Gingrich's Criticism Of Megyn Kelly Can't Be Real

Heated exchanges of words are nothing new on Fox News, and on Oct. 25, Kelly File host Megyn Kelly sparred on-air with former Speaker of the House and one-time presidential wannabe Newt Gingrich. When debating the sexual assault accusations against Donald Trump (which he has firmly denied) and the media's response to it, Gingrich boldly asserted that Kelly is somehow obsessed with sex due to her prioritization of coverage on the issue at the time. And Kelly's response to Gingrich's claim that she's "fascinated with sex" illustrates the division between the Trump camp and those who fear the implications of his candidacy.

What began as a fairly civil debate about the worth of polling took a swift turn for the worst when Gingrich responded to Kelly, who began a question with the words "if Trump is a sexual predator." He interrupted the host loudly, threw his arms by his side, and proclaimed "He's not a sexual predator!" Gingrich then made a few angered statements about "inflammatory language" and the lack of truth in the 10-plus public sexual assault allegations against Trump — all of which Trump has firmly denied.

Finally, he pointed out how Kelly didn't spend as much time covering the debunked claims that Hillary Clinton said she wants open borders during a 2013 speech in Brazil. To Gingrich, Kelly's greater focus on the allegations against Trump means she's somehow "fascinated with sex" and doesn't care about public policy. Kelly's response was as poised as it was perfect:

You know what, Mr. Speaker, I'm not fascinated by sex, but I am fascinated by the protection of women and understanding what we're getting in the Oval Office.

Following Kelly's calm, off-the-cuff delivery of her rebuttal to Gingrich's huffing and puffing, Gingrich deflected the issue at hand by bringing up the sexual assault allegations against Bill Clinton, one of the more appalling campaign tactics used by a desperate Trump to date. Kelly, like Clinton, managed to remain calm when faced when an increasingly aggravated man yelling at her, and reminded Gingrich that Bill isn't running for president, and said succinctly what so many of us have been thinking:

The polls also show that the American public is less interested in the deeds of Hillary Clinton's husband than they are in the deeds of the man who asked us to make him president — Donald Trump.

Her exiting line was the final nail in the coffin that was Gingrich's argument as the former House speaker devolved into sputtering interruptions, grinning, and tilting his head strangely:

We're gonna have to leave it at that, and you can take your anger issues and spend some time working on them, Mr. Speaker.

It might just be a blip in the radar of this election that seems to come straight out of a satirical dystopian novel, but it sure felt good to watch yet another accomplished woman stand up and hold her ground against a man intent on making her seem wrong.