Trump revels at own event as he snubs Fox debate

Asked about hiding that side, the billionaire businessman says, “I’d rather not play my cards”.

As Kelly interviewed the Texas senator later in the evening, he told her: “Well, you know, you were joking just before we went on air that it was sort of like Voldemort, he who must not be named”.

“I could never beat you, that wouldn’t even be close”, Trump told Kelly in December 2011.

“But once this started, it’s for our (veterans), there was nothing I could do”.

Mary Altaffer/AP At this past Thursday’s GOP debate on Fox News, which Trump sat out, Cruz fought to make sure he was positioned at center stage – but did little to take advantage of the opportunity.

Iowa and New Hampshire are right around the corner and we get to see the contrasts in debated with and without Trump before the big votes.

Republican presidential candidates just before the Republican presidential primary debate on Thursday, Jan. 28, 2016, in Des Moines, Iowa.

Two candidates who were not sleeping – but who were also relegated to the curious “kiddie table” debate that the networks have used this election season – showed up at Trump’s rally.

“With zero Trump in tonight’s debate, there are now 24 million viewers up for grabs and I am grabbing them”, Colbert declares.

In the run-up to the event, Trump claimed Fox News apologized to him while the network claimed the Trump campaign asked for a $5 million donation to Trump’s charities.

In the “primetime” debate, it didn’t take long for Donald Trump’s name to come up.

Trump may have been scared of Fox moderator Megyn Kelly-“Why would he want to practice going head-to-head with a strong blonde woman?”

Later in the debate, Cruz managed to sneak in a jab at Trump while complaining about what Cruz asserted were unfairly pointed questions.

Cruz echoed that sentiment in his closing remarks on the main stage when he said, “The media noise will soon be over, and it’s time for the people of Iowa to decide”.

His absence saw the spotlight shift towards policy as Mr Cruz, as Florida Senator Marco Rubio, clashed on immigration.

This isn’t the first time Trump has been demanding money to appear at debates; he tried to force CNN to pay him $5 million to appear in a debate a year ago. According to Google, who was a host of the Republican debate, searches for the word “Trump” dominated the search engine.