Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton heaped surprising praise on one of her sharpest critics Tuesday, telling the ladies of The View that Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly is a “superb journalist.”
While discussing the abundance of sexism in the current presidential campaign, Clinton denounced Donald Trump’s “attitude about — and what he has said about — so many women; the way he treated Megyn Kelly, who is a superb journalist.”
Despite the compliment, Clinton still refuses to visit the Kelly File, which Kelly lamented in a recent interview with Variety. The Fox anchor said she can’t get close enough to Clinton to “find out how she feels” about sitting in the hot seat, adding, “am I really that scary?”
Historically, Kelly’s been no friend to Clinton: She frequently condemns Clinton’s use of a private email server, and following Clinton’s marathon Benghazi testimony last October, Kelly tore into the media for running with the narrative that Clinton “won the day.” During a particularly heated exchange with Debbie Wasserman Schultz, Kelly lambasted the Democratic National Committee chair for focusing on the vulgar nature of Trump’s campaign when “no one on the GOP side is under the threat of indictment.”
Still, The Kelly File host said she would give Clinton a “tough but fair” interview. “My goal will not be to destroy Hillary Clinton. Nor would it be to coronate Hillary Clinton,” Kelly said.
Despite their contentious history, Trump’s rampant misogyny appears to have made strange bedfellows of Clinton and Kelly this election cycle. As Kelly noted to Variety, “the language is very different when he fights with women.”
Kelly knows the difference all too well. Trump has continuously engaged in intense criticism of the Fox host since she first pressed him on his long history of making disparaging comments against women. Since that infamous exchange, Trump has repeatedly tweeted and retweeted statements calling Kelly everything from “overrated” to “dopey” to “a bimbo.” The Republican frontrunner also insisted she “had blood coming out of her wherever” when she asked the debate question, leading many to conclude the real estate mogul was referring to menstruation.
Kelly’s not the only one Trump targeted over perfectly natural biological functions. During a speech last year, Trump called Clinton “disgusting” for taking a bathroom break during a Democratic debate. During that same speech, Trump said the former Secretary of State was “schlonged” by Barack Obama in 2008.
Though Kelly has never explicitly spoke out in support of Clinton, the Fox host previously said the way pundits discuss Clinton and former Republican candidate Carly Fiorina (“shrill,” “too angry”) demonstrates how men and women are perceived differently by the media. “If we were men, they’d think the exact same thing and think we were tough,” Kelly said.
“One of the biggest lessons I’ve learned in the past 10 months is we have a long way to go,” the Fox host told Variety. “We as women in the country—where we are, how we think of ourselves, what we’re willing to accept—we have a ton of work to do.”
Photo: Republican U.S. presidential candidate Donald Trump shows off the size of his hands as Fox News Channel moderators Brett Baier (L) and Megyn Kelly (R) look on at the U.S. Republican presidential candidates debate in Detroit, Michigan, March 3, 2016. REUTERS/Rebecca Cook
