Trump says he wanted to attend debate, but had to skip it

As you can hear, no Donald Trump in Thursday night’s Iowa GOP debate, he put on his own event to honor veterans. In doing so, he cast a shadow over his rivals, who frequently tossed barbs his way.

Fox News chairman Roger Ailes “acknowledged his concerns” about a statement the network made in the days leading up to the debate, but said Mr Trump had demanded a $5m contribution to his charities to appear at the debate. Colbert wondered as he flashed a photo of Hillary Clinton next to the candidate-but perhaps he has more to fear from the Late Show host. Ted Cruz, Trump’s closest rival and threat here in the Hawkeye State.

Trump kicked off a row with Ms Kelly after she skewered him on his tendency to insult women in the first Republican debate a year ago. And Ben, you are a bad surgeon. He later added that he hoped to earn the support of Trump’s voters. “He’s riding high in the polls, but are these people actually Trump caucus goers or people who say, ‘You know what, I like Donald Trump.’ There’s a big difference of those who actually say they like you and actually going out and supporting you at a big, long meeting”.

“I don’t think Ted Cruz has a great chance to be honest with you…”

Either way, Trump had a fine time raising money for military veterans Thursday night in Des Moines, counter-programming about three miles from the Republican debate he stood up over hard feelings with sponsor Fox News.

Hours after it ended, many pundits saw it as a shrewd move, especially given the tough questions from Fox host Megyn Kelly aimed at Texas Sen.

Not so former Virginia Governor Jim Gilmore.

“I think we’re going to do really well in Iowa”.

Gilmore, who has not qualified for most undercard debates, mocked Trump’s rival event, as he called himself “the only veteran” running for president this cycle. His campaign did not say which group was getting the funds.

And it seems that these skills are one of the reasons people are attracted to Donald Trump, since many attendees at his rallies are not even his supporters, just like it happened this Thursday. I wanted to be about five minutes away. “When you’re treated badly, you have to stick up for your rights”.

We’ll find out soon if Donald Trump’s social media windfall trumps his absence at the Republican debate.

Trump was by far the most-searched-for candidate on Google during the first half of the debate, at one point outpacing the second-most-searched-for candidate, Florida Senator Marco Rubio, by almost four-to-one, according to Google Trends data.

But his support in the polls, much of it from blue-collar men, has not wavered for months despite him insulting Mexican immigrants, threatening to deny Muslims entry to the United States and fighting with Republican establishment figures like Senator John McCain.