Republican National Committee members have been frustrated with the GOP presidential primary debates and have even said that they might be pointless without former President Donald Trump, the clear front-runner for the nomination.
Trump has skipped the first two debates, which have been criticized widely. Viewership declined by 25% during the second debate to 9.5 million people, while almost 13 million watched the first debate.
Some within the RNC believe that Trump's presence is necessary for the debates to be worth having.
"After the failure of the first debate, there should have been some severe introspection into what's going on here. I think the only way you salvage it is if you get the front-runner there. Plan a debate where you get the front-runner to agree to it," Tyler Bowyer, a national committeeman from Arizona, told Politico.
"You can't put your head in the sand and pretend these debates are going to result in someone other than Donald Trump getting the nomination," said Patti Lyman, the RNC's national committeewoman from Virginia. The debates were "embarrassing" and "reflected poorly on our party," Lyman added.
On the other hand, some believe the debates should continue, even while acknowledging that Trump will be the likely nominee.
Georgia's national committeeman, Jason Thompson, said that he understands that Trump is "ahead and everything — and way ahead ... but also, we have rules. This is a process we have to go through regardless. We have primaries. We aren't anointing people."
Some committee members are pushing for Trump to participate; but top officials, such as RNC Chair Ronna McDaniel and the chair for the RNC's Temporary Committee on Presidential Debates, David Bossie, are reportedly not attempting to get Trump to debate.
Trump himself does not believe the debates should continue, telling the Daily Caller that the RNC "has to stop the debates" because they are "bad for the Republican Party." Trump and his advisers have urged the RNC to move away from debates and "refocus its manpower and money" on efforts for election integrity, according to Politico.
The third debate is set for Nov. 8 in Miami.
Jeremy Frankel ✉
Jeremy Frankel is a Newsmax writer reporting on news and politics.
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