I'm Great! I'm the winner!

Donald Trump declares victory over Fox and GOP debate

‘We have more cameras than they do,’ Trump says.

By Ben Schreckinger and Anna Palmer

Donald Trump took the stage at his veterans fundraiser on Thursday night and declared victory in his war with Fox News.

Strolling out to Adele’s “Rolling in the Deep” – a mainstay of his campaign trail soundtrack — the businessman announced that Fox News had changed its tone and been “very nice to me” in recent hours and that his event was drawing more interest than the cable network's debate.

“We’re actually told we have more cameras than they do by quite a bit,” he said, comparing the media presence at his event to the Academy Awards.

Trump’s gambit split the political press corps between his own much-hyped event and the debate they would otherwise be covering across town, where seven of his rivals shared the spotlight instead. It also guaranteed that Trump’s name would once again dominate the headlines on the eve of the Iowa caucuses.

In fact, two of Trump's cellar-dwelling rivals traveled to his turf to bask in the media attention — and, they said, join him in honoring America's veterans. After brief introductory remarks, Trump summoned the pair, Mike Huckabee and Rick Santorum, to the stage.

"I’ll stand a little bit over here so that I'm not photographed with the Trump sign," said Santorum, stepping to the side of the Trump-branded podium. Speaking next, Huckabee did not bother trying to avoid the visual. “I figure you’re going to get the photo anyway," he said, speaking from the podium. The former Arkansas governor acknowledged that unlike his higher-polling rivals who made Fox's main stage debate, his schedule was wide open. “I have nothing to do at 8 o’clock tonight. This worked great for me.”

After the event, Huckabee told reporters that he would make an unspecified personal donation to veterans causes — "lt may not be a million bucks" — and defended his own lagging performance in polls. "How many people have voted yet?" he said. "Nobody."

Trump chose a humble venue for his bold spectacle, a cozy 775-seat auditorium on the campus of Drake University. The legions of press who could not squeeze into the auditorium watched the proceedings on a television in an overflow room, which itself overflowed, with reporters lining the walls and sitting on the floor.

The event was hastily thrown together after Trump announced he was boycotting the Fox News presidential debate in response to a taunting statement issued by the network that questioned Trump’s toughness. The network’s statement followed Trump’s griping about Fox co-moderator Megyn Kelly, whom the businessman wanted removed from the debate over her alleged anti-Trump bias.

The national anthem was backed by a lively instrumental accompaniment. Trump’s Iowa co-chair Tana Goertz, a former contestant on “the Apprentice”, and two North Carolina video bloggers -- Lynette “Diamond” Hardaway and Rochelle “Silk” Richardson, who have become prominent surrogates -- offered introductory remarks.

Before the event, Trump summoned a group of print reporters to his private jet, where he told them he had made a $1 million personal donation to veterans groups and that financier Carl Icahn had kicked in another $500,000. Following the event, Trump tweeted that a total of $6 million had been raised.

Trump also told CNN before the event that he had received an apology from “top people” at Fox but would not specify whom. He added that he might have attended the debate after all if his plan to hold the rival event had not “taken on a life of its own."

But Fox shot back, accusing Trump of wanting a "quid pro quo" in order to attend the debate — in the form of a $5 million donation to charity. A source close to the situation said there was an acquiescence to Trump, and Fox's statement notes they "acknowledged his concerns."

The crowd ranged from college kids to seniors and their politics were just as varied. Several attendees said that they were still undecided about who to support for the caucus.

"Right now, I'm in between a few people, but I'm really looking forward to a Trump rally because it might sway my decision," said Jared Turner, a student at Drake who was seeing Trump for the first time. "There's a thing that I really respect about him. He's about bringing back the old values."

Others like Michael Duff, of Boone, Iowa, were already sold on Trump.

"I think he's sticking by his principles. I think he is doing what needs to get done," said Duff of Trump's decision to skip the Republican debate and hold his own event. "I didn't know if I really supported Trump the first time I went and listened to him because I heard all the media garbage of all the cut and pasting of what he really said."

Duff, who has seen Trump three times already, said the real estate mogul is the right candidate to help change the country's trajectory.

"There's a lot more excitement behind Trump and not just because he was on TV or because he had a reality TV show," Duff said. "It's because of the person that he stands for and he wants to make America great again. That's his underlying message and how can you argue that."

Before the event, the line of attendees wrapped around the block as attendees waited to be cleared by Secret Service.

Jordan Mix, a senior at Drake, was one of just a handful of protesters braving the cold.

"I believe that Donald Trump's rhetoric is poisonous and it validates the xenophobic attitudes of a lot of Americans," said Mix, who was holding a "Dump Trump" sign. "It's important to me that anyone looking at Drake right now does not represent the views of Drake University."

Mix said she was caucusing for the Democrats and she is likely to support Bernie Sanders.

"I just think it was really hard for us to be bystanders and not do something when you see something so poisonous and hateful in your home. It's easy to make Donald Trump a joke when he's away from you, but when he comes in your space it's a little scary," Mix said.

Trump, taking an emcee role, then returned to the stage to introduce John Wayne Walding, a green beret born on the 4th of July. Explaining that he would wander the stage as he spoke, Walding said, “In the military, a moving target’s a lot harder to hit.” It’s a lesson Trump — who avoided Vietnam era military service with a medical deferment — seems to have internalized. Thursday’s fundraiser was only the latest surprise move in a campaign that has kept Trump in motion while the rest of the field is forced to react. Walding brought on two more veterans, and the trio presented Trump with an award.

The mogul then brought "Diamond" and "Silk" back onstage for an encore. He took to the podium once more to wind down the event and announce that he had asked his pregnant daughter, Ivanka, to give birth in Iowa. “It would be so great,” he said. “I would definitely win! I want that to happen so badly!"