GOP POTUS Debaters Failed To Paint The Big Picture

Written by Robert Knight

I caught the Republican debate on Wednesday. By the time you read this, it will have been analyzed to death. But here’s my take.

Some did better than others (Gov. Ron DeSantis, former Vice President Mike Pence, U.S. Sen. Tim Scott, and former Gov. Nikki Haley). Vivek Ramaswamy stole the show with his outsider pizazz and snappy answers. A little too snappy perhaps, such as his below-the-belt crack that he was the only candidate not “bought and paid for.”

All of them would be astronomically better than the current occupant. The Biden administration is wrecking America before our very eyes a hundred different ways. Part of that took place the very next day, when the regime had former President Donald J. Trump booked in Atlanta, angry mugshot and all.

But the seven gentlemen and the lady did not convey with enough urgency the magnitude of what is happening to our country under the Democrats.

Several did cite inflation, millions of illegal aliens, the war on energy and the “weaponization” of the U.S. Justice Department. Seven out of eight (former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson was the outlier) pledged to vote for Mr. Trump if he is the nominee even if he is convicted. Parental rights and school choice got some mention. Some wanted to abolish the U.S. Department of Education. Mr. Ramaswamy called for breaking up the big, leftwing teachers unions.

They did address the abortion issue head on, especially Mr. Pence, but they could have spent more time explaining why Democrats are the extremists. The donkeys want abortion up to the moment of birth with no restrictions. They and their media lie constantly about it.

I realize that in a nationally televised debate, candidates can’t appeal only to their base or even their party. They have to consider independents and Democrats who might provide crucial votes.

But that’s why they need to use moral language, even righteous anger at times. Many Americans know something is deeply wrong with our country. They want someone to say it’s as serious as they think it is.

President Ronald Reagan knew when to display righteous anger and when to use disarming humor.

Just before the debate, the FOX hosts played a snippet from Oliver Anthony’s crude but effective number one hit song “Rich Men North of Richmond.” This primal scream should have triggered something more compelling than a lament about America’s “decline.” Our destruction is being orchestrated.

Mr. DeSantis scored by reminding everyone that Florida bucked the COVID-19 lockdowns and thrived because of it. But Mr. Ramaswamy was the only candidate to take on climate change extremism, the left’s other favorite instrument of control. He called it a “hoax.”

America faces lots of dangers that were discussed (The China/Russian/Iran axis, an urban crime wave, a Ukraine war that could spin out of control, an open border, ruinous inflation).

But the candidates could have been more forceful in addressing the two huge internal dangers facing us: an unprecedented abuse of federal police power and the Democrats’ full-blown war on the natural moral order.

Whatever you might think of Mr. Trump, his fellow party members should have been united in anger and determination to inspire action to halt the Third World-style political persecution.

The former president has been indicted by Democrats in four different jurisdictions and faces jail for the rest of his life.

Credible legal experts have explained clearly why the charges not only lack merit but are ridiculous.

This past week, former Mayor Rudy Giuliani, who had cleaned up New York City and used the federal RICO law to jail actual mobsters, was himself, along with Mr. Trump, charged with “racketeering.”

All of this amounts to direct interference in the upcoming 2024 election, a point made in these pages on Wednesday by former Trump aide Peter Navarro. Election interference was at the core of the first impeachment over Mr. Trump’s phone call. He had asked Ukraine’s president to look into Biden family corruption. Thanks to U.S.  House investigators, we know now that Mr. Trump was merely performing due diligence.

Which brings us to the other point. The natural moral order is under vicious attack. This is about much more than biological males invading women’s sports, as bad as that is. By embracing the atheistic LGBTQ pride agenda, Democrats and nearly all major American institutions have declared open season on every child. They want a society in which God’s clear moral guidelines about sex, marriage and family life are a form of actionable “hatred.”

Democrats constantly pull heartstrings to make their points. They bemoan “attacks on trans kids” to describe laws intended to protect children from dangerous drugs, quack doctors and surgical mutilation.

They use “reproductive health care” as code for snuffing out lives.

Republicans tend to offer practical solutions instead of making the moral case. To his credit, Mr. Pence went beyond abstractions and described murder, torture and rape in Ukraine at the hands of Russian invaders. Hard truths can change hearts and minds.

Republicans need to show they’re serious about confronting the totalitarian-minded ruling elites that are grinding down the country and corrupting our children.

It can be morning in America again, but only if evil is identified, confronted and defeated.

Robert Knight is a former Los Angeles Times news editor and writer and was a Media Fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University. This column was originally published by The Washington Times.

He has been published by the Wall Street Journal, National Review, the Christian Post, AmericanThinker.com, DailyCaller.com, Townhall.com, OneNewsNow.com and many others.  He has co-authored three books and written 10, including “Liberty on the Brink: How the Left Plans to Steal Your Vote” (D. James Kennedy Ministries, 2020) and “The Coming Communist Wave: What Happens If the Left Captures All Three Branches of Government” (D. James Kennedy Ministries, 2020) . 

You can follow him on Twitter at @RobertKnight17, and his website is roberthknight.com.