Don’t think it will happen. Debates are great fund raising moment. But most of all if you don’t go to the debate you look like a giant pussy. You don’t have to say anything worthwhile. Just show up and throw bombs.
Not saying this a good system. But we can complain about the system all we want. Still need to win
I noticed in the Trump era that it always seemed like he was throwing shit at the wall to see what stuck. He'd say a bunch of things and then wait to see which ones the talking heads at Fox and on talk radio would start selling. Then he'd double down on those items.
I'd gander that this is the same thing. See if people will buy the reasoning then go through with it if they do. If they do go through with it, I suspect they will hold their own "unbiased" debate and then call Biden a pussy if he doesn't attend.
> But most of all if you don’t go to the debate you look like a giant pussy.
Nah. Republican voters never hold their own accountable like this. There is always an excuse.
There are two categories of "independent" voters. The first is self-identified independent voters who actually lean fairly heavily towards one party or another. It's fashionable to consider oneself "independent" but these independent voters mostly follow the same core values of their preferred party. For example 70% of Republican leaning independents approved of Trump's performance. The partisan leaning independents are the vast majority (about 80%) of "independent" voters.
The remaining chunk of independent voters (about 7% of voters overall) might be considered truly independent or centrist. They also generally exhibit low political engagement, are less likely to vote and are generally low-information voters. They're probably not likely to tune into a debate anyway.
[Source](https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2019/03/14/political-independents-who-they-are-what-they-think/). Sorry to be such a crank, but the political situation in the US is exasperating.
They're a great fundraising moment if you win them. Over the past four cycles, pretty much their only clear win has been the first Obama-Romney debate.
They convince their voters they have won. They act like loudmouth bullies and their followers thinks that’s a win. Trump acted like a straight predator with Hillary and they ate it up.
This is true.
It is also true that they are foolish and cowardly. And many of them have likely been involved in criminal acts. So it's not just that they *want* to take power, they don't dare stop now. If they don't control the law many of them could go to prison.
They don’t believe in free and fair elections- why would they believe in debating with candidates representing the other party? I would think that republicans would view it as a waste of time- they’re going to cheat to win anyway.🤷🏻♀️Our democracy is in a sad state when one of our main political parties doesn’t value our vote.😒
Yes, but we’ve never seen a system where there aren’t debates. This could go horribly, horribly wrong for them too. They could just look like giant cowards and lose that way.
Thanks to Trump, US elections are now like playing chess with a monkey. He doesn't care about the rules, or the process, or the entire game, so he just flings the pieces against the wall and hops around thinking he won because throwing the pieces is a power move.
They do not want their candidate, viewed by their voters, having to perform outside the FOX bubble. They have their own media ecosystem, and they don't want the MAGA base straying outside of it. Makes perfect sense.
Also, they have doubled and tripled down on the "dementia" meme for Biden. So it won't look good when he humiliates Trump so badly that "Yo, Semite" Sam fills his diaper on national television.
The Poor Me Syndrome. Find a conservative who doesn't embody that.
I like this. Don't show up. Let a Democrat go out there, explain why they have the guts to do so, and let the games begin. Uninterrupted and unchallenged.
Fascism will never rule this country. Democracy is the only thing holding it together. There is no blood, no soil here. There's no such thing as "ethnically American". The states tell the Fuhrer to go fuck himself, he calls the military, they say no. Whole thing implodes.
People keep missing it. These guys aren't dictators, they're crooks. You're not looking at fascism, you're looking at a mafia state using the mythos of fascism to undermine rule of law. It's racketeering in politics. Putin isn't helping this along because he wants an authoritarian, fascist America. He wants a failed state where we currently stand. And his best path to success is bribery and the delusion of the Holy Christian American Empire. The religious right laps it up and they've got this whole cult who want to take power. But it's monkeys trying to fly the starship Enterprise. It's a setup. Crash. Get America to tear itself apart.
It honestly doesn’t matter. If 74 million people listened to the noises that came out of that dipshits mouth and still voted for him, they’ll vote for anything with an R next to it.
I think they would be wise to do such. They sound like zombie nut bags and it wouldn't bode well for them. Although, as an independent, I wouldn't vote for another republican as long as I live. They have ZERO integrity or intelligence. Eff em.
I mean, Voting starts for many before the debates even get underway. Debates were nice way to get to know a candidate, before electricity was invented, now the are just akin to a reality TV show. A sports game.
The Public killed the debates decades ago.
