--- title: Rush Limbaugh Takes Donald Trump's Side in Debate Spat description: Limbaugh said Fox had played into the billionaire's hands. canonical: https://time.com/4196221/donald-trump-rush-limbaugh-debate/ author: Daniel White article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-01-27T18:52:05.000Z article:modified_time: 2023-12-13T19:41:53.000Z article:section: Politics og:title: Limbaugh Takes Trump's Side in Fox News Debate Spat og:description: He said Fox played into the billionaire's hands. og:url: https://time.com/4196221/donald-trump-rush-limbaugh-debate/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blteb1504b25dc186eb/69887a70524fc08740df66e0/donald-trump-iowa-caucus-campaign-election.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3500 og:image:height: 1969 og:image:alt: U.S. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks at a campaign event in Muscatine og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Limbaugh Takes Trump's Side in Fox News Debate Spat twitter:description: He said Fox played into the billionaire's hands. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blteb1504b25dc186eb/69887a70524fc08740df66e0/donald-trump-iowa-caucus-campaign-election.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Limbaugh Takes Trump's Side in Fox News Debate Spat > Sponsored content. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, twice a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3/newsletters?i=538c10cd-27e4-42f8-b156-768b730a9994&cr=time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3-v1) ## Video: Trump's Art of the Duel [Watch (HLS stream): Trump's Art of the Duel](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/mwjW3v8J.m3u8) (2:22)  _Published 2016-01-27. As Donald Trump says he will not participate in Thursday's debate as part of his ongoing feud with Fox News' Megyn Kelly, TIME looks at his strategy in his many long-running disputes._ by [Daniel White](https://time.com/author/daniel-white/) ## Daniel White Updated: Dec 13, 2023 7:41 PM UTCPublished: Jan 27, 2016 6:52 PM UTC by [Daniel White](https://time.com/author/daniel-white/) ## Daniel White Updated: Dec 13, 2023 7:41 PM UTCPublished: Jan 27, 2016 6:52 PM UTC Conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh took Donald Trump’s side in [a feud with](http://time.com/4195194/donald-trump-skip-fox-debate/) Fox News, saying the network had played into the billionaire’s hand by engaging him. Limbaugh weighed in on The Rush Limbaugh Show Wednesday, offering that he “can’t avoid discussing it” even though he has relationships with most of the parties involved. The argument between Fox and Trump picked back up when Trump, the front-runner in the Republican presidential race, declined an invitation Tuesday to the upcoming Republican debate hosted by Fox News. Trump, according to Limbaugh, has been suspicious of Fox since anchor Megyn Kelly asked him his [first question at his first debate.](http://time.com/3992052/megyn-kelly-donald-trump-feud/) Limbaugh argued that Trump was right to be suspicious. “There isn’t any fear, what there is here, in my opinion, is a desire to control this and a purposeful decision to not put himself in a circumstance where other people are going to make him look bad,” Limbaugh said. “This is what it looks like, when some guy stands up to the rules in the game, and says ‘screw yours, I’m looking out for me first.’ ” Limbaugh argued that Trump operates outside of the Republican establishment, for which there is “the game” played by “the rules.” “He’s never been a player in this game, he’s always been an outsider,” Limbaugh said. “He controls the media when he’s not on it. He controls the media when he is on it. He controls the media when he’s asleep.” Trump tweeted his satisfaction shortly after the Limbaugh offered his support. > [](https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/692422072967020544) ## Transcript You've called women you don't like fat pigs, dogs, slobs, and disgusting animals. Jeb Bush. Megyn Kelly. Hilary Clinton. Muslims. Lindsey Graham. Rubio. Rand Baul. John McCain. Rick Perry. I'm not a fan of Megyn Kelly. I don't like her. We have very stupid people in our country negotiating for us. I described Jeb Bush as a low energy individual. He's a war hero because he was captured. Hillary, that's not a president. [ BLANK_AUDIO ] [ APPLAUSE ] [ APPLAUSE ] Here, and why don't you apologize for her right now? No, I won't do that because I said nothing wrong. Is there anybody you would like to apologize to right now yourself? [ LAUGH ] No. [ BLANK_AUDIO ] Megyn Kelly's really biased against me. She knows that. I know that. Everybody knows that. Do you really think she can be fair at a debate? [ BLANK_AUDIO ] Here's the problem with political correctness. It takes too long. We don't have time. NBC Wall Street Journal just came out with a poll Headline, Trump way up, Cruz going down. [ BLANK_AUDIO ] You could see there was blood coming out of her eyes. Blood coming out of her wherever. I never attacked him on his look, and believe me, there's plenty of subject matter right there. The simple fact is [ CROSSTALK ]. I didn't want to. Excuse me! One second No [ CROSSTALK ] More energy tonight, I like that. 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