The debate games are in full swing leading up to the first Republican presidential debate. Of course the biggest move is by the Don, who is, as predicted, refusing to play altogether, taking the risk of not being there as less than the risk of giving the gang a real shot at him. Or, as he posted: “Reagan didn’t do it, and neither did others. People know my Record, one of the BEST EVER, so why would I Debate?” It could have gone either way. This way is maybe more fun. We get to watch them all go after him. Or not.
Give Chris Christie the best mark for scoring a pregame hit by going to Florida to tell poor Ron DeSantis that he better beat up on Donald Trump or he should go home and endorse him. If he’s going to follow the advice of the political consultants to defend Trump in the debate, “he should do Donald Trump a favor and do our party a favor, come back to Tallahassee and endorse Donald Trump,” Christie said to a friendly crowd in South Miami. “The only way to beat someone is to beat him.”
Got him a headline in The New York Times at DeSantis’ expense. Poor Ron, who got his whole debate prep notebook leaked, complete with the instructions to write a handwritten note that says “LIKEABLE” at the top of the page. I mean, when something like that happens, you either have to ignore the (good) advice in the book lest you look like you’re following it closely, or follow it closely and get called out for that (like attacking Vivek Ramaswamy), or just get called out in general, which is what is happening to DeSantis.
Poor Ron is not having a good week. You know Christie will come out swinging against the Don. The question is what the other candidates, starting with the Ron, will do. Play to the base? Play past the base? Play it safe? Leave it open to Christie to bash?
With no Don, the question is who emerges as the challenger to him, the non-Don, not to mention whether the cattle show elevates the participants as I expect it will or not. They will be on a presidential stage whether the Don joins them or not. And these are some serious debaters. Ron is facing some real challengers. Mike Pence used to be a conservative talk show host; he has something to say. So does Ramaswamy, who, along with Tim Scott and Nikki Haley, has been waiting for his close-up and will be ready for this performance. Ramaswamy will give Ron a run for his money on the woke attack. Scott is an effective speaker. Attacking Joe Biden and Hunter Biden and Merrick Garland is easy stuff. The question is who, if anyone, will attack Trump? What will they say about the indictments? About Jan. 6?
And Trump? Oh, yes, will Trump pledge to support the Republican nominee for president? Is that part of the package, even though he is skipping the Fox News/Republican National Committee Event? I guess he’s skipping that part, too. The rest of us can stay tuned for the shenanigans that are about to begin in earnest. Tis the season.