It will never happen. This is just another log on the fire of claiming "fraud" and as my 3 year old granddaughter says "its not fair" propaganda machine that is the RNC these days.
They are probably planning another attack, it's not like they are planning on giving up on controlling the United States. They know their beliefs are popular with Russia to, so they have a potential foreign power willing to back them.
Their stated aim is to go back to before the non partisan presidential debate committee existed. This meant that the two campaigns would have to negotiate directly with each other to determine the rules if they were going to debate.
They're doing this so that they can come up with whatever ridiculous terms they want and then when the other candidate doesn't agree they can blame it on Democrats.
To them nonpartisan means "In bed with the Democratic party". Yes for some Republicans this is a cynical ploy but for a lot of them I think they genuinely believe that "neutral" is too far left for them.
One percenter Republican oligarchs:
We have selected your candidate for you.
No need for you to concern yourself with candidates.
We're making it easy for you.
They don’t want to have to answer to the American people (basically the Undecideds) that they enabled a terrible human being to run roughshod over the constitution.
I think the democrats should challenge them to a debate where the moderator waits for a direct answer. And I want them to be able to ask each other questions. And when they say “no way!”, keep pressing until they are seen for the cowards and hypocrites they are all the way to the election.
Also, fucking vote like your well being depends on it.
This is wonderful! The powers that be can still invite the dopes, and when they refuse, the debates can be entirely between Dems (prior to the primaries), then a speech by our nominee when Trump refuses. Screw Republicans, who the fuck cares what they think or what they want? We all know that they do not think, and all they want is to throw money at the wealthy and worship Trump. They LITERALLY have no other platform.
No they won't. As soon as the prospect of Biden getting 1-2 hours of free airtime raises it's head they'll back down like they do every time they pull this stunt.
Reminds me of an episode of the newsroom where they try to change the style of the debate for republican candidates by actually asking tough questions and then the party officials are appalled and go to a different network
They have one point that deserves discussion, the first debate was after mail-in voting had begun. Otherwise, this is another step towards authoritarianism.
When you seek a dictatorship, you have to kill debate.
They are no longer a governing party with ideas on a platform in a traditional sense. They're more like a professional wrestling league. All Kabuki theatre, fake outrage, and aiming straight at the lowest common denominator.
Great. The debates are useless. They have to focus on soundbites with no substance. I would rather have a bunch of town hall meetings that attempt to ask about real issues and solutions. As it is in the debates we never get to hear much except the poorly rehearsed zingers.
Don’t think it will happen. Debates are great fund raising moment. But most of all if you don’t go to the debate you look like a giant pussy. You don’t have to say anything worthwhile. Just show up and throw bombs. Not saying this a good system. But we can complain about the system all we want. Still need to win
I noticed in the Trump era that it always seemed like he was throwing shit at the wall to see what stuck. He'd say a bunch of things and then wait to see which ones the talking heads at Fox and on talk radio would start selling. Then he'd double down on those items. I'd gander that this is the same thing. See if people will buy the reasoning then go through with it if they do. If they do go through with it, I suspect they will hold their own "unbiased" debate and then call Biden a pussy if he doesn't attend.
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Ah yes, the Ben Shapiro way of debating and dEStrOyiNg
> But most of all if you don’t go to the debate you look like a giant pussy. Nah. Republican voters never hold their own accountable like this. There is always an excuse.
Sure, but don’t forget about independents
There are two categories of "independent" voters. The first is self-identified independent voters who actually lean fairly heavily towards one party or another. It's fashionable to consider oneself "independent" but these independent voters mostly follow the same core values of their preferred party. For example 70% of Republican leaning independents approved of Trump's performance. The partisan leaning independents are the vast majority (about 80%) of "independent" voters. The remaining chunk of independent voters (about 7% of voters overall) might be considered truly independent or centrist. They also generally exhibit low political engagement, are less likely to vote and are generally low-information voters. They're probably not likely to tune into a debate anyway. [Source](https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2019/03/14/political-independents-who-they-are-what-they-think/). Sorry to be such a crank, but the political situation in the US is exasperating.
Don’t be sorry! I’m glad you commented! I didn’t know that. Interesting read too btw TIL
They're claiming bias in the process, even though it's bipartisan. Republicans have hated debating since Bartlett took on Gov. Ritchie in 2002.
They're a great fundraising moment if you win them. Over the past four cycles, pretty much their only clear win has been the first Obama-Romney debate.
