Bud, why should he go and allow the moderators to be the
extra pseudo candidate, trashing him constantly throughout?
Wake up!
That is the purpose of these debates, nothing more.
Everybody knows it.
Those who call Trump out on it also know this.
They are saddened, and angered, that he won't be there to receive the slings and arrows, and the daggers, lots of daggers.
How else can they vicariously express their hatred!
Screw 'em!
Because they did the same thing in 2016 and he thrived. Now he seems not to be bothered running for president.
The fact that we still have to shake some people on our side to see the truth after almost eight years is mind boggling. The Republican Party and many in the conservative movement are total frauds!
Does Trump want to debate Briben if he is the nominee? Skipping the RNC debates will be that invalid’s excuse for skipping any debates with Trump. “he wouldn’t even debate his own fellow Republicans...”
RE: Bud, why should he go and allow the moderators to be the
extra pseudo candidate, trashing him constantly throughout?
Agree.
Nearly all the times in history I thought the leader should refuse outright to debate. Let them put an empty chair to ridicule as in governor or mayoral races. Who cares? There’s always a line or an error the candidates regret. (Dukakis pondering if the potential rape of his wife should get one reply or another, et al.)
Richard Nixon used to quote the line:
No one ever lost an election over the speech they didn’t make.
Hate CNN but this is a good summary of words that flow out of the mouth and can never be recovered.
Note: I know this is a runup to later actual 2 contender debates but great harm can be done in the early ones, too.
https://www.cnn.com/2016/09/26/politics/presidential-debate-mistakes-history/index.html