At this time next week, the first Republican presidential debate will be in the history books. Former President Donald Trump will or won’t have taken part. One or two on stage will have eliminated themselves, and another couple will have elevated their chances. All this begs the question: How important is this first GOP presidential debate?
How about very.
Presidential candidates only get an opportunity to make their case on the national stage maybe a dozen times if they are lucky. That’s why several candidates appearing Aug. 23 on the Fox televised debate have jumped through hoops to get on that program. Speculation has run wild on whether or not Trump will take part.
Political strategists have been counseling the former president not to “lower himself” and appear with a gaggle of wannabes. But the decision is ultimately his, and if we know anything about Trump by now - and we should know a thing or two - he listens to his inner voice and loves to be in the center ring with the spotlights trained on him. This is when he really shines and is totally in his element.
Should the Make America Great Again proponent decide to jump up on that debate stage, he’s likely to dominate the event and do what he does best: throw punches and jibes until his opponent looks and sounds, well, stupid. There is another reason he might want to debate those seeking to knock him out of the race for a second term. And that is to dispense with his chief rival thus far – Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.
Trump knows all is fair in politics, and he specializes in kicking a man when he’s down – and DeSantis is falling like a rocket that has run out of fuel and is hurtling toward Earth. If Trump dispatches the Florida governor, there is no one currently in the race who could give him even a modicum of anxiety over winning the Republican nomination.
There is one other thing the former president could accomplish should he choose to participate. He could hammer away at those who have said derogatory things about him and his previous administration. Number one on that list would be his running mate and VP, Mike Pence, who seems to be running for the express purpose of making it clear to anyone who will listen that he took the high road and “chose to follow the U.S. Constitution and not Trump” when it got down to the nitty-gritty following election 2020. Of course, few are buying Pence’s act and suspect he’s trying to save his political legacy by distancing himself from the man he served under for four years.
If it sounds like the debate is all about Trump, it may be because it is. You can bet your bottom dollar the Fox News executives who have been giving the former president such a hard time are holding their breath and hoping with every fiber of their being that 45 takes part in the debate. Why? Because Trump brings in viewers like December’s snowflakes falling in Vermont.
Fox and Friends?
Bret Baier (Photo by Scott Eisen/Getty Images)
Fox News will have its evening news anchor Bret Baier beside the competent and likable Martha McCallum moderating. The fact that viewers won’t have to deal with the widely unpopular Chris Wallace – who managed to become the embodiment of the word obnoxious during one of the 2020 debates -- is a welcome relief to many. Wallace had a unique way of making himself the center of attention in every situation. His constant combativeness and interruptions felt like fingernails on a chalkboard to millions of conservative viewers.
The Debate and One Brief Shining Moment
It’s also likely that candidates Vivek Ramaswamy and Tim Scott will elevate their chances – not for the top spot, but possibly number two. Both are intelligent, savvy, and positive candidates, and this will be the first time that either one has appeared before a national audience since they announced their candidacy.
Eight candidates in toto have met the donation and polling requirements for this first debate: Trump, DeSantis, and Pence are the most widely known. Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC), former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum, and businessman Vivek Ramaswamy round out the players. Still, everyone wants to see The Donald. He’s likely to announce soon whether he will participate in the debate, and if he does, it will be Trump’s world, with everyone else trying to take at least a jab at him or a knock-out punch at best.
And that is precisely how he likes it.
