There may be an explanation for why Fox News host Megan Kelly is staying silent in the latest round of insults and criticisms directed at her by Donald Trump and his legion of supporters: she wants "to go mainstream," author Gabriel Sherman told
Newsmax TV’s Steve Malzberg.
"Up until this point, she was the fastest rising star at Fox News. She was really becoming the face of the network," said Sherman, who penned
"The Loudest Voice in the Room: How the Brilliant, Bombastic Roger Ailes Built Fox News — and Divided a Country." "I don't think she wants to get down in the weeds and in the gutter and play this kind of hardball politics."
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"Part of this is she also wants to go mainstream," Sherman added, speaking on "The Steve Malzberg Show" Thursday. "You know there was some talk before her most recent contract that she was flirting with CNN to kind of jump from Fox to CNN. I think she wants to leave all options on the table and if she gets down in the weeds and really slugs it out with Trump that would hurt her brand."
Trump's bombastic response to what he believes was unfair treatment by Kelly during this month's GOP debate — she asked him about his temperament and past derisive comments he had made about women — has thrown Ailes for a curveball, according to Sherman.
"Roger Ailes is one of the most iconic figures of his generation, he's a master political strategist and yet he's really never faced an adversary like Donald Trump," Sherman said. "Donald Trump is not predictable and Roger Ailes is used to Republicans coming to kiss his ring.
"They all bow down to Fox News, but Donald Trump does not play by those rules and Ailes essentially doesn't know how to act and so he's been switching strategies."
After deafening silence, nearly a dozen Fox News hosts took to Twitter this week to fire back at Trump and tell him to lay off Kelly, a move characterized by Sherman as "a coordinated response … kind of a political campaign to kind of push back on Trump."
Fellow Fox debate moderator Bret Baier posted:
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