The Huffington Post has declared Megyn Kelly the victor of Thursday night’s presidential debate with a front-page spread cheering her combative handling of the Republican candidates gathered in Des Moines, Iowa.
“KELLY STEALS THE SHOW,” the main headline reads, with a link to the Washington Post blog “The Fix.” The opinion article, by Callum Borchers, calls Kelly “charming” and “fantastic.”
Sorry, Donald Trump. But Megyn Kelly is a fantastic debate moderator.
There was no avoiding it, and Fox News Channel didn’t really try: Megyn Kelly was the star of the show at Thursday’s Republican presidential debate in Des Moines.
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This is the Kelly magic: she can be confrontational and charming all at once. It’s easy to argue with a journalist no one likes, but it’s much tougher to pick a fight with one who so easily wins over the viewers you hope to turn into your voters.
The spread of sub-headlines under a photo of Kelly continues rounding up reactions from other publications: “Crushes The Debate [Salon]… ‘Demolishes’ Cruz, Rubio [Vanity Fair]… Trump Giving America Permission To Hate Women [HuffPost Women]…”
The final link in this layout, from Huffington Post Executive Women’s Editor Emma Gray, still depicts Kelly as a victim–while the other publications’ descriptions such as “fearless” and “strong.” Gray writes:
Despite Kelly’s very-much conservative views, she has become a target of Trump’s misogyny… The 2016 election has huge implications for American women. Calling Kelly a “bimbo” is just a symptom of a much larger — and scarier — problem. Because when misogyny is amplified at the highest levels of our political system, that misogyny is legitimized.
Ted Cruz called out Kelly after the debate for comparing Donald Trump–who boycotted the debate for his own rival broadcast across town–to the Harry Potter villain Voldemort while the cameras weren’t rolling. Kelly did not deny the charge on air.