The lone candidate is Donald Trump, the former president, who has until Friday to turn himself into Georgia authorities after the latest in a string of indictments against him.
Politics is a weird world as the 2024 election year comes into view.
But tonight in Milwaukee, eight candidates who aim to somehow carve into Trump’s polls lead of almost 50 points will try to differentiate themselves from him and also differentiate themselves from President Joe Biden’s leftist policies at the same time.
Ramaswamy criticized for remarks about aid for IsraelChad Groening, AFN.net Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy is stirring up controversy after stating he would cut U.S. aid to Israel as president. In recent interviews, Ramaswamy described his Middle East idea he calls “Abraham Accords 2.0” to broker peace agreements between Israel and its Arab neighbors. A measure of that plan’s success, he has said, is to eventually stop U.S. aid to Israel after the current aid package, worth $38 billion, expires in 2028. Jan Markell, a vocal supporter of Israel who leads Olive Tree Ministries, says the presidential candidate is quick thinker and a smooth speaker, but she says he blew it on the topic of Israel. On the same topic, American Family Radio host Jenna Ellis called Ramaswamy’s comments a “misstep” that highlights his lack of experience with international issues. “He's very smart. He's very savvy,” said Ellis, who has repeatedly interviewed the candidate on her radio show. “But he's never held political office.” |
The latter shouldn’t be too hard. Catching up to Trump is a different matter.
When the lights go on at 9 ET on the Fox News Channel, will eight candidates be blinded by the glow from Trump’s lead in the polls?
“The polls right now, they pretty much mean nothing," insisted Robert Salvador, DigiBuild Software CEO and a Ron DeSantis supporter, said on American Family Radio Wednesday. "They can be manipulated. You can easily think of a poll as a leading question, especially this early on. It really is the first inning of a baseball game. The polls don't have a lot of credit that you can give to them right now."
Salvador pointed out previous GOP primary races where candidates like Mike Huckabee and Ted Cruz were polling in the single digits early only to come out and perform well in the Iowa Caucuses.
Iowa will kick off the primary season with its Republican caucuses on Feb. 5.
Is there power in the polls?
As the first debate arrives, only three candidates are not polling in single digits, according to Morning Consult’s weekly Republican Primary tracker. Trump has a commanding lead with 58% followed by DeSantis at 14% and Vivek Ramaswamy at 10%.
“I’m not sure any of them on the stage tonight have the possibility of closing the gap between them and Donald Trump,” Liz Wheeler, a former One America News anchor, told show host Jenna Ellis.
If any of the candidates can do it, DeSantis and Ramaswamy appear to be in the best position. When Morning Consult asked its survey responders who they would consider to be a second GOP option, 33% percent said DeSantis and 23% said Ramaswamy.
Robert Knight, a Washington Times columnist, tells AFN there is "opportunity and peril" for the candidates on stage tonight. They must present themselves as a better alternative to Trump, including to independent voters.
"But if they criticize Trump too much," he explains, "they will alienate millions of people who still are in Trump's camp."
A second choice coming into play seems like a stretch on the surface, but if one of the indictments against Trump hits home it gets murkier.
Trump would still be allowed to run for president, and that might be enough for many of his supporters. For some, staying with him might prove more difficult.
Wheeler believes Trump is right to skip the debate not because he believes it inconsequential but because of what the Republican National Committee has planned.
“I don't blame Trump for not going to the debate, not so much because he doesn't want to dignify his competitors with a response. I don't think that's necessarily a valid reason, but primarily because the rules of the debate are somewhat unfair with the RNC trying to force all the candidates to sign these pledges that they'll support each other if one of them gets the nomination and sharing campaign and voter data,” she said.
Trump’s sit-down with Carlson, which is pre-recorded, is scheduled to be released on X, formerly Twitter, as the debate begins.
Some observers consider the polls and note that what they do not show is the voter’s commitment to Trump beyond listing him as their current top choice. Can they be swayed?
Salvador, a two-time Trump voter, thinks Trump’s record has some vulnerability. He told the radio program:
We all thought that we needed this rogue, this maverick, and that really kind of ended up being a circus. We thought Trump was going to come in here, drain the swamp, get rid of the national debt, build the wall, do all these different things. His style may not have been perfect, but he was going to get things done. At least that's how he campaigned. Unfortunately, none of those things happened. If the general objective above everything for Donald Trump was to drain the swamp or weaken the swamp, well, almost 10 years later, the swamp is stronger than ever.
Salvador says too many Republicans aren’t taking this primary run seriously. He did not name Georgia House member Marjorie Taylor Greene but referenced a GOP Debate Bingo card that she posted on X Tuesday night.
“A sitting congresswoman had a bingo card making fun of Ron DeSantis," he said. "Are we a serious country at this point? These are serious times, and we need serious people. The circus just won't work. It hasn't worked."
An unusual dinner date
Meanwhile, as Trump downplays the debate itself, members of his staff were seen at a Milwaukee steak restaurant Tuesday night with unlikely dinner partners: a host of left-wing reporters and correspondents.
That unusual dinner party was first reported by news website Politico, which named every person around the table. Then the Politico story got noticed by Steve Deace, a Blaze TV host and DeSantis supporter.
"Trump campaign meeting with corporate media who hates us all, but they’re conspiring together to destroy @RonDeSantis. The same media that tried to impeach Trump and is trying to put him in prison now, nevertheless toasting his campaign," Deace wrote in a Twitter post.
Deace also said he spoke to a "little birdie" at the restaurant who said Trump's campaign was schmoozing with "corporate and left-wing media," without any right-leaning reporter at the table.
Editor's Note: This story has been updated with comments from Robert Knight.
