The Sad Trombone Debate: The RNC Throws in the Towel and Gets Ready to Roll Over for Trump. Again.
The Sad Trombone Debate: The RNC Throws in the Towel and Gets Ready to Roll Over for Trump. Again.
You don't bury your presidential debate unless you know the campaign is over.
I can’t believe we have to do this again. We have to pretend that a Republican debate matters. And we have to do it while the RNC is basically telling us, “Yeah, we realize this is a joke.”
But I’m going to watch it anyway. For you. Such is the depth of my esteem.
Tomorrow night on Thursday Night Bulwark, Mona, Will, and I will tell you everything you need to know about this farce: Thursday, 8pm in the East. Look for location details in your inbox tomorrow. For those of you on the fence, upgrade now to join us on Zoom and see what TNB is all about.
In the meantime, I’m here to explain why this debate is really about the RNC’s readiness to assume the position.
Let’s go.
1. The Invisible Debate
Tonight’s Republican debate will air on “NewsNation.”
What is NewsNation? It’s the old Superstation WGN cable net, rebranded as a—and I can’t believe I’m typing this—non-partisan MAGA outlet.
Yeah, that’s right. The conceit of NewsNation is that it’s not conservative or liberal, it’s just common sense. And by total coincidence, their common sense views tend to line up with the MAGAs. For instance: NewsNation anchor Chris Cuomo says that he’s totally open to voting for Trump. Also: At the debate, NewsNation is farming out questions to Megyn Kelly and Tom Fitton, who are, I guess, avatars of nonpartisan common sense.
Anyway, the most important thing about NewsNation is that it’s an invisible network. In late October NewsNation reported its highest-rated week, ever.
Want to guess how many people were watching? Go ahead.
I’ll wait.
You ready for it?
. . .
67,000 viewers. That was their daily average.
Now look, maybe one day this acorn will grow into a mighty oak. But this isn’t about NewsNation. It’s about the RNC. Why in the world would they bury one of their flagship presidential debates on a network that barely exists? Because let me tell you: NewsNation isn’t going to bring any viewers to the RNC. The RNC is bringing the viewers to NewsNation. Letting the network host this debate is a gift. I promise you that tonight will give us the highest-rated two hours (two hours? shoot me now) in NewsNation history.
So why is the RNC giving out gifts? Isn’t the point of these debates to give as much visibility as possible to the party’s candidates? Isn’t the RNC supposed to be demanding that large platforms do them favors in return for being given the prestige of hosting one of their precious debates?
And the answer is pretty simple:
The RNC understands that this debate is a sham; that none of the candidates onstage will be on the national ticket; and that the primary campaign is already over.
The RNC understands that it owes these candidates nothing because a few weeks from now they will cease to exist as political commodities.
The RNC understands that on the question of who owes whom, it is the RNC that owes Donald Trump—which is owned by Donald Trump. And that it needs to start making amends for even pretending that there was a primary contest.
So the RNC has moved on to doling out favors to media outlets it wants to have fully onboard the Trump Train next year as a make-good to Big Orange.
2. Death to the Internet
Yesterday Ben Thompson published a remarkable essay in which he more or less makes the case that the internet is a socially deleterious invention, that it will necessarily get more toxic, and that the best we can hope for is that it gets so bad, so fast, that everyone is shocked into turning away from it.
The reason this is remarkable is that Ben writes the best and most insightful newsletter about technology and he has been, in all the years I’ve read him, a techno-optimist.
So this is like if Russell Moore came out and said that, on the whole, Christianity turns out to be a bad thing. It’s that big of a deal.
Thompson’s case centers around constraints and supply, particularly as they apply to content creation.