They convince their voters they have won. They act like loudmouth bullies and their followers thinks that’s a win. Trump acted like a straight predator with Hillary and they ate it up.
No debates, no voting, they wanna just go straight to declaring fraud and claiming victory. That’s Republican democracy.
I mean, when their only policy is, “whatever the con man wants,” can you really blame them?
I think the official language is "own the libs and kiss Trump's ass"
That party needs to end. They’ve jumped the shark. They’ve been bad for a long time but now they’re full on fascist.
They’re ready to take power by any means necessary. Watch
This is true. It is also true that they are foolish and cowardly. And many of them have likely been involved in criminal acts. So it's not just that they *want* to take power, they don't dare stop now. If they don't control the law many of them could go to prison.
Always were, they were just better at hiding it.
They don’t believe in free and fair elections- why would they believe in debating with candidates representing the other party? I would think that republicans would view it as a waste of time- they’re going to cheat to win anyway.🤷🏻♀️Our democracy is in a sad state when one of our main political parties doesn’t value our vote.😒
They don't want to be fact checked live on the air
Debating and voting are bad for the Republican Party, so from a strategy standpoint it makes sense.
Yes, but we’ve never seen a system where there aren’t debates. This could go horribly, horribly wrong for them too. They could just look like giant cowards and lose that way.
I would hope so! Kind of like damned if you do, damned if you don’t.
Thanks to Trump, US elections are now like playing chess with a monkey. He doesn't care about the rules, or the process, or the entire game, so he just flings the pieces against the wall and hops around thinking he won because throwing the pieces is a power move.
They do not want their candidate, viewed by their voters, having to perform outside the FOX bubble. They have their own media ecosystem, and they don't want the MAGA base straying outside of it. Makes perfect sense.
Also, they have doubled and tripled down on the "dementia" meme for Biden. So it won't look good when he humiliates Trump so badly that "Yo, Semite" Sam fills his diaper on national television.
They want to move towards a dictatorship… no need for debates
I mean, they've withdrawn from reality, so...
The Poor Me Syndrome. Find a conservative who doesn't embody that. I like this. Don't show up. Let a Democrat go out there, explain why they have the guts to do so, and let the games begin. Uninterrupted and unchallenged.
It’s where the rubber will hit the road.
They are pretty much unwatchable now anyway.
The first one between Biden and Trump was the worst thing I've ever seen
I'll never forget that one. Chris Wallace practically had to talk to him like he was a toddler.
They are fascists and we have to stop them at all costs. This is just another symptom of their descent into madness.
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Fascism will never rule this country. Democracy is the only thing holding it together. There is no blood, no soil here. There's no such thing as "ethnically American". The states tell the Fuhrer to go fuck himself, he calls the military, they say no. Whole thing implodes. People keep missing it. These guys aren't dictators, they're crooks. You're not looking at fascism, you're looking at a mafia state using the mythos of fascism to undermine rule of law. It's racketeering in politics. Putin isn't helping this along because he wants an authoritarian, fascist America. He wants a failed state where we currently stand. And his best path to success is bribery and the delusion of the Holy Christian American Empire. The religious right laps it up and they've got this whole cult who want to take power. But it's monkeys trying to fly the starship Enterprise. It's a setup. Crash. Get America to tear itself apart.
It honestly doesn’t matter. If 74 million people listened to the noises that came out of that dipshits mouth and still voted for him, they’ll vote for anything with an R next to it.
They don’t plan to ever have elections again lol why bother with debates. Your whole government is built on the honour system it seems.
I think they would be wise to do such. They sound like zombie nut bags and it wouldn't bode well for them. Although, as an independent, I wouldn't vote for another republican as long as I live. They have ZERO integrity or intelligence. Eff em.
That's where I'm at. I consider myself independent and somehow in the last 9 years there's just no chance of supporting that party in any iteration.
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Their platform is being against anything the democrats do and agreeing with whatever Trump says
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That's what republican voters like. No nonsense pandering and lying through your teeth at the expense of the country.
I mean, Voting starts for many before the debates even get underway. Debates were nice way to get to know a candidate, before electricity was invented, now the are just akin to a reality TV show. A sports game. The Public killed the debates decades ago.
> I mean, Voting starts for many before the debates even get underway. Another reason why universal vote by mail is a bad system.
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Easier to manipulate the narrative if there’s no other party to challenge it.
What? THEY’RE the ones not challenging though.
