Team,
Grab the popcorn: Republican candidates for president are debating tonight.
I’m not sure why.
The far-and-away frontrunner to be the Republican nominee — who also happens to be facing four sets of criminal charges — is dodging the debates. And the polls seem to back up his decision. Even as Trump prepares to turn himself in to authorities in Georgia, he’s reached 61% in a new CBS News poll of likely GOP primary voters, nearly 50% better than the next candidate.
Trump keeps getting indicted, and his poll numbers keep going up. That should be a wake-up call to anyone who thinks Trump’s criminal behavior will keep him from winning back the White House.
It’ll take a dedicated campaign to reach voters if we want to save our democracy from Trumpism — will you chip in to help?
Tonight’s debate seems like a contest to come in second place.
Maybe that’s why the vast majority of the “major” candidates refuse to lay a glove on Trump. They know that the Republican Party has become the MAGA party, and they live in fear of their base.
I predict a whole lot of people on that stage tonight will be bending over backward to play nice with Trump, because they see this debate as an audition to be his running mate. Not even those of us most addicted to politics can stomach watching two hours of that.
Don’t waste a second thinking about Chris Christie or Nikki Haley or Ron DeSantis. Instead, let’s focus on building the operation that can defeat Trumpism next year — chip in to make sure we’re ready for whatever they got.
Thank you,
Amy