The front-running presidential candidate, former President Donald Trump, challenged current "President" and trailing candidate Joe Biden to debate "anytime, anywhere." Team Biden quickly availed itself of the opportunity to stick their two-ton thumb on the scales and set up the terms: the candidates will do battle deep in enemy territory —CNN — on Thursday night at 9 p.m. ET.
The moderators, CNN stalwarts Jake Tapper and Dana Bash, have a long history of hating on Trump. "One of the biggest challenges Donald Trump will have to face in his upcoming debate with Joe Biden on CNN on Thursday — assuming Biden shows up — won't be handling the president but having Jake Tapper and Dana Bash as the moderators," my friend and colleague Matt Margolis wrote Monday.
"Tapper and Bash are about as anti-Trump as you get," Matt pointed out, "and when Trump spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt appeared on CNN Monday to discuss the upcoming debate and happened to mention their bias, anchor Kasie Hunt had an absolute tantrum on the air."
The issue at stake was that Leavitt pointed out that the CNN elders had a history of comparing Trump to Hitler. Unable to handle it, Hunt had the show's producer kick Leavitt off the feed:
Trump spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt gets cut off by CNN host as she brings up Jake Tapper’s history of comparing Trump to Hitler.
— The Post Millennial (@TPostMillennial) June 24, 2024
Tapper is a moderator in the upcoming presidential debate.
pic.twitter.com/eOwztHIDDJ
Hunt's hissy fit aside, the cold, hard fact is that the debate moderators do indeed think Trump is Hitler incarnate. Tapper has oft compared Trump to the German dictator:
Jake Tapper has compared Trump to Hitler many times. Here’s a compilation of just a few
— Jack Poso 🇺🇸 (@JackPosobiec) June 24, 2024
He is moderating the CNN debate this week https://t.co/wX1fIdBr48 pic.twitter.com/WHZfB1OrZK
Here's another montage which shows all three of Trump's debate opponents — Tapper, Bash, and Biden — comparing the former president to Hitler:
Here are @jaketapper & @DanaBashCNN, the two CNN debate “moderators,” comparing Donald Trump to Adolf Hitler. CNN cut off @kleavittnh this morning for rightly pointing out their bias and that they had done this before: pic.twitter.com/dIEvcVCXZk
— Clay Travis (@ClayTravis) June 24, 2024
So first, let us dispense with any arguments that the debate venue is anything other than a leftist crucible for Donald Trump.
But unlike my colleagues, I don't think the venue puts Trump at a disadvantage at all. Everyone knows what the deal is going into it. It's not just "fake news," it's the media arm of the systemic "Get Trump!" machine. It's not going to pull a single supporter away from Trump. We're watching Daniel stroll into the lion's den, and we can't wait for the show.
But with the millions of apolitical or even Democrat-leaning Americans who are increasingly uncomfortable with the level of banana-republic fascism blossoming in our once-free country, Trump has an opportunity to win a few converts. At the very least, he can expose the left as the vile totalitarian party it has become and perhaps discourage fence-sitters from default-voting for Democrats. Suppressing Democrat votes is every bit as important as turning out Republican votes.
My Townhall colleague Kurt Schlichter offers a likely preview of the debate. He predicts it is "going to be a series of Democrat-written questions that hopefully Trump will bat away before pivoting to things that we care about, like crime, American humiliation around the world, the economy, and the open border." He writes:
It’s easy to anticipate the dumb queries they will pose. Why do you want to kill women by banning reproductive healthcare, by which they mean killing babies? Why do you hate migrants who just want a better life, where “a better life” too often means raping and killing Americans? Why do you want to give tax breaks to greedy billionaires, though the greedy billionaires are all Democrats these days? Why do you deny climate change, even though the deadlines for us being dead keep passing without us being dead? Why are you such a felon, you felonious felon of felonies, and we don’t mean the good kind like George Floyd? Finally, why do you hate Our Democracy so much, with “Our Democracy” meaning the unchallenged power wielded by our garbage ruling class?"
I, for one, am thrilled that the mics will only work for the person who is supposed to be speaking. Without cross-speak, Trump will be able to launch direct hits. It's also a blessing that there won't be a live audience; Trump will be in CEO mode rather than in full live-rally bluster. The conditions are in place for him to revert to his natural form: a killer negotiator who will dominate his opponents.
Biden will amount to a bug on the windshield of the Trump Train as it roars through. What I can't wait to see is Trump getting into it with Bash and Tapper. "The witch-hunt will be overturned on appeal, everyone knows it. But why should we believe you people, anyway? Everyone knows you're not fair. How many times have you called me 'Hitler?' Will you admit that you called me 'Hitler?'" (Looking into the camera and pointing at the moderators.) "They think I'm literally Hitler. They won't admit it now, but they've called me Hitler a number of times. This is who Biden picks for debate moderators. This is as unfair as the witch hunt trials he's been attacking me with. Did you know that Biden coordinated all those trials I've been attacked with?"
At this point, the officious CNN people will cut Trump's mic, even though his allotted time is still running, but he will speak loudly enough to be picked up in the moderators' mics. "Biden sent his top guy to New York to run that witch hunt. Did you know that? And the DA in Georgia, Fani Willis — we call her Fat Fanny — Fat Fanny came and met with Biden's lawyers in DC. Did you know that? …"
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Bash and Tapper will blanch then turn red, then instruct the audience not to listen to anything Trump is saying as it is all lies. Trump will keep at them every chance he gets. It will be a wonder if, between the CNN team's faux outrage at Trump's "lies" and Biden's decrepit state, the debate runs the full 90 minutes. One thing's for sure: it won't be Trump who cuts it short.
I can't wait for the show.
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