The Greatest Showman
The RNC, Rupert Murdoch and Paul Ryan have done their best to make the upcoming Republican Presidential Primary Debates look like a lose-lose to Donald Trump. Now only he can make them a winner.
The 45th President of the United States and clear front-runner for the 2024 Republican Presidential nomination, Donald J. Trump has all but confirmed (for now) his intent to skip the first RNC-sponsored, primary debate in Milwaukee, Wisconsin this coming August ahead of the New Hampshire Primary and Iowa Caucuses.
This comes on the heels of Trump’s open disdain with the with the RNC and it’s upcoming collaborative endeavor this summer with the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation and Institute and the recent announcement that former Speaker of the House, Paul Ryan will be the Foundation’s first speaker in its new Time for Choosing Speaker Series, a new forum for leading voices in the conservative movement to address critical questions facing the future of the Republican Party.
Or the “Republican Party after Trump” Speaker Series.
Even former Wyoming Congresswoman, Liz Cheney will also be a featured speaker in June.
With that being said, and working with a field that’s materializing later than in most election cycles, the RNC Chairwoman, Ronna McDaniel sure has her work cut out for her as she maneuvers to prepare a product that seems legitimate, and not a B-tier, or “best of the rest” scenario regarding the other announced candidates and their intent to debate with or without the former President later this summer.
As the billionaire donor class and international media moguls press McDaniels to marginalize Trump ahead of the debates, their overt and brazen tactics have allowed the former president to get ahead of, and reclaim the narrative, so much so that he is now teasing that he may not agree to sign the candidate pledge either (so far the only definite criteria for the debates) stating, that “it would have to depend on who the nominee was.”
Classic Trump.
As Donald Trump prepares to sit down with CNN’s Kaitlan Collins this Wednesday for a primetime Town Hall event in New Hampshire, the ratings bump numbers alone that the flailing network will garner should more than raise a couple eyebrows and confirm what everyone except Rupert Murdoch, Paul Singer, Ken Griffin and Paul Ryan seems to understand.
That Donald Trump is still the Republican Party’s Greatest Showman, largest draw and for the immediate future, isn’t going anywhere.
The move by Trump to sit down with the opposition network reverses the minefield of hurdles that the big-money backed, establishment aspects of the Republican Party has laid out for the former president, and puts the ball back into his court as the candidate that will be making demands for concessions moving forward.
Now, with or without him.
The debates can’t be considered legitimate if Donald Trump doesn’t participate, and if recent polling is an indication of how the primary process is going to play out, it’s already over.
It doesn’t matter if Florida Governor, Ron DeSantis or former Vice President, Mike Pence announce get in the race, or if this cycles political outsider, Vivek Ramaswamy continues to shave points off of the Nikki Haley’s and Tim Scott’s of the world.
So for the sake of the Republican Party and potential Vice Presidential auditions within the primary debates, McDaniels, Ryan and Murdoch now must accept that they tried to play chicken with Donald Trump and have failed, quite miserably.
With little to gain and everything to lose by participating in the primary debates, Donald Trump now can behind the scenes negotiate his likely appearances much like a super star, free agent does in the off-seasons of professional sports ironing out his next contract.
The powers that be know the American people need Trump behind the lecture at the center of the debate stage this summer if eventual nominee is going to defeat Joe Biden next fall and reclaim the White House.
Hammering home his first term victories, defending his defeats or missteps and presenting his new policy platform talking points in the already outlined, Agenda 47, this is the only incentive that Donald Trump has in weighing the value of securing potential voters outside of his rally events and public speaking appearances.
Because outlets like the Murdoch-backed, Fox News isn’t going to air anything Trump- related outside of their own debates and his now frequent court appearances.
The Greatest Showman is at his absolute best when those who love him and those who don’t are firmly affixed to the edges of their seats.
I can only hypothesize that Donald Trump will leave us all hanging up until shortly before the debates are set to air to announce his participation in a grand entrance-like fashion that we’ve come to expect and so many love from the last Republican President.
Or maybe we throw all caution into the wind, skip the first debate or two, causing enough panic amongst the establishment to lure the RNC into the rumored Tucker Carlson moderated, alternate debate.
Between now and then, we will wait, we will watch and we will be excited for the return of the man who leads The Greatest Show for America First.
• Rone is the Executive Producer and Host on the Steak for Breakfast Podcast, a proud partner of the Pulse Media Group. You can subscribe to the show on Apple Podcasts at: