Trump Totally Cheated During The GOP Debate – What Do You Think Fox News Did About It?

Donald Trump Plays by His Own Rules – and Fox News Is Incapable of Enforcing Their Own

During the first commercial break of Thursday’s Fox News debate, Donald Trump had his campaign manager, Corey Lewandowski, join him on stage to discuss strategy, a clear and egregious violation of the debate rules. CNN’s Dylan Byers reports that even though “Lewandowski was asked by Fox News staff to leave the stage, he refused to do so, according to a source at Fox News.”

This was not the first time Trump cheated during a debate.

Byers reports sources tell him that this was “the clearest violation of debate rules to date,” but “it followed a pattern: At multiple debates, Trump has consulted with his campaign manager Corey Lewandowski backstage even though it was expressly forbidden by the networks.”

So what did Fox News do when Trump cheated, right in front of them, the other candidates, and the audience, and then refused to follow their requests to stop?

Did they boot Trump from the debate, as would have been their right?

Did they ban him from future debates?

Did they, as reporters, when the cameras were rolling after the commercial break, tell their viewers that Trump cheated? 

No.

“Unable to get Lewandowski off the stage, Fox News representatives informed the other three campaigns that, because the Trump campaign had broken the rules, they too could consult with their candidates.”

In other words, Trump’s presence was more important to viewership – and therefore, Fox News’ bottom line – than playing by the rules, enforcing the rules, or at the very least, having the journalistic integrity to inform the public that Trump cheated.

Conservative commentator Noah Rothman had this response:

MSNBC’s Chief Legal Correspondent Ari Melber offered this:

Some other reactions via Twitter:

The news that even Fox News violates journalistic integrity when it comes to Trump comes on the heels of a Media Matters report detailing how the media has not actually investigated or properly vetted Trump. And just yesterday, Gawker released audio of what are believed to be voicemails hacked from Trump’s phone, from three top MSNBC journalists cozying up to Trump.

 

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Image: Screenshot via Fox News/YouTube