Trump’s refusal to participate in GOP debates raises two red flags that media (and Dems) need to call out!

Trump's war on our democracy continues

Donald Trump’s refusal to participate in the GOP 2024 presidential debates is more alarming than some appear to grasp for two reasons. First, Trump's debate boycott is yet another rejection of democratic norms. Second, Trump is skipping debates to hide his very apparent cognitive decline since leaving the White House.

For starters, debates are not for the candidates, they are for voters to assess the candidates. Debates have long been part of the democratic process in the United State for that very reason, going back to the famed series of seven Illinois senatorial debates between Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas in 1858.  As Pew Research has noted, “three-fifths or more of voters say the debates were very or somewhat helpful in deciding which candidate to vote for.”

Now if Trump—who is out on bail--were a traditional candidate, perhaps his skipping debates would not be as alarming. But Trump is anything but a traditional candidate.

Trump attempted a coup in 2020—for which he has now been charged with felonies in federal and Georgia court. He also incited the Jan 6 insurrection to prevent the certification of Biden’s victory. Trump has since defended the terrorists who attacked our Capitol and vowed to pardon them, which I view as providing “aid and comfort” to the insurrectionists in violation of Section 3 of the 14^th Amendment disqualifying him from holding federal or state office.  

In December 2022, Trump  in writing called for suspending our Constitution because he alleged there was “massive” fraud in the 2020 election. And recently Trump pledged to have NBC and MSNBC investigated for “country-threatening treason” and suggested that General Mark Milley should be executed.

Through that lens Trump’s refusal to debate—and his demand on Thursday morning to cancel all future debates--must be viewed. It’s all part of Trump’s war on our democratic Republic.

Instead, the media covers Trump’s decision not to debate as a strategic choice by a normal candidate despite Trump’s dangerous history and the fact that no other presidential candidate in the modern era has refused to be in any primary debate.

Democratic leaders should also be calling out Trump’s debate boycott as part of his rejection of democracy given it’s not only accurate, it also fuels a key part of the narrative President Biden is planning for his re-election campaign. As media reports tell us, Biden plans to make defending our democracy a central theme in his 2024 campaign.  So why not start now by slamming Trump’s refusal to debate as more of his dangerous rejection of democracy?!   

In fact, last week Biden spoke at a fundraiser in New York where he told the audience, "Donald Trump and his MAGA Republicans are determined to destroy American democracy."   Biden added, “I will always defend, protect, and fight for our democracy. That's why I'm running."

And on Thursday, Biden will give a speech on the threat that Trump poses to our democratic Republic.  This is a perfect example to bolster Biden’s argument.

Secondly, Trump’s refusal to debate deprives all Americans—not just GOP primary voters—of the ability to assess Trump’s cognitive slide. Until recently, the corporate media has ignored Trump’s mental struggles.  But thankfully a few outlets recently touched on this after Trump on Monday explained to voters in South Carolina that he defeated George W. Bush—not Jeb--in the 2016 GOP primary. And I don’t mean Trump got the names wrong, he described the person he defeated in 2016 as George, telling the crowd, “When I came here, everyone thought Bush was going to win.” He added, “They thought Bush because Bush supposedly was a military person. Great. You know what he…he got us into the, uh, he got us into the Middle East. How did that work out, right?”

Jeb never served in the military, George did, and obviously it was George who led our country into Iraq War. This comes just a week after Trump in a speech twice told the audience he defeated Obama, including the line: “With Obama, we won an election that everyone said couldn't be won."  

Here is a video of Trump’s so-called gaffes from past two weeks:

A psychologist friend who looked at these clips said it appears Trump may have had a minor stroke since leaving the White House or this is part of a larger cognitive decline by someone turning 78 in a few months. But these are not “gaffes” in that they are simple mistakes, they are evidence that Trump is struggling cognitively.

That is why it’s vitally important that voters be able to observe Trump standing on stage for two plus hours, answering questions, etc. to assess if he is mentally competent to be commander in chief.  And the sooner voters can do that the better it is for our nation.

However, none of the media outlets even touched on this. Instead, the headlines the day after Wednesday’s GOP debate focused on whether any candidate was able to score points against Trump, was Trump still the big winner of the debate, etc.?

Like many of you, my frustration with corporate media continues to grow to new heights. And that is because we get the stakes of the 2024 election. Tragically, all the media appears to care about is ratings.

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