Erstellt am: 27. 1. 2016 - 15:48 Uhr

Trump vs Fox News

Polls have him almost poised to take the prize of Iowa as Donald Trump opens old wounds with Fox News. Conservative insider Ramesh Ponnuru, tells Reality Check what's going on.

• Trump goes it alone

Donald Trump has pulled out of the final Republican presidential debate before the Iowa caucus, and has opted to hold his own gathering instead.

One of the most important events in the upcoming Presidential election is about to happen. In the next few days, candidates will once more parade themselves in front of millions of Americans and then, next Monday, the good people of the state of Iowa will be asked to give their verdicts.

The interesting thing though is that Donald Trump, one of the most talked about figures in this whole process, had decided that he doesn’t want to take part in any more debates, and they probably don’t make that much difference to him now anyway, so why bother!

There are countless numbers of Americans who are fed up of politics, tired of the media and the intellectualizing of debate. Donald Trump knows this and he probably feels that to keep winning, all he has to do is point his finger at someone who claims to be in charge and do the complete opposite. Those who feel marginalised look at Donald Trump, who claims he’s also fed up with the system and they say “hey, he’s our guy”. In fact, Trump has become the Sarah Palin of 2016 and continued tapping in to the disaffected masses that she was able to energize during John McCain’s failed Presidential bid. Just wave your arms around and blame someone, make it sound convincing and you’ll get millions of followers.

Taking a dislike to the tough questioning by one Fox News host, Megyn Kelly, he’s pulled out of the final Fox News debate. It gets him out of deflecting any more uncomfortable challenges and he can bash Fox News once more, which he enjoys picking fights with, along with the rest of the media industry.

We wanted to get a view from the Republican side of the fence on what's going on and how concerned are those who run the Reoublican Party. So today we sat down with Washington DC based commentator, Ramesh Ponnuru, who discussed the Trump phenomenon and where it could lead.

• Refugees in the Middle East

Conny Lenneberg of World Vision looks at the conditions facing refugees who have been displaced within the Middle East.

• Oregon occupation leader arrested

Police in Oregon have arrested the leader of an armed militia which has been occupying a wildlife refuge. Priscilla Huff reports on the occupation and the surrounding issues.

• The threat of the Zika virus

With the first European case of the Zika virus being diagnosed in Denmark, we look at the threat the virus poses and the measures being taken against it.

• The beached whales on the British coast

A number of sperm whales have been found stranded on the east coast of England. Richard Harrington from the Marine Conservation Society explains why this is happening.

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