Topic: Newsmax
Newsmax worked to spin its "news" coverage of August's Republican presidential candidate in a pro-Trump direction, even though Trump didn't take part and did an interview with Tucker Carlson instead. Newsmax's opinion-makers were even more pro-Trump. Longtime Trump toady Dick Morris praised Trump's refusal to take part in the debate in a Aug. 25 column, insisting it was beneath his dignity (not that Trump and dignity are that well acquainted):
When this writer considered the various legitimate reasons that former President Donald Trump might not choose to participate in the first Republican debate, I thought about the bias of FoxNews, the partiality of Brett Baer, the potential of minor, fringe candidates to hog the stage.
But, having watched the debate, this writer missed the key point:
To participate would have been undignified for a former president.
If what we witnessed (in the form of eight contenders) are understudies for Donald J.Trump — God help the GOP going into 2024.
The big winner was Donald Trump.
He had the good sense not to show up but to sit down for a thoughtful, articulate interview with Tucker Carlson.
Meanwhile, the shouting match unfolded in the adjacent rink of the circus.
Morris went on to attack all the non-Trump candiates, taking particular aim at Vivek Ramaswamy: "Ramaswamy think’s he’s an agent provocateur calling out corruption, saying that all his opponents are "bought and paid for," but he's really just a child throwing stinks bombs in grade school."
Morris concluded with a poorly edited rant against the Fox News anchors who ran the debate:
The biggest losers were Brett Baer and Martha MacCallum who went from RINOS (Republicans in Name Only) to MINOS (Moderators in Name Only) as they lost control of the debate and were swept along in the anarchy of their own making.
Wednesday's debate was a total waste time, with the real losers being the American people.
Morris repeated this assessment in an Aug. 26 Newsmax TV appearance.
Larry Bell similarly cheered Trump for skipping the debate in his Aug. 25 column:
There should be little wonder why Donald Trump, who leads bigly in GOP primary polls, would forego sound bite debate exchanges with desperate challengers on a media venue that shuns coverage of his enormous rallies for one with a host and that shares common grievances on a competing network that apparently reached a far larger audience.
Approximately 236 million viewers reportedly logged into Trump’s simultaneous prerecorded interview with Tucker Carlson — 19 times the 12.8 million that Nielson ratings showed tuning in to Wednesday evening debates hosted by Fox.
Trump’s conspicuous absence from the stage wasn’t for want of pleading on the part of Fox co-moderator Bret Baier who had reportedly called him four times.
Nor is there any real mystery why he rejected those invitations.
Perhaps consider a rather inelegant analogy of scheduling a globally televised colonoscopy by med school interns and the patient doesn’t show up.
And why would he, when adding all of his primary competitors together would still leave them trailing Trump by double digits?
In fact, the debate's ratings dwarfed the number who actually watched the entirety of the Carlson-Trump interview. He concluded by calling the debate irrelevant:
The big point here is that Trump's base of supporters — and there are many — already know and highly value his accomplishments.
They see them starkly contrasted by abject Biden administration failures impacting diverse aspects of lives and futures.
The only debate venue that truly matters will be determined in October 2024 ballot boxes.
Daniel McCarthy, however, had a different take on Ramaswamy than Morris did, identifying him as a mini-Trump who could take votes from Trump, stating in his Aug. 31 column that "Trump faces a new opponent that may prove tougher — Trumpism":
Ramaswamy has cultivated Trump's knack for the stinging barb. "Nikki, I wish you well on your future career on the boards of Lockheed and Raytheon," he shot at her.
Others made no effort to disguise their exasperation: "I've had enough already tonight of a guy who sounds like ChatGPT," said Christie.
That's how Ramaswamy's detractors see him — as TrumpGPT, a large language module lab-built to mimic the former president when Trump isn't in the room.
[...]
Trump's critics have long argued his success in 2016 was down to the size and fragmentation of the field.
This cycle, it's just possible there will be fragmentation on the Trump side, between him and Ramaswamy, giving DeSantis an opening to consolidate the get-beyond-Trump vote.
[...]
The race is still Trump's to lose. Ramaswamy may pose a new challenge, but the opponent Trump has to take most seriously right now isn't him or DeSantis or Joe Biden; it's Democratic state and federal prosecutors.
No wonder Morris was so hostiile to Ramaswamy.
