As AFN has reported, Trump may not attend the August 23rd debate in Milwaukee, hosted by the Fox News Channel, as he sees little value in debating candidates over whom he holds double-digit leads in the polls. Former New Jersey Governor Christ Christie, for example, who has been very critical of Trump, received just 1% support in a recent Fox poll.
"It's probably likely that all the other nominees would go after Donald Trump because he's so far ahead in the polls among Republicans," comments Washington Times columnist Robert Knight. "A case could be made that this would detract from what the Republicans ought to be doing, which is going after President Biden and the Democrats and what they've done to our country."
Tom Zawistowski, president of the We the People Convention, believes the Democratic Left is in real trouble because their bad policies have been exposed and people are waking up.
Reportedly, Robert F. Kennedy Junior already has Left-wing establishment Democrats and their allies in the media worried because he has openly criticized his party's positions on issues like the border and vaccine mandates.
His poll numbers do not currently suggest a serious threat for the Democrat presidential nomination, but there is talk that he could run as an Independent, which could siphon off enough Democratic votes to hand the GOP a victory in 2024.
"I definitely think that if somebody runs Independent … there will be a Ross Perot effect," Zawistowski submits. "How big that'll be, I don't know, but here's the real point: The Democratic Left is in serious trouble. Their policies have now been exposed. That's always the problem."
He says nothing the Democrats have done at the border, against COVID, for economics, or the military has worked.
"They're 0 for 100," he tallies.
So, regardless of whether someone like Gavin Newsom or Michelle Obama ends up being a Democratic nominee, Zawistowski says, "The point is that no matter what, there's going to be a lot of Democrats or Democratic voters who are just not going to be excited about whatever happens, [because] those policies are going to be the same."
"They're not candidate policies; they're Communist Party policies," the tea party activist continues. "And quite frankly, unless they can figure out another way to cheat as bad as they did in 2020 and 2022, we can win this election, because so many of their people are going to be willing to switch."
Knight advises the Republican candidates to keep that in mind.
"If Trump becomes the focus, that takes the focus off Biden, and that's not a good thing for the Republican Party," he says.
As for the upcoming debate, he believes Trump ought to join simply "because he's good at it."
"It would enhance his stature, not detract from it, and he wouldn't look like the kid who took the ball away when things didn't go his way," the columnist continues.
As for the former president's plan to hold a rally instead of attending the debate, Knight thinks that would be "a mistake."
"He may attract many people to this rally, but he's got to go for a wider audience, including Democrats, and putting himself out there with the other candidates would indicate to me that he's up for the bigger fight with the Democrats next fall," Knight concludes.
