Summary: Donald Trump masterfully demonstrates how to maintain Frame when Megyn Kelly initiates the Parent-Child transaction on him. He maintains Frame and flips the script to make Kelly look like the Child.

Body: According to Transactional Analysis (TA), people initiate conversations in one of three different ego states (Parent, Adult or Child). If someone is trying to make you feel or respond like a Child, they will initiate the conversation in a Parent ego state. If you respond like a Child, you've lost your Frame. It is better to respond in an Adult ego state. Masters of the game, like Donald Trump, can flip the script and make the initiator feel or look like a Child by the end of the transaction.

The following video is a perfect demonstration:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Y9_LJj7A68

Most of us have seen this video before, but try viewing it from the TA perspective.

Paraphrasing here:

Megyn Kelly:"You have called woman you don't like fat pigs, dogs slobs and disgusting animals....Your Twitter account has several disparaging comments about womens' looks...Does that sound like the temperament of a man we should elect President?"

Megyn Kelly's motive here is to get Trump to assume the role of Child. It is a pure power play. The undertone of her quote is Parental:

"You should be ashamed of yourself. Apologize to Mommy."

Her payoff is to get Trump to assume the Child role and ask for forgiveness. Most people in that position would have responded like a Child, asking for forgiveness, justifying their actions or apologizing (losing Frame).

Trump doesn't bite. He gives an Adult response:

Trump:"I think the big problem this country has is being politically correct."

On the surface, the response is logical, emotionless and reasonable (Adult). But Trump is slowly laying the groundwork to flip the Parent-Child transaction back onto Megyn Kelly, making her the Child.

As Trump continues, he turns up the Parental tone:

Trump:"I've been challenged by so many people and I don't frankly have time for total political correctness."

Trump is saying back to Kelly:

"I don't have time for your childish protest, there are more important adult issues to deal with."

Towards the end of the video, Trump goes in for the kill.

Trump:"What I say, is what I say. And honestly Megyn, if you don't like it, I'm sorry, I've been very nice to you...although I could probably not be based on the way you have treated me but I wouldn't do that."

The undertone here is:

"If you don't like it you can go to your room. I've been a good Parent to you. I won't treat you badly because I am an Adult."

Conclusion:Try to recognize the Parental tone as early as possible. It will be emotional, authoritative and may have some element of right or wrong to it (like something your parents or teacher would say). There's no doubt that Trump recognized it early on. He didn't try to stop Kelly, instead he used the few extra seconds to formulate his Adult response, and most likely the Parental follow up. Donald Trump maintained his Frame by not responding as a Child. He was able to flip the script and put Megyn Kelly into his Frame.