What Came Before the Chicken? Trump Operatives and Surrogates Bashed Others for Skipping Debates Before Trump Decided to Do the Same
Before former president Donald Trump decided to skip the first Republican primary debate of the 2024 cycle, many of his operatives and supporters minced no words about other candidates who reached the same decision.
Trump has announced that he would not join his fellow candidates for the debate on Wednesday night. Instead, he will appear in a pre-recorded interview with Tucker Carlson, who unabashedly declared his love for Trump in an interview earlier this year.
In a statement released on Wednesday, Trump campaign senior advisor Chris LaCivita argued that “President Trump has already won this evening’s debate” and “Tonight’s Republican undercard event really shouldn’t even be called a debate, but rather an audition to be a part of President Trump’s team in his second term.”
An earlier version of himself wouldn’t have come to the same conclusion. In 2013, while advocating for GOP gubernatorial candidate Ken Cuccinelli, LaCivita hounded his opponent Terry McAuliffe for refusing to commit to a series of debates.
Jason Miller, another senior advisor to Trump, hammered Joe Biden for supposedly souring on the debates in 2020.
“If Joe Biden is too scared to debate, he’s too scared to run the country,” he tweeted in September 2020.
Before that, he criticized incumbent Republican Senator Pat Roberts (R-KS) for not debating his primary opponent in 2014.
“Case study: After 47 years in DC, pol. becomes part of the problem, too afraid to even debate,” he submitted at the time, unaware that he would one day work for a politician who would rule out debating after just four years in the capital.
Stephen Miller, yet another senior advisor to the former president, was scathing in his critiques of Democrats who refused to take the debate stage before the 2022 midterms.
“If you’re too afraid to have a moderated political debate than you are definitely too weak to take on the drug cartels,” submitted Miller about Arizona’s Katie Hobbs.
Later, he went even further.
“If you cared one tiny bit about democracy you would debate @KariLake,” asserted Miller in a tweet directed at Hobbs. “But, of course, you hate democracy (and voters).”
Taylor Budowich, the CEO of the Trump-aligned PAC MAGA Inc., blasted Biden ahead of the 2020 debates.
“Want to know how intellectually bankrupt the Democrat Party is?” he asked. “Out of 25 candidates from across the nation and from every walk of life, they’ve nominated someone who they don’t think can debate his opponent.”
Other supporters and surrogates also exalted the importance of debates as recently as last year
“Voters deserve to see debates. The debate of ideas is part of the job,” argued Byron Donalds (R-FL).
“Refusing to debate means you are a coward,” contended Jack Posobiec.
“Katie Hobbs once again refuses to debate Kari Lake in Arizona’s gubernatorial race. Katie Hobbs is a coward,” tweeted Charlie Kirk.
Eight candidates will be on stage at 9 p.m. EDT on Wednesday, but the former president will not be one of them. He has also said he will not participate in any future debates.
Have a tip for us? tips@mediaite.com
