Donald Trump “will not be participating” in Thursday night’s GOP Debate on Fox News. Or so his campaign declared Tuesday evening.

Earlier, at an event in Iowa, Trump had said he “probably won’t bother doing the debate,” because of his alleged mistreatment at the hands of Fox News. But the New York Times is now quoting campaign manager Corey Lewandowski as saying, “He will not be participating in the Fox News debate on Thursday. It’s not under negotiation.”

The Trump decision … or ploy … comes after a strange back and forth with the cable network. After The Donald  went on another rant about “unfair” moderator Megyn Kelly, he polled his Twitter followers, “Should I do the #GOP Debate?”

Fox News responded with the political equivalent of a pie in the face:

We learned from a secret back channel that the Ayatollah and Putin both intend to treat Donald Trump unfairly when they meet with him if he becomes president — a nefarious source tells us that Trump has his own secret plan to replace the Cabinet with his Twitter followers to see if he should even go to those meetings.

Trump’s response at that point was predictable:

Pathetic attempt by @foxnews to try and build up ratings for the #GOPDebate. Without me they'd have no ratings! https://t.co/2bx54VKpQh

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 26, 2016

Trump Gets Endorsements, for Better or Worse

In the meantime, Trump had a good day on the endorsement front, snagging the endorsement of Liberty University President Jerry Falwell, Jr., even if Trump isn’t sure if it’s pronounced “2 Corinthians” or “Second Corinthians.” Scoring the endorsement of the evangelical leader and son of Moral Majority leader Jerry Falwell gives Trump another weapon in his effort to siphon evangelical voters in Iowa away from Ted Cruz.

“Dad explained that when he walked into the voting booth, he wasn’t electing a Sunday school teacher, or a pastor, or even a President who shared his theological beliefs,” Falwell said Tuesday. “He was electing a President of the United States to lead a nation.”

Trump also won the support of Arizona’s controversial Sheriff Joe Arpaio, an outspoken foe of illegal immigration. Sheriff Arpaio will be joining Trump Wednesday in the appropriately named Marshalltown, Iowa.

Trump also felt the love Tuesday from former Major League John Rocker. Rocker, you may remember, was practically run out of baseball after a series of offensive comments. “I’m not a big fan of foreigners,” he told Sports Illustrated in 1999, “You can walk an entire block in Times Square and not hear anybody speaking English.” He called New York Mets fans “degenerates” and vowed to never play for a New York team. Today he told The Daily Caller he is “absolutely” endorsing the ultimate New Yorker, Trump. “I think he has really woken America up,” Rocker said.

No Need for Jobs Programs in the Animal Kingdom

It’s less than a week to go until the Iowa Caucus and the stress and strain of the long campaign trail is beginning to bring out the kooky.

Exhibit A: During Monday’s CNN town hall, Democratic candidate Martin O’Malley declared that humans are “the only species on the planet without full employment.” (If true, one wonders, why aren’t my dogs kicking in for rent?)

Exhibit B: Republican candidate Sen. Rand Paul told Comedy Central Monday night that Donald Trump is a “delusional narcissist and orange-faced windbag,” a Gollum-like creature obsessed with power and less qualified for the job than “a speck of dirt.” “Have you ever had a speck of dirt fly in your eye?” the eye surgeon asked. “But if the dirt doesn’t go away, it’ll keep scratching away at your cornea until it eventually blinds you with all its filth, and then makes fun of you on CNN.”

But apparently not on Fox News.

And we close with an image to remind us of the Democratic race, where at least one of the candidates is drumming up passion as well.

UNITED STATES – JANUARY 26 – Kenny Jackson, from Knoxville, Iowa, smoke a cigarette as he shows off a shaved head in support of Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders before a meeting at the United Steelworkers Local 310L in Des Moines, Iowa, Tuesday, Jan. 26, 2016.