One question it seems moderators won’t ask at the Republican second-place frontrunners presidential candidate debates is: “How are you going to avoid prosecution when you go after the corruption in Washington, D.C.?”
It's not hard to imagine the silence that will fall over the entire event as each candidate silently slinks off the stage into political oblivion following that question.
Only one candidate has any idea of how to do that and he has not shown up for either debate. He’s too busy trying to find the answer to that same question.
It is amazing that the seven second-place candidates, Ron DeSantis, Nikki Haley, Tim Scott, Mike Pence, Vivek Ramaswamy, Chris Christie, and Doug Burgum (who?) have not touched on the subject that has virtually every other member of their party concerned.
It seems that each of the seven candidates are oblivious to the fact that what is happening to former president Donald Trump could also happen to them. In fact, candidate Chris Christie has declared Trump guilty as charged while Christie remains squeaky clean. Does Christie think everyone’s forgotten the George Washington Bridge scandal when he was governor of New Jersey? – apparently he does.
His “Donald Duck” quack did not resonate.
Mike Pence is a candidate who should know full well what has happened to his former boss. In fact, Pence played a big role in losing his nerve when it came to uncovering the election scandal that broke out following the 2020 debacle. Perhaps Pence feels his betrayal of Trump will insulate him from the wrath of the Democrats.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis would be a good candidate for 2028, not 2024. He has a feud going with President Joe Biden and is already in the Democrats’ crosshairs. Four more years of painting Florida in glowing crimson would do him far more good than stumbling around onstage with his equally naive cohorts.
Nikki Haley has perhaps the most appeal but cannot hold a candle to her former boss. She might think that being a woman would help preserve her political standing, but one has to wonder if she truly understands what’s going on around her – like Jan. 6, for instance.
Tim Scott would like to be the GOP’s great black hope. Haley, his opponent on stage, appointed him to the United States Senate when she was governor of South Carolina.
But where Scott’s Christian faith does rival that of Pence, his message of a black man rising from poverty does not ring as loudly with Republicans as it does with Democrats, and Democrats consider him an Uncle Tom. He seems to have let the Senate marginalize his political influence and perhaps clings to a dream of a Haley-Scott ticket in 2024.
Vivek Ramaswamy does bring youthful vigor to the mix but seems to struggle establishing himself as a viable candidate. His statements are conservative but they sound a little too cookie-cutter. It’s a little like he’s memorized the perfect GOP script but lacks the armor the Republican candidates are going to need in today’s politics.
As for Burgum, he is the governor of North Dakota, (yawn). He did complain about why the moderators did not call on him more often.
One thing these debates seem to accomplish is the fact that Trump’s candidacy grows brighter with each one. It’s not certain if American voters really understand the consequences of what’s being done to him. If the Democrats are able to incarcerate their greatest opposition, can the country be far behind?