Donald Trump broke debate rules during Thursday’s slugfest on the Fox News Channel, and no one seems to care. The Donald has rewritten all the rules of the political playbook and apparently there is no end in sight.
Did Donald Trump break Fox debate rules on Thursday? The answer is yes, and it was not the first time. Per debate rules, candidates are not allowed to contact their staff during debates. However, according to CNN‘s Dylan Byers, the business mogul has repeatedly broken ground rules. Fox News was the first network that tried to correct the matter.
Fox News asked the Trump campaign to stop, and when they refused to do so, it allowed other candidates to exchange with their aides. Corey Lewandowski, Trump’s campaign manager, met his boss directly onstage Thursday during a commercial break. Byers wrote:
As in previous debates, Fox News had explicitly informed the campaigns that candidates were not allowed to communicate with their campaign staff during commercial breaks, the sources said. When Lewandowski was asked by Fox News staff to leave the stage, he refused to do so, according to a source at Fox News.
Ted Cruz, John Kasich, and Marco Rubio were able to exchange with aides after Trump’s debate rules violation.
Thursday’s Fox News Republican primary brawl was the most watched debate of 2016 with close to 17 million viewers. Moderated by Bret Baier, Megyn Kelly, and Chris Wallace, it reached new heights in terms of infotainment or new low for the political discourse in this country depending on whom you ask. For example, Mr. Trump was happy to brag about the size of his manhood after Rubio had accused him of having “small hands.”
Despite critics attacking Trump for the comment, he went on to win the Louisiana primary and Kentucky caucus on Super Saturday. The real estate titan is expected to win the nomination.
