OPINION: GOP Debate Brought to you by Political Consultants?

The rise of the political consultant in American politics has been evident over the decades. Some ask which came first – the consultancy class advising those seeking public office, or politicians who increasingly need to rely on such professional advice? Today’s political class doesn’t answer even banal questions without a roundtable meeting of consultants.

One of the strong appeals of Donald Trump as a presidential candidate in 2015 was how he rebuffed political consultants. What you saw was what you got – bigly. He was then and remains his own man – a trait many voters find refreshing.

People have short memories for the days when politicians said what was on their minds, and had to live with the results – even if it got them in trouble. The scripted politician is not trusted by the people, for good reason. If he or she is not savvy enough to answer a straightforward question without consultants whispering in his ear, he shouldn’t be in public office.

Wednesdays’ GOP debate at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley was more of a “which Nikki, Ron, Chris, Tim, Mike” will we be seeing? It was evident they were advised to be more of something than they were at the last debate.

Sen. Tim Scott, who was barely present in the first debate, was Tim Scott cage fighter on steroids in Wednesday’s debate. And his consultants’ op research wasn’t so good. Scott going after Nikki Haley’s draperies was just dumb, petty, and pointless.

Former Ambassador and South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley attacked everyone on the stage. Some have described her as shrill, which is unfortunately how female politicians are characterized when they attack. However, her snide comment to Vivek Ramaswamy, “Every time I hear you I am a little bit dumber,” didn’t land well at all. It showed poor judgment and did not fit in a presidential debate – it just wasn’t very flattering to Haley, and unfortunately, overshadowed her better answers to questions. Who is advising her? She doesn’t need to attack to land solid punches and win arguments.

Where is Chris Christie getting his advice? He neutered his own sometimes clever answers with his anti-Trump rhetoric. It was tedious. His stupid joke about Donald Duck… well, it was stupid – scripted, orchestrated, poorly delivered. Go back to Jersey Chris.

Doug Burgum performed well, despite being ignored by the moderators. He is right about pretty much everything he addresses – subsidies in American electric car manufacturing benefitting China, and the Biden climate policies that threaten America’s future stood out.

Vivek Ramaswamy was just more of Vivek – high energy, smart, bordering on a little annoying with his enthusiasm. He doesn’t appear to be taking his leads from political consultants. And he’s also right on many issues and topics. His stance on the need to end birthright citizenship by illegal immigrants was huge, as was the need to “drill, frack, burn coal, embrace nuclear, unlock energy production” – the all-of-the-above approach to energy production will make America energy independent, and create American jobs again. Good solid message. And when he said, “Transgenderism, especially in kids, is a mental health disorder,” the left must have lost their minds.

Vivek Ramaswamy dropped a truth bomb at last night's GOP debate and MSM lost their minds:

"Transgenderism, especially in kids, is a mental health disorder."

The New York Times issued a real-time fact check of this statement as "FALSE." But Gender Identity Disorder was listed… pic.twitter.com/lK3ip7vYaK

— Charlie Kirk (@charliekirk11) September 28, 2023

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis performed better Wednesday than he did the first debate, but still comes across a little banal on the national stage. However, he did not appear to be taking his cues from political consultants.

On illegal immigration, DeSantis said, “as commander in chief I’m going to use the U.S. military to go after the Mexican drug cartels. Those Mexican drug cartels are going to be treated like the terrorists,” he added. While his governing of the state of Florida appears to be excellent, is that enough?

Mike Pence – scripted, campaigning by soundbites from the 1990’s. Go home Mike.

The debate was moderated by Fox News host Dana Perino, Fox Business Network host Stuart Varney and Univision anchor Ilia Calderón, who was just vexatious. While Perino and Varney are very likable on their own shows, they were also tedious.  The moderators opened the debate with the United Auto Workers strike. Really? Who exactly were they talking to? Where were the questions about the issues impacting Americans the most right now – high inflation, gas prices, the open border with 7 million immigrants crossing illegally, high crime in big cities, the weaponized federal government, are just a few topics that resonate.

Ilia Calderón asked the most woke, anti-America questions, about “migrants” rather than addressing the illegal immigrants flooding across the Southern border into the country, gun violence “unique” to America, and even repeated the left’s flagrant lie that Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis instructed Florida schools to teach that slavery was a good thing. DeSantis skewered her for the lie and straightened her out:

“First, That’s a hoax that was perpetrated by Kamala Harris,” he said. “We’re not going to be doing that. Second of all, that was written by descendants of slaves. These are great black history scholars. So, we need to stop playing these games.”

Dana Perrino’s question at the end, “Who would you vote off the stage?” fell so flat the candidates rebuked her, refusing to play.

Where was the RNC? Where was the leadership of the debate? There were too many candidates on the stage. It was not a debate but more of a free for all with the candidates talking over one another far too frequently. (A debate is between two people). This debate unfortunately is representative of the Republican Party – too many cooks in the kitchen.

But this was pretty funny:

Donald Trump declared winner of second Republican debate. pic.twitter.com/kx0i0bkRXw

— Charlie Kirk (@charliekirk11) September 28, 2023