Maureen Dowd: Trump’s ‘Blood’ Remark Wasn’t About Megyn Kelly Menstruating

New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd asks a question to Robert Redford during a forum at the John F. Kennedy Library and Museum, Monday, Sept. 15, 2014, in Boston. Redford discussed issues on his career that has inc... New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd asks a question to Robert Redford during a forum at the John F. Kennedy Library and Museum, Monday, Sept. 15, 2014, in Boston. Redford discussed issues on his career that has included acting, film direction, producing, environmental issues and civil rights. (AP Photo/Steven Senne) MORE LESS
Start your day with TPM.
Sign up for the Morning Memo newsletter

New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd wrote in her Sunday column that she doesn’t think Republican presidential front-runner was referring to Fox News host Megyn Kelly’s menstrual cycle when he said she had “blood coming out of her wherever.”

Dowd’s column was based on an interview she had with him recently at Trump Tower in Manhattan. The Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist described Trump as trying to be more diplomatic since his attacks against the star Fox host who moderated the first GOP debate.

I’m trying to tell the freshly minted pol that Megyn Kelly had the right to ask him a question in the debate on how he talks about women, and that she should be tough on the front-runner.

He’s not buying it. In fact, in his stubborn “I win, you lose” way, he has an assistant come over to hand me a printout of Gabriel Sherman’s New York magazine piece headlined “How Roger Ailes Picked Trump, and Fox News’ Audience, Over Megyn Kelly.”

But the 69-year-old is trying hard not to bare his claws at any women right now. His wife, Melania, and his daughter Ivanka have told him they don’t want him to come across as a misogynist when they don’t see him that way.

Buried near the bottom of the piece was a brief defense by the columnist of the infamous remarks Trump made about Kelly in the wake of the debate. Trump said that Kelly had asked him “unfair” questions and looked like she had “blood coming out of her eyes, blood coming out of her wherever.”

Many took the comments to refer to Kelly’s menstrual cycle. An Aug. 8 article in the Times about Trump’s comments even described it as a matter of fact.

Donald J. Trump’s suggestion that a Fox News journalist had questioned him forcefully at the Republican presidential debate because she was menstruating cost him a speaking slot Saturday night at an influential gathering of conservatives in Atlanta. It also raised new questions about how much longer Republican Party leaders would have to contend with Mr. Trump’s disruptive presence in the primary field.

Some of Trump’s rivals, including former Hewlett-Packard chief executive Carly Fiorina, also blasted him for using a woman’s period to attack her.

But Dowd got behind Trump in her column, saying she didn’t think he was talking about the menstrual cycle.

How will he deal with Carly Fiorina, who is being hailed as the one to slay Trump after she excoriated him, interpreting his blood “wherever” remark as being about Kelly’s period. (I don’t think he meant it that way.)

“Carly has to be a little bit careful,” he warned.

What if he bursts into Trumpian analysis of how Carly and Hillary look?

“Oh, I would never talk about their looks,” he replied primly. He did, however, imitate how his ears felt (“Eeeeeeeeee”) when he hears Carly’s “staccato bing, bing, bing” voice and delivery.

Read Dowd’s whole column at the Times website.

Latest Livewire

Notable Replies

  1. Reading about Trump is one thing. Trump and Rosie O’Donnell in the same article? Trump and Maureen Dowd?

    Make the bad man stop.

  2. Aaaah, I was wondering when the Dowd Syndrome would kick in and deliver us a dollop of derp. Right on time…

  3. Oh, no, Mrs. Cleaver. In fact, Wallace and I were just discussing how enjoyable it would be if Theodore accompanied us to the cinema this afternoon. And I must say, that’s a very fetching ensemble you’ve chosen this morning…

  4. Avatar for enon enon says:

    this entire issue and the coverage it’s garnered is repulsive. frankly, i think he was getting ready to say blood dripping from her fangs, but stopped … leaving others to fill in the blank.

    re trump – watched a doc ‘you’ve been trumped’ over the weekend… about him destroying a unique slice of scotland for one of his golf courses… and the families who dared stand against him. he in turn cut off their access to water and electricity in his efforts to destroy them.

  5. Maureen Dowd disgusts me. Maybe Trump wasn’t talking about Kelly menstruating. But Dowd would never have given Hillary Clinton the benefit of that doubt. She would have piled on with a despicable, angry, snide, sarcastic screed unworthy of even the opinion pages in a reputable publication.

Continue the discussion at forums.talkingpointsmemo.com

62 more replies

Participants

Avatar for anniew Avatar for nordski Avatar for meri Avatar for ncsteve Avatar for matthew1961 Avatar for mattinpa Avatar for flownover Avatar for deckbose Avatar for chammy Avatar for ctvoter Avatar for voreason Avatar for sniffit Avatar for ralph_vonholst Avatar for jjrothery Avatar for gr Avatar for zrx1100 Avatar for barblzz Avatar for serendipitoussomnambulist Avatar for khaaannn Avatar for dave_mb Avatar for benthere Avatar for pshah Avatar for mazs Avatar for jordanolsen26

Continue Discussion
Masthead Masthead
Founder & Editor-in-Chief:
Executive Editor:
Managing Editor:
Deputy Editor:
Editor at Large:
General Counsel:
Publisher:
Head of Product:
Director of Technology:
Associate Publisher:
Front End Developer:
Senior Designer: