Donald Trump made what seems to be a record number of headlines after the last Republican debate before Iowa was broadcasted sans Trump. According to Trump himself, Fox News had treated him unfairly and that he was sticking up for himself. According to his political opponents, he is chickening out of an important event over a petty feud with Megyn Kelly. According to Trump and his supporters, this will not hurt him and maybe event help him; his opponents claim that missing this important opportunity will most certainly hurt him. So who’s right?

Trump’s feud with Kelly started in August during the first debate when she asked him a question he viewed as inappopriate and biased. Kelly quoted Trump’s earlier statements in a way to portray him as a sexist, but he cleverly deflected the attack, saying “Only Rosie O’Donnell.” He was lauded for turning a question meant to portray him as misogynistic by quoting him out of context into an opportunity for him to portray himself as someone who will say what he wants of people.

When Kelly was set to moderate the debate on Thursday, he asked Fox to replace her, claiming that she was biased and that she would attack him like she did in the past. Fox, however, responded with a childish tweet that insinuated that Trump was afraid of Kelly and wouldn’t be able to handle Putin and the Ayatollah. Trump claims that that was the deciding factor on his debate participation.

So instead of doing a debate, he organized an event for veterans, and created a website and filled a hall of 700 on one days notice. He raised 5 million from his rich buddies and over $500,000 through small donations on his site. And while the debate was being shown on Fox, CNN and others broadcast Trump for three consecutive hours, livestreaming his event, which may be the longest piece of free media Trump has earned yet.

Trump accrued more social media mentions that any other candidate at the debate, and Fox News’ after-debate poll showed him winning a debate he didn’t attend. Fox News even released an apologetic statement to Trump, and he responded by calling them nice, but still skipping the debate because he had already scheduled an event.