Thinking of Watching Tonight's Republican Presidential Debate? Don't Bother

“Television seems particularly useful to the politician who can be charming but lacks ideas.”

                                                                           - Joe McGinniss, The Selling of the President

On Thursday, the Fox News Channel will host the first of an interminable series of primary debates that will air across the cable news landscape during the 2016 presidential campaign season.

I will not be watching.

My objection to the proceeding is not based on a specific aversion to the Republican Party, which gets the first chance to showcase its candidates; nor is it grounded in a distaste for Fox News. Moderators Megyn Kelly, Chris Wallace, and Brett Baier have established themselves in the field of political journalism and will undoubtedly attempt to ask probing questions. The candidates, however, will not answer most of the queries, at least not directly. Instead, they will steer their responses to the comfortable ground of rehearsed, gossamer talking points.  

Afterward, a legion of pundits will flood the airwaves to bicker over which contenders “had a good night” and which presidential aspirants failed to stand out amid the crowded field. Their analysis, as usual, will be speculative and reactive, but not informative or predictive. And, for one night, the political cognoscenti will pretend that this debate matters as much as the fundraising race taking place away from the stage lights.

But the debate does not matter. It will be presented as a contest of ideas, but will devolve into a cacophony of Obama barbs and carefully-crafted, poll-tested sound bites. Fervent pledges to repeal Obamacare will be proffered, but do not expect any substantive discussion about the real problem with our health care system, one which President Obama’s landmark legislation failed to remedy: the cost. Planned Parenthood will be portrayed as an abortion factory that must be defunded, even though only three percent of the organization’s business involves pregnancy termination procedures. The government, moreover, is already legally prohibited from providing money to subsidize abortion. Donald Trump will be afforded extensive airtime to expound his views on the existential threat Mexicans pose to the American way of life. Will any of Trump’s competitors or inquisitors ask him to compare his nativist rhetoric to historical examples involving the Irish, Italians, Chinese, Japanese, or any other ethnic immigrant group? Doubtful. Will anyone press Trump to consider the possibility that the Drug War has created internal destabilization within Mexico and Central America, resulting in migration from those areas to the United States? Unlikely, unless Rand Paul rediscovers his libertarianism and is allowed to speak for longer than thirty seconds at a time.

Not to be outdone, Mike Huckabee will recite his admonition that Obama’s nuclear deal with Iran “is marching the Israelis to the door of the oven.” ™ The Huckster will then bask in the applause of his partisans. He will not be asked about the Israeli nuclear arsenal. He will not be required to acknowledge Israel’s military superiority in the Middle East. He will likely avoid any condemnation for alluding to the Holocaust in analyzing a complicated act of diplomacy that in no way resembles the systematic annihilation of six million European Jews. In fact, one can safely surmise that at least one of Huckabee’s opponents will trot out a trite and simplistic comparison between Obama and Neville Chamberlain while denouncing the agreement.

Ultimately, these debates serve only as spectacle. They appeal not to the mind of the viewer, but to the heart and the gut. They supply ideologues on both sides of the spectrum with an outlet to channel their righteous outrage. They provide some fodder for news networks in need of material during an otherwise slow period. They in no way advance the interests of a democratic republic in need of an informed electorate.

So, like most Americans, I will be otherwise occupied on Thursday night. Let the political media collectively wag its finger at the disengaged masses. Perhaps we will take this process more seriously when the media takes this process more seriously. Until then, I hope they continue to enjoy Donald Trump’s campaign.

-30-