O'Reilly: “It Was An Incredible Blunder” For Donald Trump To Not Attend Fox News Debate

From the February 2 edition of Fox News' The O'Reilly Factor:

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ANDREA TANTAROS: I actually agree with just about everything that Mary Ann said. One, I agree with her that your point that Trump skipping the Fox News debate could have been a factor but not the factor.

BILL O'REILLY (HOST): Oh boy. That's not allot of voters shifting. A lot of voters shifting.

TANTAROS: The fact that Trump and his New York values did so well in religious rural Iowa is huge. By the way, if you look at Cruz and Trump, both non-establishment candidates, it was a sharp rebuke of the establishment last night. And number two, Trump got the most votes of anyone in Iowa ever in the history of an Iowa caucus, except for Ted Cruz. He's not an Evangelical so --

O'REILLY: I'm not running down Trump's appeal to a disenfranchised voting public.

TANTAROS: Yeah.

O'REILLY: I am telling you it was an incredible blunder for him not to show up to that debate and give Rubio and Cruz all that air time. That was the blunder.

TANTAROS: It may have been a factor. It may have been a factor.

O'REILLY: More than that.

Previously: 

Fox Attributes Donald Trump's Iowa Loss To Skipping Fox News Debate

With Donald Trump Abandoning Its Debate, Fox News Scorched By Its Own Chicanery

Donald Trump & Fox News: Timeline Of A Relationship