-off, campaign manager Corey Lewandowski confirmed Mr Trump’s decision after a press conference at which Mr Trump said Ms Kelly had been “toying” with him.

In fairness to Trump, if you review the transcript of that first Fox News debate in August 2015 – moderated by the same hosts, including Kelly – you probably wouldn’t trust what’s likely coming your way, either.

“I was not treated well by Fox”, Trump argued.

On Tuesday, Trump said that instead of attending the Republican presidential debate, he planned to organize a charity event for the Wounded Warrior Project to help injured war veterans.

Trump has substituted mass rallies for normal meet-and-greet events, made inflammatory statements that would have sunk other candidates, and spent much of his time giving his views on television news shows and Twitter.

Fox defended Kelly as a debate moderator and released a statement yesterday mocking Trump’s recent criticisms of her. Fox said, “A nefarious source tells us that Trump has his own secret plan to replace the Cabinet with his Twitter followers to see if he should even go to those meetings”. “I don’t think she’s very good at what she does”.

Fox News also issued a statement after Trump’s decision saying Lewandowski had threatened to ramp up the attacks. “And you know Donald is a fragile soul”, said Cruz. I just don’t like being used.

Like the kid in high school that is too cool for prom, Donald Trump has announced he will be hosting a special event in Des Moines, Iowa in honor of veterans’ organizations starting at the same time as the Fox News-sponsored GOP debate Thursday.

Given Trump’s unpredictable nature, some campaigns were preparing for the possibility he could reverse course and take the stage in Des Moines after all.

“Every online poll said I won every one of the debates, especially the last one, by the way”, he said. He leads Trump by a 28% to 23% margin among this group of regular party voters, with Rubio at 14% and Carson at 13%.