[Will88]

How can it be a gotcha question when Hugh Hewitt told Donald Trump he was going to ask him the question two weeks ago when Trump was a guest on Hewitt's radio show?

Hewitt was simply showing his ass as he often does. Doesn't matter if he told anyone ahead of time, such detailed and specialized military questions don't belong in a presidential candidate because neither the candidates nor very many of the viewers have any in-depth knowledge of such matters.

But if such questions should be asked, maybe I'll send Hugh a few suggestions he can throw at the next candidates he might interview.

1. The proper deployment of US aircraft carrier groups.

2. The proper home basing for US strategic bombers.

3. What proposed new military systems should be abandoned and which should be developed.

For a moderator who wants to show his ass, there are endless detailed and specialized questions that could be asked on many subjects. But they add little or nothing in the way of information for voters because they are too specialized and belong in the purvey of military and other professionals and experts.

Presidents make such decisions after consultation with professionals, or they delegate them.

[dem bums]

It's not just that he told everyone ahead of time, he included a description of the triad in the question last night:

Mr. Trump... Dr. Carson just referenced the single most important job of the president, the command, the control and the care of our nuclear forces. And he mentioned the triad. The B-52s are older than I am. The missiles are old. The submarines are aging out. It’s an executive order. It’s a commander-in-chief decision.

What’s your priority among our nuclear triad?

Bombers. Missiles. Submarines - it's all there. Asking a person who is seeking to become Commander in Chief which part of the aging nuclear triad should be a priority is not a "gotcha" question.

Not every question that exposes a candidate's ignorance is a "gotcha" question.

[magellan]

"Such detailed and specialized military questions don't belong in a presidential candidate because neither the candidates nor very many of the viewers have any in-depth knowledge of such matters."

The question on nuclear modernization is a general question on the military budget, not detailed and specialized questions. Ordinarily, the President submits a budget request to the Congress, so it is expected of Presidential candidates what their major defense budget proposals would be.

Certainly Republican primary voters deserve more details than "We're going to make our military so big, so strong and so great, so powerful that we're never going to have to use it," and "I will be so good at the military your head will spin."