Tonight’s Debate – He’s Become Voldemort

On stage in Milwaukee tonight There are seven terrified candidates and a baseball player who got it wrong. It’s the first debate in the race for the Republican nomination, and they know that before the night is out, one or more of them will be out of the race after being humiliated by a rival candidate, or making a fool of themselves.

So I became brutal in American politics. Especially among Republicans.

But rivals on the stage aren’t what they fear most. He who is not there. And who does not mention his name. Prince of Darkness. Donald Trump has become Voldemort of the Republicans. With few exceptions, the contestants hardly dare to talk about the man leading the polls.

Which is why tonight’s discussion was met with such great excitement. Will Republicans deal with Trump or not?

But tonight at least they have to talk about it. The day before Donald Trump formally turns himself in at an Atlanta jail, has his picture taken and his fingerprints taken, they have to say why they think Trump shouldn’t be the Republican presidential nominee.

But do they dare? It should have been easy. Trump was charged in four cases, three of which are related to attempts to overthrow the presidential elections and theft of state secrets, and the fourth is related to tax fraud and rape. Under normal circumstances, he shouldn’t even be close to being nominated. But there is nothing normal about the Republican Party anymore. So far, only Chris Christie has dared kill his old friend Trump. Perhaps it is a form of penance. Christie is often given the dubious honor of normalizing Trump by being the first major politician to endorse him, and he defended him through thick and thin until the attack on Congress. Now he travels from studio to studio saying he was wrong.

Hospital battle

Ron DeSantis, Governor of Florida Who is still to this night considered the main competitor, on the contrary, he defended Trump against many accusations. Surprisingly, Mike Pence did the same. Remember the vice president that Trump supporters wanted to hang because he wouldn’t violate the Constitution for stealing the election for Trump? No, he believes the charges against Trump are political vendettas on the part of the Democrats.

There are several obvious reasons why the candidates are unwilling to challenge Trump. One is purely strategic. They don’t want to go to bed with Trump supporters, a portion of the Republican electorate that they can’t do without. The second is more personal. They are terrified of what Trump will do to them if they speak ill of him. Candidates who barely scratched Trump’s tender skin have experienced his unbridled rage in the form of loud outbursts on Truth Social, prompting incitement and threats from supporters and fear among supporters of other candidates.

This was Trump’s game From the very first moment he himself appeared on stage in a debate like this night. In a room full of supporters of Jeb Bush, the Bush heir and then-leading candidate, he berated the audience and his rivals alike. it worked. Within a short time, Jeb Bush was crushed and the rest of the field reduced to derogatory nicknames.

WATCH LIVE: Vedom and Inger Mill hold a press conference about the police

they must answer with the same coin, Says those who have followed the game for the past eight years. They have to expel him. They must crush him. If you want to kill the king, you have to make sure you kill him, as the saying goes.

The problem may be that, fortunately, few others have it. The problem is, Republican voters love Trump. Now we can almost laugh at the fact that DeSantis initially sold himself as “Trump without the baggage” — Trump without the drama. Even at the top of the Republican Party, they didn’t realize what had hit them.

This is the drama that voters want. They want politics too, mind you, they want conservative justices on the Supreme Court, stricter immigration rules and fewer government regulations, they want someone who pushes against vigilante and minority rights, but above all they want someone like Trump. with all baggage.

It wasn’t until after the indictments that Trump became more popular among his people and he’s leading it admirably. By all indications, he would be the Republican candidate even without running for the debate.

A first step back It would be a return to normalcy if the Fox News host asked the candidates if they thought Joe Biden was the legitimate president. Again, this question should be easy to answer, but not when a majority of the voter base believes the election was stolen.

If Trump loses the nomination, against all odds, does anyone think he will concede defeat and support him? Maybe they should think about that.

Same night as competitors Onstage in Milwaukee, an edited interview with Trump is broadcast on the Tucker Carlson Video Channel. Tucker certainly doesn’t mind being overshadowed by Fox News, who fired the star, even if it’s a gamble for a guest who’s mostly measured by ratings. But what is the point of a modified version of Trump?

What voters want is Trump without a candidate and with all the baggage.