Why Megyn Kelly Belongs In A Lead Anchor Position

In yet another firestorm of sexist tweets on Monday evening, 2016 GOP candidate Donald Trump pulled out all the stops, accusing Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly of being "off her game" and suggesting that she should be replaced as lead anchor in the network's 9 p.m. slot. Kelly, who recently returned from a well-deserved 10-day vacation and has been subjected to Trump's ridiculous criticisms before, refused to entertain Trump's commentary, although her boss, Fox chief Roger Ailes, fought back for her, telling Trump on Tuesday that he should apologize for his rant. Unsurprisingly, the business mogul was dissatisfied with the request and opted to slam Kelly, who has proven she belongs in the lead anchor position more times than Trump can likely count, with yet another bizarre insult instead.

"I do not think Megyn Kelly is a quality journalist," said Trump in a statement on Tuesday, citing her aggressive line of questioning directed toward him in the first GOP primary debate. "Hopefully in the future I will be proven wrong and she will be able to elevate her standards to a level of professionalism that a network such as Fox deserves."

If Trump is unsure of Kelly's professionalism and her tenacity in taking on tough lines of questioning, all it takes is a quick glance at the anchor's history with the news network to see just how badass she really can be:

That Time She Called Out Mike Huckabee On His Casual Sexism

Remember that time Mike Huckabee said in a radio interview that women who swore were "trashy?" In January, the 2016 candidate and former Arkansas governor told Mickelson in the Morning host Jan Mickelson that there was a swath of people who "lived in their own little bubble" (or "New York") that just couldn't comprehend why that sort of "locker room" talk was considered distasteful to those who lived in "the land of ... god, guns, grits, and gravy."

Thankfully, Kelly, who interviewed Huckabee on her news show one week later, wasn't afraid to call the former governor out on his casual sexism and antiquated expectations, joking:

I do have some news for you before I let you go. [Women are] not only swearing. We're drinking, we're smoking, we're having premarital sex with birth control before we go to work, and sometimes boss around a bunch of men.

Huckabee complained that he "just [didn't] want to hear that," but Kelly persisted.

"Sorry, that's just the reality, Gov," she said.

That Time She Didn't Let Rand Paul Off The Hook

After 2016 candidate and Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul made headlines this past April for becoming combative during interviews with two female anchors, NBC's Savannah Guthrie and CNBC anchor Kelly Evans, Kelly made sure not to let him off the hook when he appeared in on Fox News just hours later.

After playing both news clips, Kelly asked, "When you see those clips, Senator, what do you think now?" Paul admitted that interviews were "difficult," but that he could stand to tone down his temper.

Kelly also used the platform to call out fellow male anchors, such as NBC's Chuck Todd, who advised Paul to "be more careful" with his words, for jumping in to "rescue" their female counterparts, saying:

Chuck Todd came out and said you have to be "careful" because you (Rand Paul) attacked two prominent female interviewers. The Guardian said you were 'condescending' toward female reporters. And I, as a female reporter, will say to Chuck Todd and The Guardian: We don't need your help. Savannah Guthrie doesn't need your help. Kelly Evans doesn't need your help. And you are entitled to push back on the interviewer just as much as you would if it were a man. So these male commentators can butt out. We can give as good as we can get.

That Time She Pushed Jeb Bush On Iraq

Kelly was awarded the opportunity in May of this year to sit down with former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush (who had not yet begun campaigning for a 2016 White House run) and ask him a flurry of important questions on immigration, party politics, and, most notably, his opinions on the war in Iraq.

"On the subject of Iraq ... knowing what we know now, would you have authorized the invasion?" asked Kelly. When Bush answered that "[he] would have, and so would have Hillary Clinton ... [and] almost everybody that was confronted with the intelligence they got," a confused Kelly didn't miss a beat, stepping into to confirm the ludicrous answer she had just received.

"You don't think it was a mistake?" she pressed, incredulously. To everyone's disbelief, Bush then reiterated his response.

Bush later stated that he had "misheard" the question. Sorry, Jeb, this point definitely goes to Kelly, simply for not totally face-palming through that entire interview.

That Time She Blasted Former Vice President Dick Cheney

At this point, it's probably safe to say that Megyn Kelly doesn't agree with the invasion of Iraq. In a hard-hitting interview in June 2014, Kelly pushed former Vice President Dick Cheney on an op-ed he had penned for The Wall Street Journal, in which he called President Obama's foreign policy decisions "so wrong."

"In your op-ed, you write as follows: 'Rarely has a U.S. president been so wrong about so much at the expense of so many,'" said Kelly. "But time and time again, history has proven that you got it wrong as well sir."

Kelly then rattled off a list of Cheney's previous errors, including his belief that Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein had obtained weapons of mass destruction and that the U.S. military would be seen as heroes in the fight against extremists.

"The suggestion is that you caused this mess," argued Kelly. "What say you?"

Ouch. Did you want some aloe for that burn, Mr. Vice President?

That Time She Defended Her Guest & Scolded Her Producers

In the middle of an interview with Fox contributor Pete Hegseth, who was there to discuss the tragic ISIS beheading of American journalist James Foley, Kelly paused to berate her production team for cutting instead to a live shot of the protests in Ferguson. Kelly vented:

Hold on. I realize — can, just, just — I realize something's happening in Ferguson, but we're talking about something important here, so can you at least split-screen the video? I realize — look, the protesters and the police are clashing again, alright? They're clashing again. But we're talking about the dead, the death of an American, of an American who was beheaded, and Pete deserves his say.

Whether you agree that Kelly got it wrong on this one or not is irrelevant — standing up to refocus the conversation on her guest's commentary was pretty gutsy, but in the scheme of things, it was absolutely appropriate.