Donald Trump, the GOP's Two-Edged Sword

By Scott Galindez, Reader Supported News

09 August 15

 

ow many of you watched the first Republican debate four years ago? That’s what I thought. For the few of you who raised your hands, I have one more question: why?

This time around, people who usually never watch a political debate tuned in to see Donald Trump. I’m not so sure that was a good thing for the traditional candidates, who depend on sound bites and 30-second commercials to get votes on election day. Most voters make up their mind based on whichever pundit’s spin they trust. They don’t really know where candidates stand on the issues.

The Trump factor may change that. Joe Six Pack, instead of making up his mind on who to vote for based on television commercials, might just have watched a whole debate. While the networks will be doing everything they can to keep Trump in the debates, there have probably been been several high-level RNC staff meetings designed to come up with a plan to keep him out of future debates.

Why? Aren’t TV ratings good? Not if you want your party to nominate the perfect package who delivers great sound bites and slick 30-second ads. You don’t want your candidates to be exposed to too many serious questions. Well they can be, but not when everyone is looking. You want trained spinners to tell everyone what they said in the debate – you don’t really want most voters to watch. Watching debates is for the true believers who already think the candidates walk on water.

So you see the dilemma the Republicans find themselves in. They were left naked and exposed Thursday night. Donald Trump exposed the GOP field to the world. The only saving grace was that, with 10 candidates on the stage, they all were limited in how much rope, errr ... time they had to speak.

Rand Paul hung himself. He came across as an angry boy who was just looking to pick a fight. Paul’s face-off with Chris Christie was perhaps the highlight of the night. I think the timing and the tone of his dig on Christie for hugging Obama just came across as mean-spirited. Christie’s response was effective, citing hugs to families of 9/11 victims. The dustup was over NSA surveillance, and Christie was on the wrong side of the issue but he was more effective than Rand Paul in the exchange.

If women who normally don’t watch debates watched Thursday night, the candidates did everything they could to ensure they don’t vote Republican. Trump led the way with his exchange with Megyn Kelly. He in essence threatened her, implying that he would stop being nice to her if she didn’t start respecting him.

Kelly called Trump out for the things he says about women, calling them “fat pigs,” “dogs,” “slobs,” and “disgusting animals.” Trump’s initial response drew laughter when he said “only Rosie O’Donnell.” He was giving what would have been an effective response in a GOP debate when he said he is not “politically correct,” but when Kelly followed up and Trump felt cornered he attacked her and drew booing, not for the first time that night.

Many of the other candidates showed how outside the mainstream the party is on abortion. They all said, even those who in the past supported exceptions, that they wouldn’t allow abortions even in cases where the life of the mother was at risk.

The booing for Trump began when he was the only candidate who raised his hand to indicate that he would not pledge to support any other Republican nominee. In pure Trump fashion, he said he would support the nominee only if he were that nominee.

Jeb Bush and Scott Walker, along with Trump, had the most to lose and really accomplished the least in this debate. Neither had a memorable moment, with the possible exception of Bush clearly saying the Iraq war was a mistake. He doubled down by saying Obama’s pulling out of Iraq was a mistake, leading to ISIS – ignoring the fact that ISIS was created by the purging of Sunnis from the Iraq military and government.

If any candidate had a good night with the viewers who don’t usually watch Republican debates, it was the candidate Fox News did all they could to get into the debate, Ohio governor John Kasich. Kasich’s answer to a question on what he would do if his daughter were gay deserves praise. He said that while he disagrees with people on issues it doesn’t mean that he wouldn’t still love them and respect their choices.

I think Kasich did the most to help himself. Ted Cruz and Mike Huckabee did best with the true believers. Chris Christie fought his way back to his feet, while Jeb Bush and Scott Walker were covering up on the ropes, making sure no punches landed, but they didn’t land a punch either. Rubio held his own but he also didn’t score any points.

Ben Carson, like Kasich, stood out. I’m just not sure a clever sense of humor is what voters are looking for in a president. I’m still not sure what Carson stands for. I do think he is brilliant and witty, but president?

I didn’t mention the kiddie stage, the 5 p.m. debate. I admit that I didn’t watch it. According to the pundits, Carly Fiorina did well. I guess we will use traditional debate evaluation and believe the pundits. After the Republicans’ poor performance with women, maybe they will let one onto the big stage next time.

The front-runners on the Democratic side approached the debate differently. Hillary Clinton, who was a major topic in the GOP debates, sent out a fundraiser announcing that she wasn’t watching:

“Right this minute, ten Republican men are on national TV, arguing over which one will do the best job of dragging our country backwards.

“I’m not watching, and I don’t need to be.

“Donald Trump, Jeb Bush, Scott Walker, Marco Rubio – they all have the same agenda. They are out of step with the kind of country Americans want for themselves and their children.”

Vermont senator Bernie Sanders watched the debate and took to Twitter to comment on the event.

Sanders asked why Fox News, the debate sponsor, didn’t bring up issues that are priorities for a large majority of Americans: jobs, the collapse of the working class, tax breaks for the rich, raising the minimum wage, staggering student debt, climate change, the environment, and billionaires trying to buy elections.

One of the most popular tweets of the night said: “GOP agenda: more money for military, tax breaks for the rich, cuts to Social Security & programs for working families.”

He was impressed a couple times. “Did @realDonaldTrump just support a national single-payer health system? Well. He was right on something.”

There was another thing he liked too, but it turned out to be a commercial. “Tom Hanks. Finally. Somebody who makes some sense. Oh. It was just a movie trailer.”

When the debate ended, Sanders summed it up in one final tweet: “It’s over. Not one word about economic inequality, climate change, Citizens United or student debt. That’s why the Rs are so out of touch.”

Here’s the link to the Sanders’ debate-night Twitter feed: https://twitter.com/berniesanders.

According to Twitter, the hashtag #DebateWithBernie was used 56,748 times and @BernieSanders was mentioned 59,935 times during the debate.

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Scott Galindez attended Syracuse University, where he first became politically active. The writings of El Salvador's slain archbishop Oscar Romero and the on-campus South Africa divestment movement converted him from a Reagan supporter to an activist for Peace and Justice. Over the years he has been influenced by the likes of Philip Berrigan, William Thomas, Mitch Snyder, Don White, Lisa Fithian, and Paul Wellstone. Scott met Marc Ash while organizing counterinaugural events after George W. Bush's first stolen election. Scott will be spending a year covering the presidential election from Iowa.

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