It's Too Bad Megyn Kelly's Not Hosting The Debate

Fox News host Megyn Kelly received applause from both Republicans and Democrats after the first Republican debate in August, when she asked tough questions of all the candidates and didn't back down when Donald Trump got sassy. Will Megyn Kelly host the third GOP debate? No, it doesn't look like she will be present on the stage, even though she probably should be.

The third GOP debate will be held Wednesday on CNBC, so that's the first reason Kelly won't be a host. The CNBC moderators will be Carl Quintanilla, Becky Quick, and John Harwood, and it will focus on "key issues," including job growth, taxes, technology, retirement, and the national economy, according to CNBC. CNBC experts Jim Cramer, Sharon Epperson, Rick Santelli will join the moderators to ask the candidates questions from their respective areas of expertise. The last two debates were held by Fox News and CNN, so each of the network gets to choose moderators from their news programs to ask the candidates questions.

Though the debate rules are just the debate rules, it's sad that Kelly won't be on the stage. During the first debate, she grilled retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson on intelligence-gathering techniques that some would call torture. Eventually, Carson said, “What we do in order to get the info that we need is our business. And I wouldn’t necessarily be broadcasting to everybody what we’re going to do." Later, she skewered Trump for having previously called women names such as "fat pigs, dogs, slobs, and disgusting animals":

Your Twitter account has several disparaging comments about women’s looks. You once told a contestant on Celebrity Apprentice it would be a pretty picture to see her on her knees. Does that sound to you like the temperament of a man we should elect as president, and how will you answer the charge from Hillary Clinton, who was likely to be the Democratic nominee, that you are part of the war on women?

And Kelly's badgering was successful, because the next day Trump began attacking her and Fox News on Twitter. She made him break, and that said a lot about his character and the way that he does view women.

It will be interesting to see if any of the moderators can make Trump's blood boil in the same way Kelly did. Specifically, financial expert Cramer might be able to call the candidates out why lowering taxes for the rich won't actually help income inequality, and Quick, who will be the only female moderator and one of two women asking questions, might be able to prod sexist remarks out of someone (*Cough* Trump). John Harwood, another moderator, might prove the most interesting to watch because he is a seasoned political reporter who can probably see right through bullshit. The six people on stage will have the collective power to make the debate interesting, but Kelly certainly set the standard with her approach in the first debate.