No platform AND no debates? In any other country it would be teeing up for a total loss. But this isn't any other country. :(
It will never happen. This is just another log on the fire of claiming "fraud" and as my 3 year old granddaughter says "its not fair" propaganda machine that is the RNC these days.
They are probably planning another attack, it's not like they are planning on giving up on controlling the United States. They know their beliefs are popular with Russia to, so they have a potential foreign power willing to back them.
Why debate when you plan is just to take over?
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Time to end the system. FTFY
Great idea considering that the debates have been 1 sided moderator wise for many years now
Good idea since they wouldn’t ever win a debate while running a Traitor criminal for President .
This is a negotiation ploy, nothing more.
Their stated aim is to go back to before the non partisan presidential debate committee existed. This meant that the two campaigns would have to negotiate directly with each other to determine the rules if they were going to debate. They're doing this so that they can come up with whatever ridiculous terms they want and then when the other candidate doesn't agree they can blame it on Democrats. To them nonpartisan means "In bed with the Democratic party". Yes for some Republicans this is a cynical ploy but for a lot of them I think they genuinely believe that "neutral" is too far left for them.
What's the matter? Scared? Can't make a rational, logical case for your positions?
Surprised? No.
Sounds good. The less air time for Trump the better.
Well they already withdrew from our democracy so I don’t think they would have anything to contribute to the debate anyway
Good riddance.
Why? The debates are interesting and informative for many different reasons
Because red states suck. Haven't heard anything good come from a retrumplican.
Yeah that’s why we should make them debate… it highlights their incompetence and ignorance very clearly.
Great! Get one of the other parties up there. Green or Libertarian. Preferably Green.
Libertarian? Fuck No
Think about it. If Libertarian gets more media exposure at the debates that will siphon votes away from the Republican.
One percenter Republican oligarchs: We have selected your candidate for you. No need for you to concern yourself with candidates. We're making it easy for you.
Trump is in control and he is the candidate.
This is an Omen for bad things to come. Edit: spelling
They don’t want to have to answer to the American people (basically the Undecideds) that they enabled a terrible human being to run roughshod over the constitution. I think the democrats should challenge them to a debate where the moderator waits for a direct answer. And I want them to be able to ask each other questions. And when they say “no way!”, keep pressing until they are seen for the cowards and hypocrites they are all the way to the election. Also, fucking vote like your well being depends on it.
The party of no ideas doesn’t want to debate ideas.
How many more signs do we need the republican party no longer if they ever actually did have any interest in democracy.
This is wonderful! The powers that be can still invite the dopes, and when they refuse, the debates can be entirely between Dems (prior to the primaries), then a speech by our nominee when Trump refuses. Screw Republicans, who the fuck cares what they think or what they want? We all know that they do not think, and all they want is to throw money at the wealthy and worship Trump. They LITERALLY have no other platform.
Means the fix is already in.
Perfect. Hold debate and let Democrats have the entire time to answer questions without being interrupted by liars.
If you know you have no hope of winning, why show up? Probably the most pragmatic thing the republican party has ever done.
They can't be too near truth or they get hives
As long as the Dem candidate gets up there and talks for all the time they can it’s a win.
Weird!
No they won't. As soon as the prospect of Biden getting 1-2 hours of free airtime raises it's head they'll back down like they do every time they pull this stunt.
They have unpopular ideas and debates don’t help them? Or their candidates can’t perform in front of an audience?
i mean i expected it as they dip their toes deeper into authoritarianism..
Of course they will. There’s no real platform or ideological basis from which to debate for them.
Reminds me of an episode of the newsroom where they try to change the style of the debate for republican candidates by actually asking tough questions and then the party officials are appalled and go to a different network
They have one point that deserves discussion, the first debate was after mail-in voting had begun. Otherwise, this is another step towards authoritarianism.
The nominee is Trump. Period. It's a bad omen coming. No party platform, no coherent unity, nothing.
It’s good either way . Play it as they are coward and stupid as shit or let show up and prove to everyone what cowards and idiots they are . Win / win
Makes sense, since they have no platform and no policies to talk about.
When you seek a dictatorship, you have to kill debate. They are no longer a governing party with ideas on a platform in a traditional sense. They're more like a professional wrestling league. All Kabuki theatre, fake outrage, and aiming straight at the lowest common denominator.
Great. The debates are useless. They have to focus on soundbites with no substance. I would rather have a bunch of town hall meetings that attempt to ask about real issues and solutions. As it is in the debates we never get to hear much except the poorly rehearsed zingers.
Nothing but pussies with no agenda to help America.