This small column may soon be overtaken by events, but until then….

Donald Trump’s standoff with Fox News would be funny if it weren’t so sad. It speaks so clearly about a bigoted, abusive, child who wants to be President of the United States and a national news network that claims it is truthful, reliable and has a shred of integrity.

So Trump won’t appear on the Fox-sponsored debate tonight in Des Moines. In fact, of course, he may well choose to show up at the last minute and thereby confound everyone once again. But if he doesn’t — and putting aside his trumped-up dispute with Fox newscaster Megyn Kelly — his failure to show points up what a shabby operation Fox really is.

In case you missed it, after Trump initially announced he would skip the debate, the CEO of Fox News put out a press statement in which the network said it had learned that the Ayatollah of Iran and Vladimir Putin would deliberately treat Trump unfairly if he should be elected President. Well, in the first place, that’s ludicrous. It has no basis in fact and even strains the notions of fiction.

But in fact it was prepared by the head of Fox and distributed to other media as the “real thing.” Think for a moment: if the president of The New York Times, or CBS or NBC, or just about any real media did the same, he/she would be shaming the organization and turning it into a laughing stock. No, this statement from Roger Ailes indicates only what we already know all too well: Fox News is a political arm of the Republican party establishment and carries zero credibility.

So, given that, who really cares about Trump’s behavior? He’s as slimy as the network he’s feuding with; both carry only the most casual of relationships with truth, honesty and integrity. Trump and Fox are bedmates in that regard, no matter how far they envision their separateness.

Neither should EVER be believed or trusted. Both deserve only shame, a word that both seem quite unacquainted with, sad to say.