What is Donald Trump Scared Of? Florida’s Governor Ron DeSantis is running against former President Donald J. Trump to become the Republican Party’s 2024 presidential nominee. Having at first been dubbed as the better alternative to Trump, the DeSantis Campaign has made a series of utterly disastrous missteps.
Yet, the Florida governor is still the most likely alternative to Trump in the election. And with his campaign’s serious mistakes, DeSantis is likely searching for a viral moment against the forty-fifth president that will give his ailing campaign the boost it needs.
Sadly for DeSantis, Trump is unwilling at this point to participate in the Republican debates. There is both a townhall hosted by Tucker Carlson, in which every Republican candidate other than Trump is participating.
Then, in August, there will be the first GOP Primary debate.
Again, there is some question as to whether Donald Trump—the frontrunner in the race with more than a 20-point lead over DeSantis—will participate in that debate.
This has triggered a terse response from DeSantis.
The Florida governor rightly believes that Trump is exhibiting a sense of entitlement that is entirely un-Republican. Just because Trump is the former president and he is 20-points ahead of all the other candidates, that does not mean that Trump doesn’t have to engage in the primary process.
As someone who plans in voting in the primary this election cycle, I can tell you that I want very badly to see the candidates make their case to the voters.
Of course, Trump isn’t alone in his unwillingness to even engage in the democratic process. His potential 2024 Presidential Election rival, President Joe Biden, is refusing to partake in the Democratic Party’s Primary process.
For Democracy?
Both Biden and Trump argue that they alone can “save” our dying democracy.
How is this possible if neither candidate will do the democratic thing and debate their challengers for their respective party’s nomination?
It’s because neither the Biden nor Trump Campaigns want to risk losing their considerable edges over their respective opponents. In Biden’s case, he has Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., nipping at his heels. Despite Biden’s apparent lead over RFK, Jr., the fact that RFK, Jr., is a committed Leftist and is articulate (unlike Biden), the fear among the Biden Campaign is that Kennedy might be able to woo primary voters away from Biden.
Similarly, Trump doesn’t think he needs to debate any of the Republican nominees because they aren’t polling anywhere near him. What’s more, in the case of DeSantis, his campaign is utterly imploding.
No amount of changes can likely reverse the course, at least not the way that one viral moment during a debate with the former president could do. Trump knows this. It was, after all, how he wrested control of the GOP away from the likelier candidates in 2016.
There’s another factor in the case of Trump driving him away from the debate stage with the “Keebler Elves” running against him.
Should one of the other candidates capture the hearts-and-minds of the GOP voters (unlikely at this point), the Republican National Committee (RNC) has demanded that a loyalty pledge be taken by every candidate seeking to access the debate stage.
Going back to 2016, Trump is famous (or infamous, depending on who you ask) for refusing to swear to support whoever becomes the GOP candidate.
Trump is likely seeking to avoid a “gotcha” moment in which he refuses to swear to respect the outcome of the primary and allow for the other candidates—notably DeSantis—to pile on.
Trump is keenly aware that the narrative surrounding his reelection campaign is paper-thin. Having already been indicted—with still more indictments possibly on the way—Trump must project an image of confidence and aggrievement.
But if he gets on the debate stage and basically trashes the Republican Party to GOP voters by not saying he’ll support whoever wins, Trump risks alienating at least some GOP voters.
They Can’t Hear You Over How Much Farther Ahead of Their Rivals They Are
Of course, both Biden and Trump are so far ahead in their respective primaries, even if they did have a poor debate showing, they’d have to have a particularly terrible performance to bleed the advantages they’re currently enjoying.
They’re just grumpy old men who don’t want to have to be questioned on anything at this stage in their lives.
Biden is reportedly constantly screaming at and insulting his aides. Trump is known for telling audiences and aides how unbelievably brilliant and special he is.
That Biden is the current president and Trump the former president means that these two men’s egos have reached their apex and, with their staggering lead in their respective primaries, they’ve no reason to engage in the democratic debate process.
It’s We, the People, though, who suffer. The two parties should make a prerequisite that all their top candidates must appear in at least one of the primary debates if they seek to be eligible for the nomination.
That won’t happen, though.
End the Gerontocracy NOW!
Still, if either party were really interested in democracy that’s what they’d do. Because it is shameful that the Democrat and Republican Parties are likely to nominate two men as their nominees who never once debated anyone else challenging them for their party’s nomination.
I warned my readers in 2019 that Joe Biden and Donald Trump were going to engage in a “Battle of the Blowhards” in 2020. I was right. Now we should just face up to the fact that 2024 is likely going to be the Angry Old Man Election.
Will no one save us from the gerontocracy?
A 19FortyFive Senior Editor, Brandon J. Weichert is a former Congressional staffer and geopolitical analyst who is a contributor at The Washington Times, as well as at American Greatness and the Asia Times. He is the author of Winning Space: How America Remains a Superpower (Republic Book Publishers), Biohacked: China’s Race to Control Life (Encounter Books), and The Shadow War: Iran’s Quest for Supremacy (July 23). Weichert can be followed via Twitter @WeTheBrandon.
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