Trump’s been fixated on Megyn Kelly since she dared to call him out on his sexism while moderating an early debate, refusing to show up on Fox shows and aggressively attacking their journalists and anchors on Twitter.
Previously, Fox has been conciliatory toward Trump, anxious to maintain good relations with the Republican front-runner and his broad base of supporters. But the network has decided to be much more full-throated in its support of Kelly in the face of Trump’s latest flurry of antagonizing tweets, which have hammered on how “crazy Megyn Kelly” has been attacking him on her show.
“Donald Trump’s vitriolic attacks against Megyn Kelly and his extreme, sick obsession with her is beneath the dignity of a presidential candidate who wants to occupy the highest office in the land,” Fox News said in a statement. It went on to take a surprisingly feminist bent (for Fox News) in its defense of her.
“Megyn is an exemplary journalist and one of the leading anchors in America—we’re extremely proud of her phenomenal work and continue to fully support her throughout every day of Trump’s endless barrage of crude and sexist verbal assaults,” the statement said. “As the mother of three young children, with a successful law career and the second highest rated show in cable news, it’s especially deplorable for her to be repeatedly abused just for doing her job.”
In spite of the statement, Trump has doubled down on Twitter on his opinions, claiming that Kelly’s ratings are dependent on her negative Trump coverage.