The New York Times reported Thursday that the Republican Party sent a letter to the Commission on Presidential Debates saying it's working to ensure that if Donald Trump doesn't want to do the debates he doesn't have to.
"The nonprofit commission, founded by the two parties in 1987 to codify the debates as a permanent part of presidential elections, describes itself as nonpartisan," wrote Times reporter Maggie Haberman. "But Republicans have complained for nearly a decade that its processes favor the Democrats, mirroring increasing rancor from conservatives toward Washington-based institutions."
Ronna Romney McDaniel demanded that there be changes to how debates are held and said that voters have lost faith in the commission.
"The move by the R.N.C. was an outgrowth of those long-held complaints and came after months of discussions between the commission and party officials," said the report. "According to the R.N.C.’s letter, the chairman of the party’s temporary presidential debate committee, David Bossie, began discussions last year with the debate commission’s co-chairman, Frank Fahrenkopf, a former Republican official."
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To their credit, the RNC noted that the early voting begins so early that having the debates around the time that is customary means few undecided voters are left. That said, a change that the GOP wants is that Trump can refuse to participate if he wants anyway. After his first debate in Sept. 2020, the former president claimed polls were wrong that he lost the debate to Biden. So, Trump's resistance to debates could show that he's either afraid of his future Democratic opponent or he's admitting now that he lost during final debates.
It was a report that garnered ridicule of the former president online. At least one person noted that this kind of rule doesn't benefit someone like Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), who is policy heavy, or even Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) who enjoys his own particular brand of debate tactics. It does, however, benefit Trump, who was shown to be completely ignorant of basic facts about how the government operates as well as policy.
See the commentary below:
Another example of Republicans\u2019 antipathy toward public institutions and civic processes leading them to just\u2026walk away. Doesn\u2019t bode well for accountability or transparency.https://twitter.com/maggienyt/status/1481665695322681350\u00a0\u2026— Tim O'Brien (@Tim O'Brien) 1642092529
This is ludicrous performance art. What's the RNC going to do if its nominee decides to debate? Disown him/her? Sue him/her?https://twitter.com/maggieNYT/status/1481665695322681350\u00a0\u2026— Robert Schlesinger\ud83d\udd96 (@Robert Schlesinger\ud83d\udd96) 1642092637
Wow. \n\nThe RNC is going to require that presidential candidates pledge to not participate in presidential debates.\n\nThe GOP is fully withdrawing from democracy.https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/13/us/politics/republican-presidential-debate-dispute.html?referringSource=articleShare\u00a0\u2026— Nick Knudsen \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\uddf8 (@Nick Knudsen \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\uddf8) 1642091905
The RNC alerting the Commission on Presidential Debates that they are essentially pulling out of their debates just might be the least surprising thing of 2022. The RNC is following through on a threat they made a year ago— Ameshia Cross (@Ameshia Cross) 1642093272
Might not be intentional, but this helps Trump in the primaries. You think Ted Cruz wants to pledge that he won\u2019t debate Biden? Essentially the RNC is saying \u201conly way you can run against Trump is if you pledge to handicap yourself in the general.\u201dhttps://twitter.com/maggieNYT/status/1481665695322681350\u00a0\u2026— Dana Houle (@Dana Houle) 1642093529
I agree if we\u2019re talking about willingness to intentionally do whatever possible to help Trump even if it screws other Repubs. My hesitation in saying it\u2019s deliberate is it may require greater strategic sophistication than I think they have.— Dana Houle (@Dana Houle) 1642093809
The RNC sees Presidential debates in the same way @GOPChairwoman Ronna McDaniel sees the name Romney. Perfectly skippable.— Mr. Newberger (@Mr. Newberger) 1642093790
This is insane. Why. \n\nRNC moves to require presidential candidates to skip traditional commission debates | TheHillhttps://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/589584-rnc-moving-to-force-presidential-candidates-to-skip-traditional-commission\u00a0\u2026— Adam Kinzinger (@Adam Kinzinger) 1642093585
The RNC has announced it does not want presidential candidates debating.\nAny Republican candidate must sign a pledge not to debate.\n\nThis is what you do \n\nWHEN YOU AIN'T GOT SHIT!— Agolf Twitler Slayer (@Agolf Twitler Slayer) 1642093154
.@FrankLuntz, reacting to the RNC move to begin process of withdrawing from the CPD process: "This is the fairest election process we still\u00a0have. and it's a role model for other democracies. The world looks at our debates\u00a0and says this is how it should be done."— Maggie Haberman (@Maggie Haberman) 1642092168
RNC confirms they're MORONIC, future Presidential nominees are NOT mentally Capable to debate and will not be participating.— p wolfla (@p wolfla) 1642093842
The only import of this story is that Trump is so scared of debating, he\u2019s making the RNC humiliate itself three years earlyhttps://twitter.com/electproject/status/1481674513989308416\u00a0\u2026— LOLGOP (@LOLGOP) 1642093821
When most of their platform is indefensible and an outright attack on democracy and communities across this country, it\u2019s no surprise the RNC would not want their Republican presidential candidates to participate in debates. Cowardly, yes. Surprising, no.https://twitter.com/maggienyt/status/1481665695322681350\u00a0\u2026— Thomas Kennedy (@Thomas Kennedy) 1642093322
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