An Independent Debate?

The idea of the Republican candidates organizing a debate independent of the RNC and Fox News is an intriguing one.

Thus far, the GOP debates have failed to offer effective platforms for those interested in a viable Trump alternative to flesh out which candidates are best positioned to take on Donald Trump. Image uploaded under fair use from WHDH.

I'm inclined to support the idea of the Republican candidates organizing their own debate independent of the RNC and Fox News, with a format conducive to an actual debate.

Each question would be asked of all the candidates, not just one, and each candidate would have two minutes to respond. Any candidate mentioned in a response gets one minute for rebuttal.

Of course, candidates would still try to subvert such a format, but at least we would generally stay on one topic at a time, and the candidates would feel it less necessary to jump in knowing that the format will allow them to weigh in on each issue.

Such a debate would offer voters what the RNC-sponsored debates have thus far failed to deliver. Unlike some in social media, I won’t go so far as to accuse the RNC or Fox News of being in the tank for Trump and purposely making these debates useless tools for considering the strength of non-Trump contenders. But they, at the least, seem uninterested in assuring the formats of the debates can deliver real debate and draw out contrasts in the candidates.

There’s no doubt that the candidates themselves own some of the responsibility for how this week’s debate played out, but it doesn’t help when the debate format forces candidates to flaunt the rules or be left out in the cold.

-Justin

The Daily Saucer is our place for freelance contributors and editorial staff to offer short takes on the news cycle, quick observations on the issues, and brief thoughts on broader topics. The views offered in this space reflect only the personal views of the authors.