Donald Trump offered viewers of the Republican National Convention some competing programming Monday night by calling into Fox News for an interview.
In a seemingly unusual move, the Manhattan billionaire phoned into Bill O'Reilly's show to trash Ohio Gov. John Kasich, a fellow Republican with whom he competed in the GOP primary, while previewing his Thursday speech.
As a result, Fox News did not air the impassioned speech of Patricia Smith, the mother of a victim of the 2012 terror attack in Benghazi, Libya.
Many observers on Twitter took note:
This is strange. pic.twitter.com/472x0y1Xzt
- Matthew Gertz (@MattGertz) July 19, 2016Trump calls into Fox News and competes with his own convention for air time. https://t.co/Em26npK3qa
- Sahil Kapur (@sahilkapur) July 19, 2016New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman called the move "unusua,l" while CNN senior media correspondent Brian Stelter found it "fascinating."
Conventions are normally highly orchestrated events that are meticulously planned weeks in advance.
The presumptive Republican nominee's call into O'Reilly was only one sign the GOP convention was hastily put together. The list of speakers was only released days ahead of the event. Actor Scott Baio, a speaker Monday night, said he was only asked to deliver a speech last week.