Trump Campaign Wants to Eat Their Cake and Have It, Too

PREFACE: The thoughts and opinions expressed below do not necessarily reflect those of any or all of the other writers. 

When Donald Trump announced that he would not deign to squabble among such inconsequential peasants as those participating in Wednesday’s debate, he sent a crystal clear message. It was succinctly put by his son, Don Jr., upon being barred from Fox’s spin room at the conclusion of said debate: “It’s beneath him.”

The purpose of debates ahead of an election is for candidates to make their case for why they deserve your vote. Your vote, because that’s who’s calling the shots here: the republic and all its eligible constituents. Not Brett Baier and Martha MacCallum (as was abundantly clear from their inability to reign in the feisty hopefuls), not Congress, and not– though it may shock him to learn it– Donald Trump. 

So if Trump’s refusal– or, dare I say, utter inability– to humble himself before his voters, to put in the gruntwork to prove to you why he deserves another term, doesn’t fill you with affront and indignation, then, I’m sorry to say, you may be a fanatic. 

(I have equally harsh words for Tucker Carlson for enabling such disdain for the non-elite voting public, but that’s for another time.)

If spurning the debate in favor of starring in a Trump-centric interview were the whole story, I probably wouldn’t bother with this article. It’s not as if we didn’t know he’s a megalomaniac, after all. But his envoys’ reaction to inevitably being denied entry into the “spin room” after the debate, which, I will remind you, was beneath him, was frankly appalling. 

Don Jr. argued that Fox’s decision to turn away Trump representatives was “because the candidates that they’ve been boosting while simultaneously trying to cut down Trump for the last two years didn’t perform as they had hoped.” 

He continued, “Just so we understand what we’re dealing with here. It shouldn’t surprise any of us and it’s also why Trump was 100 percent right to not go to this debate.”

His fiancee Kimberly Guilfoyle’s contribution was, “It’s very un-American, it’s against the First Amendment.” 

First of all, it’s not against the first amendment. But you knew that already. (Please tell me you knew that already.) 

But more importantly, the un-American behavior that night did not come from Fox News. When our Founding Fathers devised a government “of the people, by the people, and for the people” they didn’t just mean Donald Trump. Though we rarely see it in practice anymore, politicians serve the people– we are their boss, not the other way around.

In skipping the debate, Trump demonstrated precisely the same entitlement we’ve come to expect from all those rich men north of Richmond. He proved his unshakeable belief that you owe him this nomination, your concerns, interests, and questions be damned. 

Trump promised to drain the swamp, but instead he seems to have become a part of it.