The first debate for the 2024 Republican nomination for president will be televised on August 23, on Fox News. It is sure to be rip-snoring affair with the likes of Mike Pence, Ron DeSantis, Nikki Haley, Vivek Ramaswamy, and Tim Scott providing the GOP juice. Only Chris Christie is likely to wake the audience up from time to time.
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A major disappointment for Fox News and the Republican National Committee, who are sponsoring the debate, is the news that Donald Trump will not be participating. They made a full court press to persuade the former guy to play along, even jetting down to Mar-a-Lago for in-person begging. All to no avail as Trump is now reported to have officially bowed out. Although it was fairly predictable considering Trump’s animosity toward his GOP challengers, and even more so, toward Fox News…
SEE THIS: Trump Goes on Psycho-Rant Accusing Fox News of Sabotaging Him with Bad Pictures and Polls
Consequently, Trump has decided to take a stab at upstaging the debate by scheduling an interview with ex-Fox News Trump-fluffer, Tucker Carlson, at the same time. It’s his way of chickening out of having to address his four criminal indictments and 90+ felony counts. However, this feeble attempt at counter-programming is a strategy that’s likely to fail since Carlson’s reach on his new Twitter “show” has been sinking like a stone. And to make matters worse, he has received a “cease and desist” letter from Fox News asserting that he is in breach of his contract.
SEE ALSO: Fox News Sends Tucker Carlson a Letter to Cease and Desist From His Twitter Rant-Cast
Undeterred, Trump and Carlson are pressing forward with their political performance. Rest assured that Trump’s legal problems will not be covered in any substantive way. They will both babble about weaponized justice, corrupt prosecutors, and election interference. It will be interesting to see how they try to pretend that they got more viewers than the Fox News debate, even though “views” on Twitter are counted when anyone just scrolls past a video without watching it all.
It’s not as if anyone would be compelled to sit through a Trump/Carlson interview because something unexpected or newsworthy might happen. The whole program could be summarized beforehand as being filled with friendly or leading questions, and tediously incoherent replies that are unrelated to reality. In short, Carlson will suck up, and Trump will dodge and lie.
Meanwhile, over on Fox News, the rest of the GOP roster will be struggling to grab some attention without offending Dear Leader Trump in absentia. They will take some swipes at each other, while tip-toeing around the orange elephant that isn’t in the room. Except for Christie, who will be spitting into the windbags surrounding him, and getting booed by the in-studio audience of Trump cultists. But at least he will offer some dramatic friction.
I’m going to predict that neither Trump’s cavorting with Carlson, nor Fox’s formal fare, will break any records for viewership. There really isn’t much need for anyone to watch either live. America can catch up on what happened in post-program soundbites, that will probably still be too long and dull. The nation already knows what they will say, because they’ve said it all before. And wasn’t of any importance the first (or fiftieth) time.
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Bwak! Bwak! Chickee! Chickee! Candidate Loser interviewed by Ex-Host Loser.
I didn’t realize America has had any debates since maybe Nixon vs Kennedy. How could there have been debates when there have been no statemen in while, just useless media productions selling passive stupidity to an audience of mostly political and historical illiterates, uh?
Pretty much, yep!
It seems to me that we’ve lost the idea that political debates between candidates for President ARE FOR THE PEOPLE. We used to have the power, in that, a candidate did not dare to refuse to do the debates. They wanted to compete, to share their vision for the future, their plans & why they felt that they were the best candidate for the job. The best choice voters could make in an upcoming election.
Now, the GOP’s attitude is that they’re somehow ‘blessing us with their appearance” at debates & that they don’t need to EARN the voters’ trust & their vote ~ they’ve got tons of secret donor money to simply outspend the others & BUY votes they need. They’ve made it so that their voters would NEVER vote across Party Lines! And presently, they have installed so many of their own people in key election positions & have created election laws to supress many voters that would likely not vote for them anyway… Everything the GOP does works against democracy, the right of the people to choose their own leaders! “The will of the voters” means nothing to them. Zero. They’d rather cheat, by making it tougher to exercise our right to vote & having people they control, willing to do their bidding, as their back-up plan. And Dem leadership has been DOA in fighting back against this mangling of our democracy while it was going on. ( We’ll deal with them later!)
I don’t really care about GOP primary debate. (Bunch of liars onstage trying to outdo each other?)
BUT… The GOP has FORBID their candidates from doing debates with Dems & Inds! Why?!? The only cheating at debates was GOP ~ George W, who had an electronic device in his ear giving him answers to say & had a power pack of some sort under his shirt, on his back, which was clearly seen on televised debates, due to a wayward photog who had gone behind stage while filming. They almost pulled it off! The best man/woman for the job does not need to be fed answers at public debate! The person GOP WANTS might tho. Why would they offer up any but their best, smartest candidates?!? They want a Prez they can easily manipulate, as does Corporate America! 1 who can be bought, or blackmailed maybe.
How are voters going to choose between candidates ~ which has plans/ideas that line-up better with their own needs & ideals? Which 1 seems to have good knowledge of the job they’re asking for? …of our laws, our global obligations, the needs of our country & its people? …Who has morals, ethics, diplomacy, respect & leadership skills?
The debates are FOR US, not just free TV time campaigning for THEM! “We The People” have a duty to be an informed electorate & to vote accordingly.
How can we decide, if ALL candidates are not in debates? We can’t. Not really. We will choose a box to check, but not based on any solid info, not the answers & decorum at the Presidential Debates. The GOP politicians want their money to do the talking for them. Where there’s no public debate, no holding them to what they said.
Regan won cuz’ many Dems saw/heard him & believed him, so they crossed Party Lines & voted for him…something GOP voters may not feel they can do. It’s why our votes are kept so private — altho, am having my doubts; with all the other dirty ‘shenanigans’ now taking place, who knows!?!
We must update our Rules, IF our democracy survives the GOP, its cheats, coup & fraud attempts, etc. For now, the people must vote, even tho some candidates are refusing to debate the others. Anyone who does not participate in the debates, I will never vote for!
If someone is too “chicken” to do the debates & answer tough questions…
To act properly in debate setting & get your point across, no name-calling, answer the questions asked, don’t be rude, etc… These ARE leadership qualities & necessary to be U.S. President! If cannot handle debates, there’s NO WAY you can properly handle the job you’re asking us to give you! Could we trust that person with the important affairs of this nation on a global stage?!? Ha! I think not! Hell no!!
Global leaders were SHOCKED by Trump’s lack of… well, everything necessary to be a world leader! That he would be the best choice U.S. voters could elect, says more about us & democracy itself …& none of it’s good!! They won’t give us another chance if we force them to deal with him again. Can’t blame them, really. If he refuses to debate his own people…that’s sheer cowardice & kinda’ proves that person does NOT have the skills needed to be U.S. President!
>>But then, having all those indictments/charges against him should’ve rendered him NOT-electable already!
Hope more and more voters agree with you. Democrats and Independents do..
Of course, “Queen MAGA”, as Rep. Gaetz calls her, and who has nothing but crap floating around in her head, argues that we’ve had 4 yrs of our best presidency yet in Trump, so why would he need to debate?
Of course, Trump follows that garbage up with garbage of his own. He is WAY ahead in the polls {Republican only polls.} And that’s until Republicans only realize all that they get by blind acceptance of Trump is further loss.