RNC bends the knee to MAGA, suspends involvement in primary debates

by Summer Lane

Photo: Alamy

President Donald Trump is the dominant Republican presidential primary candidate in 2024, and it looks like even the Republican National Committee is being forced to bend the knee to the power of MAGA.

On the heels of cratering viewership for the fourth GOP primary debate on Wednesday (just 4.1 million people tuned in, according to Axios), Politico reported that the RNC has officially paused its participation in the ongoing debates for now.

Gov. Ron DeSantis, R-Fla., has continued to lose steam in the polls, falling to third place nationwide in a new poll from Emerson College, swapping the runner-up position with former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley.

President Trump, on the other hand, reigns supreme with 64 percent of nationwide support (Emerson College) – and that’s just one example of his dominating polling numbers in the primary. Trump is also leading heftily over Joe Biden in general election polling, particularly in key battleground states like Florida, Georgia, Pennsylvania, and Arizona.

Many critics of establishment politics have lambasted the RNC for wasting their time with the GOP primary debates amid a robustly clear trend: President Trump is powering toward the Iowa caucuses with unprecedented polling momentum among Republican voters.

According to Politico, the next GOP debates will be hosted by ABC and CNN, outside of the RNC’s control. At this time, the RNC has not scheduled any affiliated debates in 2024. Any other GOP debates hosted on television will not be affiliated with the RNC at this point, although that could change.

Wednesday night’s GOP debate was the lowest-viewed event of the four debates so far. Per Axios, the first debate in August drew 12.8 million viewers, the second debate drew 9.5 million, and the third drew 7.5 million.

It is clear that as the debates continue, viewers seem to be continually losing interest in watching distant Republican contestants argue onstage. By contrast, President Donald Trump’s campaign keeps picking up steam – and he hasn’t even attended a single debate.

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