Willie R. Tubbs, FISM News
After this week’s Republican presidential debate, the one clear thing was effectively that which has been resoundingly evident since the outset – former President Donald Trump is the prohibitive favorite and there seems little any of his conservative challengers can do about it.
It’s fitting for this moment of American history that a former president unlike any of his predecessors figures to sail to a third consecutive nomination while refusing to participate in the traditional crucible that is the debate circuit.
Rather, Trump continues to hit the rally trail and effectively win debates in absentia.
“The Great Silent Majority is rising like never before—and under our leadership, the Forgotten Men and Women Will Be Forgotten No Longer!” Trump posted on Truth Social. “We are ONE movement, ONE people, ONE family, and ONE GLORIOUS NATION UNDER GOD!”
The former president’s use of the silent majority phrase, one popularized by Richard Nixon in the late 1960s, doesn’t exactly fit the moment. Trump supporters are rather well known for being the opposite of silent.
Wednesday night during a commercial break, shouts of “Trump! Trump! Trump!” rang out in the debate hall.
JUST IN – Crowd at the Republican debate started chanting "Trump! Trump! Trump!"
— Insider Paper (@TheInsiderPaper) November 9, 2023
That moment succinctly captured the nature of the third presidential debate. Trump’s competitors took their turns trying to chip away at the frontrunner largely to no avail.
And now, the silent majority, if indeed this is what Trump has for his backing, is rather loudly telling Republican competitors “not interested.”
While Americans have not yet voted at the polls, American viewers have voted with their remotes. The majority of the nation tuned out and the debate drew less than 7 million viewers.
Axios Miami reports that throngs of people attended a Trump rally in nearby Hialeah, not a direct comparison to TV ratings but indicative of the excitement Trump creates among his supporters.
Former FBI agent Joe Navarro, a body-language expert who now contributes to Politico, says that the participants in the most recent GOP debate are all showing signs that they understand the precarious positions of their campaigns.
“Ron DeSantis’ awkward smile, Nikki Haley’s killer eyeroll, Vivek Ramaswamy’s angled eyebrows — I saw a veritable stage play tonight, only the best dialogue was unspoken,” Navarro wrote in a much more detailed piece.
Indeed, the only candidate Navarro noted looked relaxed and natural in the debate was South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott, whose chances of winning the nomination are, in the kindest terms, remote.
DEBATE TOPICS NARROW, LARGELY UNCONTROVERSIAL
Casual observers often question why presidential candidates whose campaigns are clearly faltering choose to soldier on.
There are numerous reasons a candidate might make this choice – a push for the vice presidency, a hope for an eleventh-hour surge – but one of the most popular rationales is that by staying in the race, the candidate can affect the party platform.
As such, the Wednesday debate, which emanated from Miami, is instructive as it shows where top-level Republicans think the strengths of the right’s arguments might be found.
Candidates at the debate focused almost exclusively on foreign policy matters, with some insults for Trump and a brief foray into the topic of TikTok.
The problem for the candidates is that their foreign policy stances do not distinguish them from the field.
Everyone was in full support of Israel. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley gave almost the same answer to the Israel question. Both support the notion of Israel decimating Hamas.
The candidates shared substantially similar opinions on the war in Ukraine – namely that they want to keep Americans out of the fighting while still supporting the Ukrainian people.
DeSantis was the person who had the most unique take, promising to not “send your sons and daughters to Ukraine. I am going to send troops to our southern border.”
It was an unusual way to change subjects to be sure, but not one that lent much momentum to DeSantis.
No one with any serious aspirations to become the Republican nominee will voice anything other than support for border security measures.
As to abortion, candidates largely repeated their pro-life stances and commitment to work toward greater restrictions, but it would be unfair to label the topic as central to the debate. Given the assumed link between anti-abortion policy and a recent spate of negative results at the polls, candidates did not linger on the matter.
The candidates did, however, take some time to ponder why so many conservative candidates and causes have faired so poorly on the most recent two national election days.
RNC Chair Ronna McDaniel was the person who CEO Vivek Ramaswamy pegged as the person most responsible for the results, which is an odd choice given that the true target of any Republican candidate would seem to be Trump, who is well-known for boasting of his ability to make or break elections with his endorsement.
In that sense, the third debate was much the same as the previous two and the Republican campaign to now. No candidate is willing to go head-to-head and brickbat-for-brickbat with Trump.
The future of the race, then, might remain the extent to which tiptoeing around Trump will prove successful.
MORE DEBATING TO COME
All told the third Republican debate offered little novelty and even less in the way of progress for any of the participants.
The hopefuls were left to assure voters that they are in favor of border security, supportive of Israel, against Russia and China, and better for America than Joe Biden.
It can be quite difficult to distinguish oneself when everyone is singing from the same sheet of music, and nearing impossible when the bulk of the intended audience would rather hear from a soloist who isn’t even at the concert.
Despite the slog in which they find themselves, Republican hopefuls still have one more chance to grab the attention of voters, or at least separate themselves from their colleagues.
A fourth debate will be held Dec. 6 in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. This debate will be historic in that it will be hosted by NewsNation, a first for the still-young company. This will also mark the rare occasion when a non-legacy outlet plays host to a debate.
“NewsNation’s mission is to provide fair and unbiased news coverage, and that’s the way we will approach this important debate,” Michael Corn, president of news at NewsNation, said in a statement. “We take this responsibility very seriously and are proud to help inform and educate voters and to contribute to the democratic process.”
A trio of well-known media figures – NewsNation’s Elizabeth Vargas, longtime cable host Megyn Kelly, and Washington Free Beacon editor-in-chief Eliana Johson – will moderate.
Trump has not yet stated if he will attend or skip the event, but it is likely he opts for the latter. After three debates, Trump has grown more popular by staying away.