of 5th Republican primary debate It was held Wednesday in Des Moines. With any luck, this will be the last preliminary debate of 2024. And if American voters are really lucky, this will be the last presidential debate of the year, including the general election. Wednesday's sleep festival clearly demonstrated the hollow nature of such media events.
Televised political debates are not actually debates in the traditional sense. These are TV glasses designed to promote TV channels and their anchors. Television is a medium for emotion, not for rational discussion. Optics and soundbites are more important than careful, logical reasoning. The television “debate” format requires candidates to cram analysis of complex issues into their 90-second chunks. Lincoln Douglas is not like that.
Ron DeSantis and Nikki Haley fell into the usual trap of televised monsters last night, relying on consultant-driven one-liners and cheap attacks on each other. Both gave the impression of being unsympathetic, whining, and combative, exactly the kind of things that would alienate voters in this era. Sure, they were well prepared and had plenty of facts to discuss, but this rhetoric of the political machine was not conversational at all. DeSantis and Haley both speak too quickly and, as President Ronald Reagan demonstrated when he became a “great communicator,” it's important to be intentional in public rhetoric. They don't seem to realize that.
While attempting to deliver knockout punches to each other, the candidates are faced with the challenge of two larger opponents. donald trump and joe biden, a greater obstacle to their political future. DeSantis and Haley directed their harshest comments not at Trump or Biden, but at each other.
A two-hour format is too long when only two candidates are on stage. As a result, both candidates struggled to keep their voices fresh, making them redundant. Haley spent much of her time reminding people to visit websites she promoted as pointing out DeSantis' lies. But near the end of the debate, after she had spent two hours calling her opponent a liar, her rhetorical strategy sounded strange when she said, “Leaders bring out the best in people.” Ta.
CNN debate hosts Jake Tapper and Dana Bash were predictable representatives. left wing news channel.
Both wanted to be on the show as pseudo-debaters, asking targeted questions of the candidates in a press conference format, rather than providing questions that would give each candidate an equal challenge. Bash suggested that DeSantis is not committed to a conservative vision of limited government. Tapper pointed out to Haley his poor academic record as governor of South Carolina. Questions like this are fine in a sit-down interview, but inappropriate in a formal political discussion. If the candidates themselves are right there and decide for themselves, then present the challenges to each other.
The usefulness of televised debates has long been questioned, but 2024 brings a whole new level of superficiality to the process. Such debates rarely move the political needle in either direction. After five Republican primary debates, the situation went down as expected. Trump still leads in opinion polls And they didn't pay the price for boycotting the nonsense. Audiences at these debates walked out in droves because they knew how shallow this kind of political interference was.
Held by the Democratic Party 11 TV preliminary debates In preparation for the 2020 election. So far, the worst presenter and debater has been none other than Joe Biden. Poor discussion performanceyet won the party's nomination and the general election.
Two more Republican debates are scheduled this year. If the GOP hierarchy was smart, they would announce the cancellation of the event now. There's not much more Haley and DeSantis can say at this point. Chris Christie withdraws from the race And it will take a blitz for Vivek Ramaswamy to qualify for the next stage. And President Trump, given his policies, definitely won't be showing up at this point. boycott strategy It did a great job.
Regarding the general election, The Commission on Presidential Debates has scheduled three debates. For this fall. Even if Biden and Trump were to become the nominees, it is unlikely that the debate would be productive for them. Biden's leaders certainly know he is not up to the task. When you step on the debate stage, you run the risk of a major gaffe, slip-up, or simply an incoherence. What the public generally thinks anyway. There's a reason Biden doesn't hold a press conference. As for Trump, his temper was once again on display during the general election debates, and was a major factor in his defeat in 2020.
A presidential debate must be scheduled for 2024. Perhaps the debate will resume in 2028 with a different candidate and a new visionary TV production process. But for now, there is no need to infuriate and humiliate the nation with this kind of pointless circus.
Jeffrey M. McCall is a media critic and professor of communication at DePauw University. He has worked as a radio news director, newspaper reporter, and political media consultant. X Follow him at @Prof_McCall.
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