There was yet another Republican presidential debate last night. These debates are finally human-sized, the number of candidates having been whittled down to just four. Joining the frontrunner, Donald Trump, on stage were Senators Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz, and Governor Ted Kasich.
To call what transpired on stage a debate is an insult to debate. There were some canned responses, but most of the time seemed spent on the candidates attacking each other. There was much shouting and talking over one another, and there were also bizarre moments when the Fox News moderators attempted to use facts and statistics to damage Trump — orders having come down from on high that the network needs to step up their attacks on
It was wonderfully ironic to see the propaganda arm of the GOP so stymied by Trump that they actually thought running out some facts would be enough to damage Trump. The Democrats have been attacking conservatives with facts for decades to little effect. Now Megyn Kelly and Chris Wallace get to feel the same type of exasperation as liberals. How sweet.
But the worst moments of the debate came at the end, when each of the candidates not named Trump was asked if they would support Trump were he to win the nomination. All said yes.
And this on a day when the 2012 nominee, Mitt Romney, came out of the shadows and gave a blistering speech on why Trump should be stopped. It was a rallying cry, and was supposed to pave the way for the public figures in the GOP to denounce Trump. Yet mere hours later, when the three non-Trump candidates were given an opportunity to stand with their party’s leadership, they all, to a man, decided to protect their own asses. Well done, sirs.
Every single one of them looked as craven and opportunistic as Chris Christie did when he lent his endorsement to Trump after dropping out of the race. That decision has been going so well for him that 6 newspapers in New Jersey have called on him to resign his governorship so the state can have someone in the capital who actually cares about New Jersey instead of their own political future.
Each candidate must be seething in their own way that Christie got the jump on nabbing a spot on the Trump ticket, or a spot in his prospective cabinet.
I have little doubt that each is horrified, also in their own way, that Donald Trump is going to win the nomination. Yet when it came time to stand up to him, they all folded, pictures of political irrelevancy dancing in their heads. So now they go back to merely flinging petty insults and measuring their dicks.
The highest office in the land — that’s what these men are running for.