Several members of the Republican National Committee (RNC) admitted that recent debates with GOP presidential candidates appear to be meaningless without former President Donald Trump, who is by far the most popular Republican candidate.
The former president, who is polling well at least 40 percentage points over the rest of the field, has not attended either the first or second debates, hosted by Fox News. He has said that because of his poll numbers and the fact that he was a former president, he doesn’t have to attend the events, while RNC Chair Ronna McDaniel has said that candidates need to sign a pledge to support the eventual GOP presidential candidate.
Another member from Virginia suggested to the outlet that the RNC’s leadership is ignoring reality.
“You can’t put your head in the sand and pretend these debates are going to result in someone other than Donald Trump getting the nomination,” said Patti Lyman, the RNC’s national committeewoman in Virginia, adding that the debates were both “embarrassing” and “reflected poorly on our party.”
The former president himself has said the debates should be put to an end because they erode support for the eventual Republican nominee in 2024. Recently, his campaign indicated that President Trump won’t attend any future debates.
Speaking to the Daily Caller, he said that the RNC “has to stop the debates” because they are “bad for the Republican Party,” while his campaign said that the RNC needs to “refocus on its manpower and money” to shore up election integrity in 2024.
The third debate is scheduled for Nov. 8 in Miami. While the first debate generated more than 12 million viewers on Fox News, the second on Fox Business saw a drop of 25 percent, garnering some 9.5 million people, according to Nielsen ratings.
Louis Gurvich, the head of the Republican Party of Louisiana, told Politico that the GOP debates “have demeaned every candidate who participated in them,” while Roger Villere, Louisiana’s national committeeman, told the outlet that he does not “really see what we’re gaining from having a debate without having the main participant,” referring to the former president.
But at least one RNC member went on the record and told Politico that the debates need to continue.
Georgia’s national committeeman, Jason Thompson, told the outlet that although the former president is “way ahead,” he said the RNC has “rules” that should be abided by. “This is a process we have to go through regardless. We have primaries. We aren’t anointing people,” he said.
“If the former president doesn’t want to come, that’s on him,” Oscar Brock, the national committeeman from Tennessee, added to the website. “But we have every right to continue these and promote other options. He may have 40 percent of the vote, but he doesn’t have 100 percent.”
After the first two, none of the other GOP presidential candidates appear to have made any headway against President Trump.
During the first debate, former Fox News host Tucker Carlson released his interview with President Trump about a range of subjects on X, formerly Twitter. And during the second one, the former president spoke to striking autoworkers in Michigan, and while criticizing President Joe Biden, called on union members to endorse him for president.
However, the former president played a central role during the debates, with former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie accusing him of “ducking” the other candidates. “You’re not here tonight because you’re afraid of being on this stage and defending your record. You’re ducking these things," Mr. Christie said while rhetorically speaking to President Trump.
Meanwhile, some committee members have suggested that changes to the GOP debates might be in order. There were criticisms about the format of the first two debates as well as the moderators’ questions for the candidates.
“It would be nice to see that they were much more orderly,” Steve Scheffler, the national committeeman from Iowa, told the outlet. “I don’t know what the solution is. Certainly there need to be some improvements.”
