Who’s in, Who’s Out & Who’s A Hypocrite – Top 3 Takeaways – August 22nd, 2023
- Who’s in. Presidential election cycles are full of drama starting with the debates themselves. But this cycle there’s the potential for more drama to have happened off of the debate stage preceding the first Republican Presidential debate than may occur on it. The number of Republicans who will show up on the first debate stage Wednesday will be fewer than the Democrats had on theirs' in 2020 and fewer than the Republicans had on theirs’ in 2016. But never before has there been more of a guessing game about who would qualify for the debate stage and whom among the potentially qualified field would choose to debate, as this one. Heading into this process there were a total of 14 declared Republican candidates who could be deemed potentially credible. That field consisted of thirteen declared candidates who were actively attempting to qualify for the first debate and former President Donald Trump who made it clear he didn’t have any interest in being on the debate stage. In the leadup to Monday night’s qualifying deadline as many as ten campaigns were suggesting they had met the three qualifying criteria for the debate, while only eight candidates were verified to have actually done so. The eight who are in – Ron DeSantis, Vivek Ramaswamy, Mike Pence, Chris Christie, Nikki Haley, Tim Scott, Doug Burgum and Asa Hutchinson. The other two who were making claims about being in... Will Hurd and Francis Suarez. That takes us to...
- Who’s out. Those two. Yes, never Trumper Will Hurd and the third Floridian in the race in Miami Mayor Francis Suarez who isn’t really much of a Republican but who likes to play one on TV (aside from kneeling with Black Lives Matters protestors in 2020 Suarez stated that he didn’t vote for Trump in 2016 or 2020)...think about that one for a minute.
- Who’s a hypocrite? Let’s start with the biggest hypocrites of all... The DNC. The Democrat National Committee is no stranger to rigged primary elections processes, just ask Bernie Sanders about what happened to him in 2016. Or former DNC chair Donna Brazile. In a Politico op-ed detailing the Democrat’s 2016 process she used the word “rig” herself to describe what the party’s elites did to hand control over the process, and the party’s finances, over to Hillary Clinton prior to her having won the nomination. Now, why am I talking about the DNC’s hypocrisy in the context of the Republican debate? Because while many on the left and the right are second guessing the RNC’s minimum qualifications for the first debate, including the loyalty pledge to the party’s eventual nominee, which may have been the deciding factor in Trump’s decision not to debate, it pales in comparison to what the DNC has done to stifle competition and to deny choice to its party’s voters. Here’s a number for you. 8%. Do you have any idea what that represents? It represents the difference in the current amount of pledged support nationally that former President Donald Trump has among Republican Party voters and that President Biden currently has among Democrat party voters. Yes, no kidding, as we head into the first Presidential debate of the 2024 cycle Donald Trump is peaking with a polling average of 56% support nationally, with a total of 14 candidates in the race, while Joe Biden is currently averaging 64% support among Democrats with only three total candidates in the race. Now, show of hands. How many people think Biden would have anywhere near the 56% support level Trump currently has in his party’s primary if there were eleven other candidates for voters to choose from, including any that were highly credible? The biggest hypocrites of all are those who won’t even host a debate despite the clear indication many of its party’s voters want another choice and openly want a debate over who their party’s nominee should be. As for the next biggest hypocrites... Mike Pence, Chris Christie and Asa Hutchinson. Quoting Mike Pence on June 7th (and since) when he announced his campaign bid “Donald Trump should never be president again”. Christie’s recent description of Trump: He's a completely self-centered, self-possessed, self-consumed, angry old man. And he doesn't care about anybody else other than him. And as for Asa Hutchinson, who by qualifying for the debate is a clear sign that the Republican party’s threshold for qualifying was probably too low, he’s said: I’m not going to vote for him if he’s a convicted felon. But all of those statements by those three hypocrites were made prior to signing a loyalty pledge stating they’d support the eventual Republican nominee for President. So, in essence what Mike Pence has now said is that Donald Trump should never be president again...unless he’s the Republican nominee for president. What Chris Christie has said is He's a completely self-centered, self-possessed, self-consumed, angry old man. And he doesn't care about anybody else other than him...which is why I’ll be supporting him for president if he wins the Republican nomination. And Asa Hutchinson has effectively stated... I’m not going to vote for him if he’s a convicted felon...But I’ll be supporting him for president regardless. Those jokers are hypocrites who are illustrative of the stereotypical politicians who will say anything and do anything to try to get elected. Though they’re still not as hypocritical as the DNC. And know who’s the least hypocritical of all? Donald Trump. For not singing a pledge that would in theory pledge support to one of those hypocrites if hell froze over and one of them became the nominee. Donald Trump is a lot of things, some good, some not so much. But above all else he’s clear in his convictions, which instantly sets him apart from typical politicians. So now the question is, will a debate minus Trump in it, have anywhere near the drama that we’ve seen preceding it?