In the wake of a surfeit of anti-Megyn Kelly emails and a threat by Donald Trump to boycott Fox News after the GOP debate, the network's chairman, Roger Ailes, has extended an olive branch to repair the relationship with the blustery billionaire,
New York Magazine reports.
Ailes reportedly phoned the real estate mogul, according to a Twitter message sent by Trump Monday morning.
"According to two high-level Fox sources, Ailes' diplomacy was the result of increasing concern inside Fox News that Trump could damage the network," according to the magazine. "Immediately following Thursday's debate, Fox was deluged with pro-Trump emails. The chatter on Twitter was equally in Trump's favor."
"In the beginning, virtually 100 percent of the emails were against Megyn Kelly," one Fox source, who was briefed on the situation, told me. 'Roger was not happy. Most of the Fox viewers were taking Trump's side.'"
Before the debate, during which Kelly questioned Trump about his temperament, citing past references he has made calling
women "fat pigs" and "dogs," Trump and Fox had enjoyed unprecedented "media synergy," a relationship that helped draw a record debate audience of 24 million, according to writer Gabriel Sherman.
Trump has had Kelly and Fox News in his crosshairs ever since.
He ignited another round of controversy when he said on CNN on Friday night that Kelly was gunning for him, that she was so enraged "there was blood coming out of her eyes, blood coming out of her … wherever," a reference many interpreted as meaning Kelly was having her period.
Trump again took to Twitter, denying that's what he meant.
Trump has made the talk-show circuit on competing networks since the bruhaha began and, according to Sherman, it gave Ailes "a glimpse of what a Trump-less Fox News would look like."
"On Sunday, Trump called in to the four other public-affairs shows; this morning he gave interviews to 'Today' and 'Morning Joe,'" Sherman writes. "Inside Fox, this was alarming. 'This thing with Megyn got way ahead of Roger and bigger than he must have thought,' one Fox personality said. 'Roger wants this to blow over,' another source added. 'He's upset that conservatives are mad at Fox. Online, Ailes also took flak. Both the Drudge Report and Breitbart News carried pro-Trump headlines."
On her show,
"The Kelly Files" Monday night, Kelly addressed the public spat and refused to apologize, saying they will just have to "agree to disagree" that her question was unfair.
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