Enough of the Junior Varsity Debates

Haven’t Americans seen enough of the also-ran GOP presidential candidates debating on national television? These candidates have been highly promoted by the liberal media but cannot seem to gain any traction with Republican voters.

The ratings for the first two debates have been poor and significantly lower than the first presidential debates in the 2016 election. Of course, the reason is that the main attraction, President Donald Trump, has not been participating.

Sorry, GOP insiders, but Republican voters want Trump to be the party’s nominee in 2024. Thus, despite the best efforts of the GOP establishment and anti-Trump media outlets, these other presidential candidates are barely registering in the polls.

According to a new survey by The Center Square and Noble Predictive Insights, Trump dominates his challengers with 59% support, followed by Florida Governor Ron DeSantis at 13% and former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley at 9%.  The Chief of Research at Noble Predictive Insights, David Byler, said that “Trump is continuing to dominate the primary field” and “there is only one candidate in the top tier, and his name is Donald Trump.”

Byler also noted Republicans support Trump and are excited about another White House run, asserting, “Republican voters believe that Trump is electable. They like his policies. They know him from seeing him have a full term in the White House, and right now, he is in a very dominant position.”

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Trump’s position today is stronger than it was in the 2016 election. In that race, Trump was polling below 50% support, whereas today, Blyer says that “Trump is winning 2 to 1 against single candidates who are his strongest opponents.”

With President Trump in such a dominating position, it is understandable why he is skipping these debates. He has nothing to gain and everything to lose. He should not waste his time allowing second-tier candidates an opportunity to relentlessly attack him.

What is infuriating is that the Republican National Committee (RNC) is continuing to sponsor these presidential debates, thereby giving unpopular candidates airtime to disparage their frontrunner. Wisely, the Trump campaign called on the RNC to cancel future debates so that it would “refocus its manpower and money” on defeating Democrats in 2024.

Instead of following this sound advice, the RNC allows a far-left network, NBC News, to host the third presidential debate on Wednesday night in Miami. The moderators will include the reliably liberal hosts of NBC Nightly News, Lester Host, and Meet the Press, Kristen Welker.

Once again, the RNC is rewarding the liberal media for their biased reporting. Instead of partnering with NBC News to televise another lackluster presidential debate, the RNC should ignore the network.

While the pretenders will be debating, the star of the GOP field, President Donald Trump, will counterprogram with his own event, a rally in nearby Hialeah, Florida. Surely, the Trump rally will be more interesting and generate much more excitement than another debate among losing candidates.

To qualify for the third debate, the RNC set some pathetically low benchmarks, including a 4% support in two national polls and at least 200 donors from twenty states. Amazingly, former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, known for his outrageous attacks against President Trump, will be on the stage Wednesday night.

While out-of-touch GOP insiders may support Christie, he is unpopular with the grassroots Republicans. During his speech to the Florida Freedom Summit on Friday, Christie was met with loud boos and calls for him to “drop out now.”

The same treatment was given to former Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson, who claimed that Trump would probably “be found guilty by a jury on a felony offense next year.” Hutchinson also claimed that nominating Trump “will weaken the GOP for decades to come. As a party, we must support the rule of law.” These comments were met by “boos from the crowd for over a minute.”

Obviously, Trump is extremely popular with the GOP faithful, but he is also gaining support among the overall electorate. In a New York Times poll released Sunday, Trump leads President Joe Biden in five swing states. Two-thirds of the respondents said the country was on the wrong track, while only 37% trusted Biden with the nation’s economy.

The poll was devastating for Biden, showing 71% believed he was “too old” while his support dropped significantly among key Democratic Party constituencies, young and minority voters. If the election were held today, the poll showed that Trump would win a major victory, with over 300 electoral votes.

After the devastating poll was announced, “Never Trump” activist Bill Kristol, a formerly respected journalist, tweeted that while Biden “served our country well,” it was time for him to display “personal sacrifice and public spirit” and “pass the torch to the next generation. It's time for Biden to announce he won't run in 2024.”

Obviously, those suffering from “Trump Derangement Syndrome” are getting nervous. It is also happening among the GOP establishment, who are working on their next ploy. DeSantis is laying the groundwork to challenge Trump at the GOP convention. In the view of Jack Posobiec, editor of Human Events, DeSantis and his supporters “want to strip the nomination of Trump at the convention.”

This rationale was explained during a recent DeSantis interview on MSNBC. He claimed that if Trump is convicted after a sham trial prosecuted by a weaponized Biden Department of Justice, “I don’t think the party should nominate in that situation.”

Instead, all Republicans should denounce attempts to deny the nomination to the overwhelming frontrunner based on the deplorable shenanigans of Biden’s Department of Justice. DeSantis revealed why these other candidates are still in the race: their only hope to win is if Trump is convicted.

However, the charges against Trump are bogus and politicized. Biden’s Justice Department must not determine the GOP presidential nominee; it must remain the decision of Republican Party voters.