Posted on 08/21/2023 3:39:25 PM PDT by SoConPubbie
In the RealClearPolitics poll of national GOP primary polls, former President Donald Trump is 40.9 points ahead of second place.
What’s more, nationally, Trump sits well over the magic halfway mark with 55.8 percent support.
Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) is waaaaaayyy behind in second place with 14.9 percent support. The rest are in single digits.
Only a madman who’s up 41 points would risk that lead by participating in a debate with a half-dozen other candidates who—I’m sorry, but this is true—do not matter.
DeSantis and former Vice President Mike Pence are actually running for president but have so far run terrible campaigns. That could change, but for now, neither has been anything close to impressive and are no threat to the former president.
Businessman Vivek Ramaswamy, Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC), and former South Carolina Republican Governor Nikki Haley are not running for president. Instead, they are running to be Trump’s vice president or part of his cabinet. That’s fine.
As far as former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (RINO), he’s running to hear his own voice and see himself on TV.
Listen, as much hope as I had for DeSantis and Scott to show me something, they are not showing me anything other than this: they are not up to the business of running for president. That could change. But as of right now, the result is that this is not a serious presidential primary. Trump is stomping through the campaign as if he were a sitting president.
Let me put it this way… No one’s paying much attention to the Democrat presidential primary even though Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is doing about as well against His Fraudulency Joe Biden (Biden is up 64 to 13 percent) as DeSantis
(Excerpt) Read more at breitbart.com ...
A candidate has one job—and that is to win. Everything should come second to winning. I say the same thing when Democrats refuse to appear on Fox News. Why take the risk? And as far as all this silly talk about “precedent” and “democracy”? Spare me, y’all. As of now, Trump’s opponents circle him like gnats. Trump would be a fool to elevate them with a debate appearance. He would be an even bigger fool to show up for a debate on Fox News, an outlet that hates him as much as CNNLOL hates him. Why give Fox the ratings? Why allow yourself to be deposed by your enemies on national TV?
I have not seen a presidential debate in decades, they would just smear him, especially the fat slob!
FoxNews has been doing everything it can to goad Trump into attending debate because they know that ratings will crash without the front runner. No one will tune in to watch DeSantis or Ramaswamy.
So Trump does this: agrees to live interview at the same time with the guy that Fix fired (Tucker Carlson). And those ratings will crush FoxNews.
The man is a genius.
If he were to show up, it would be nothing but an pile on from the majority of the candidates with Trump defending himself. They assume Trump is guilty until proven innocent and it would NOT be productive.
President Trump, if not cheated a second time, would be wise to go outside of those seeking favor and choosing relative unknowns for VP and Cabinet positions. Those already in government have proved themselves unworthy of consideration imho.
Got this awhile ago.
I just read a news story that said Barack is going to jump in for 2024 to replace joe
There would be a mass dog pile with Trump the victim. It would defame the GOP brand bigly.
It is devastating to politics reporters or politicians to see a candidate hold them in utter contempt mostly for no other reason that they have a career in politics.
A career in politics is just about the purest introductory definition of The Swamp that you can have. These candidates look in the mirror and then look around them and they see people who have zero respect for them as Swamp filth.
That is the only policy to be debated. I would like to see Christie explain his choices through the years to be Swamp filth. Consciously made. Knowingly made.
This Vivek guy is not Swamp filth, and he is the only one of all of them who seems to understand what an advantage that gives him. He’ll likely explain it to them in the debate.
Don’t care, not watching.
Don’t forget Larry Elder. I would vote for him above everyone else—except Donald Trump.
Political debates are, in general, a good thing. They allow voters to see candidates up close and personal. No hiding behind fancy consultants here!
However, such debates must be fair. The playing field must be level. That has not been the case for a long time. The moderator is left-biased. The questioners are left-biased.
No conservative should agree to such a debate unless he/she has a veto over the moderator and the questioners. Otherwise, just skip the whole dog and pony show.
Agree.
Based on how Fox News managed the first 2016 Republican primary debate, I'd say they hated ALL of the Republican candidates. That might be because they gave Chris Wallace too much influence over moderating that debate.
-PJ
Such nonsense.
The man knows his limitations, I'll give him that.
That’s not Constitutionally possible.
...... Any chance Trump gives Larry his slot for the debate just to shake things up a little more???
.... If so .... That would be awesome!
.
Why the name calling, my good FRiend?
He could watch to scout for a potential VP running mate. It’ll be the VP debate.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.