Marjorie Taylor Greene says Trump is too “proven” to have to debate: The Georgia Congresswoman declared the 2024 Republican primaries “over,” five months before the voting starts.
Marjorie Taylor Greene Brings More Drama, Again
Donald Trump clearly has a major lead in every poll of the Republican nomination contest.
But no one has voted yet, and no one will until next January.
However, one top supporter of the former president has declared the primary contest “over.”
“Why would President Trump have to debate the other candidates?,” Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) tweeted over the weekend. “He already has a PROVEN track record of the best 4 years in America!!…The American people don’t need to hear his ideas, we’ve already lived his policies, loved them, and want more!!… The primary is over.”
Clearly, of course, in a democracy, an election cannot be “over” when no one has voted yet.
A lot could happen between now and when the primaries and caucuses take place, especially when the former president is under three separate criminal indictments, with a possible fourth on the way as soon as this week.
Trump has not yet said whether he will participate in the first Republican presidential debate, with the Republican National Committee will host, in Milwaukee, on August 23. In an interview last week with Newsmax host Eric Bolling, Trump said that he has “already decided” whether or not he will debate, but that he wasn’t yet ready to announce his decision.
“I wouldn’t sign the pledge. Why would I sign a pledge if there are people on there that I wouldn’t have? I wouldn’t have certain people as somebody that I would endorse,” Trump said in the Bolling interview, which followed several months of the former president making noises about skipping the first debate.
“Ronald Reagan didn’t do it and a lot of other people didn’t do it. When you have a big lead, you don’t do it,” Trump said in a June Fox News interview. “We have a lead of 50 and 60 points in some cases. … You’re leading people by 50 and 60 points, you say why would you be doing a debate? It’s actually not fair,” Trump said at the time. “Why would you let somebody that’s at zero or one or two or three be popping you with questions?”
The RNC has required participants in debates to agree to endorse the eventual nominee, and Trump has refused to do that thus far.
In the most recent tracking poll by Morning Consult, Trump maintains a huge lead in the Republican race, with 59 percent support. Gov. Ron DeSantis is in second place with 16 percent, followed by businessman Vivek Ramaswamy with 8 percent and former Vice President Mike Pence with 6 percent. Former Ambassador Nikki Haley and Sen. Tim Scott each have 3 percent support, as does former Gov. Chris Christie. Former Gov. Asa Hutchinson has 1 percent.
As of Monday, the candidates qualifying for the first debate include Trump, DeSantis, Ramaswamy, Pence, Haley, Scott, and Christie. Others, including North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum and Miami Mayor Frances Suarez, claim that they have, per their campaigns, CBS News said. Of the qualifying candidates, all but Trump have indicated that they will take the debate stage.
“Whether or not he’s there, his presence will be massive. I mean, the whole primary at this point is whether or not Republicans are going to double down on Trump since an alternative hasn’t emerged,” GOP strategist Alex Conant told The Hill.
“It’s classic Trump style to create a momentum around an event by unveiling what his decision might be regarding it,” another GOP strategist, Ron Bonjean, told The Hill. “I mean, he comes from television. … This is ready-made for television.”
The Democrats, meanwhile, are not planning to host debates this year at all, with no major party figures challenging President Biden and the DNC all but openly backing the Biden-Harris ticket.
Per ABC News, Gerald Ford in 1976 was the last incumbent president to participate in a primary debate, and Ford was a former vice president who had risen to the presidency without being elected.
Expertise and Experience: Stephen Silver is a Senior Editor for 19FortyFive. He is an award-winning journalist, essayist and film critic, who is also a contributor to the Philadelphia Inquirer, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Broad Street Review and Splice Today. The co-founder of the Philadelphia Film Critics Circle, Stephen lives in suburban Philadelphia with his wife and two sons. Follow him on Twitter at @StephenSilver.
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