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When this writer considered the various legitimate reasons that former President Donald Trump might not choose to participate in the first Republican debate, I thought about the bias of FoxNews, the partiality of Brett Baer, the potential of minor, fringe candidates to hog the stage.
But, having watched the debate, this writer missed the key point:
To participate would have been undignified for a former president.
If what we witnessed (in the form of eight contenders) are understudies for Donald J.Trump — God help the GOP going into 2024.
The big winner was Donald Trump.
He had the good sense not to show up but to sit down for a thoughtful, articulate interview with Tucker Carlson.
Meanwhile, the shouting match unfolded in the adjacent rink of the circus.
The debate quickly centered around Vivek Ramaswamy and Chris Christie.
Compared to Trump, the two are rank amateurs.
Of course, Rameswamy is totally wrong when he says he is a friend of Israel.
He shows his friendship by denuding her of the means of self-defense while he talks about ridiculous comparisons between aid to Israel and funding to secure the border — as if it were a choice.
But Ramaswamy gets positively dangerous when he invites a Chinese invasion of Taiwan by saying that he will cut off our support once we make enough semi-conductors to replace Taipei’s production.
And then he wonders if federal agents were manning the suicide planes of 9-11, or was it Jan. 6th?
He’s not sure.
Ramaswamy think’s he’s an agent provocateur calling out corruption, saying that all his opponents are "bought and paid for," but he's really just a child throwing stinks bombs in grade school.
Christie, for his part, can be vicious.
This man, it is believed, used his power to exact vengeance against the Mayor of Ft. Lee, New Jersey for not endorsing him, by tying up traffic on the George Washington Bridge for days. ("Bridgegate.")
To hear the man who got Obama elected, tell us that he should be our president is absurd. Christie's demeanor as attack dog, is legendary, and not expecailly flaterring.
On the positive side, Senator Tim Scott, R-S.C., showed class and dignity as well as substance.
Nikki Hailey acted like a substitute teacher in front of an unruly grade school class as she waged her finger in Rameswamy’s face.
Gov. Ron DeSantis, R-Fla., was seemingly least authentic man up there.
He gave four or five canned, rehearsed speeches whether they were off topic or not and ad libbed nothing. A tape recorder would have done as well.
The biggest losers were Brett Baer and Martha MacCallum who went from RINOS (Republicans in Name Only) to MINOS (Moderators in Name Only) as they lost control of the debate and were swept along in the anarchy of their own making.
Wednesday's debate was a total waste time, with the real losers being the American people.
Dick Morris is a former presidential adviser and political strategist. He is a regular contributor to Newsmax TV. Read Dick Morris' Reports — More Here.
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