The news from the Republican National Committee that the next Republican primary debate in Miami was being hosted by NBC was bad, but especially depressing and tone-deaf with regard to the rank-and-file of the GOP electorate (i.e., their voters).
It showed, once again, that the RNC doesn’t respect them, or worse.
That Rumble will be streaming the event seems little more than window dressing, a sop to hide a larger problem.
NBC is very much part of the problem, and not remotely part of the solution.
The network, by itself and even more through its fiefdom MSNBC, led the charge in fanning the flames of, lying about if necessary, what’s arguably the greatest and ugliest political smear in our history—the false imputation that presidential candidate Donald Trump was colluding with Russia in the 2020 election.
The absurd Russia Hoax was suspect to many from the outset, but not to the National Broadcasting Company that followed the lead, as it so frequently does, of The New York Times, which has yet to return the Pulitzers that its reporters received for their nonstop prevaricating on the subject. When it was made evident that this was a hoax, none of the above said much.
Nevertheless, the Republican National Committee has announced its moderators for the third debate will be NBC stalwarts Lester Holt and Kristen Welker, neither of whom have ever been seen to have evinced anything sympathetic for anything Republican, especially their rank-and-file.
They will be joined by talk show host Hugh Hewitt, a friend of mine from way back well-known to be an intelligent fellow, but someone who’s about as far from the MAGA-wing of the party as you can get at this point.
You don’t have to believe every word from the lips of Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) to agree with him, however, that the MAGA-wing once again demonstrated its dominance in the GOP with the recent election of Rep. Mike Johnson (R-La.) as Speaker of the House.
And then there’s the matter of President Trump’s poll numbers that have been unwaveringly unassailable from the outset.
So what’s going on with this disconnect between the RNC and its voters?
Are they still desperately trying to tilt the election in favor of an “establishment” that’s rapidly disappearing over the horizon?
It would seem so. But the game is rather transparent.
Still, people will do a lot to save their jobs and maintain power. That has been the way of politics and the world since long before Niccolo Machiavelli came up the Arno in Renaissance Florence.
Now some might think I am writing this attack on NBC—I’m really not; it just did what any normal media company would do, accept a good gig—because it attacked us.
My obvious complaint wasn’t with NBC, although I have believed for a long time that the three major networks are long overdue to lose their monopolistic licenses, but with the reprobate organization, the RNC, that has given them and too many others like them reign over their best and truest constituents.
Speaking of which, I am typing these last words in the media section of that other R acronym, the RJC or Republican Jewish Coalition.
As some readers know, I’m at the annual leadership conference of that organization. Not surprisingly, it’s better attended than ever. The giant ballroom at The Venetian hotel is packed to the gills.
Virtually every major Republican politician is scheduled to speak in the next two days, including President Trump and, just announced, the new speaker of the House, Mike Johnson, as keynote on the night of Oct. 28.
As the event begins, “The Star-Spangled Banner” plays followed by the Israeli national anthem, “Hatikiva” accompanied by heart-rending photos on the giant video screens of Israeli soldiers carrying the dead and wounded from Oct. 7 on stretchers.
Then comes the lighting of Sabbath candles.
One of the first speakers is Rep. David Kustoff (R-Tenn.) from my home state who tells the crowd, “Three weeks ago, American Jews went to bed as progressives and woke up as conservatives.”
More soon.
