At the last Republican Presidential Primary Debate sponsored by CNBC, Ted Cruz took the opportunity to rip into CNBC and the rest of the media. He lambasted the CNBC moderators for asking questions to candidates he believed were inappropriate:
“Donald Trump, are you a comic book villain?
“Ben Carson, can you do math?”
“Jeb Bush, why have your numbers fallen?”
It was one of the most memorable parts of the debate because Cruz brought up a valid and understandable point; the media is treating the Republican Presidential Primary like a joke. Why?
Donald Trump is, by many accounts, the current front-runner in the Republican Primary. Trump is quoted as calling Mexican immigrants “rapists”. He’s continually and unapologetically made misogynistic comments towards women, often regarding their looks. When discussing veteran and former POW John McCain, he boldly claimed, “He’s not a war hero.” The list of asinine Donald Trump quotes is exhaustive, yet he stands at center stage during Republican debates.
Standing next to him is Ben Carson who sits in a virtual tie with Trump for first. His quote reservoir is also incredibly ridiculous. When discussing the active shooter situation on a college campus, he said “I would not just stand there and let them shoot me.” Carson stated that he “would not advocate that we put a Muslim in charge of this nation.” And finally, when asked about gun control, Carson asked, “if there had been no gun control in Europe at that time, would six million Jews have been slaughtered?”
These are the two Republican primary frontrunners by a wide margin. According to the most recent Fox News poll, the two command 50% of the support of likely primary voters. Ask yourself if you can imagine a candidate on the Democratic side making comments like the ones you’re hearing from the Republican frontrunners. Agree or disagree with the candidates on the Democratic side, after the Democratic Primary debate we were left questioning substantive policy issues. Are Bernie Sanders’ goals for America plausible or simply unattainable? Is Hillary Clinton in the pocket of Wall Street? How big of a problem is income inequality? At the end of a Republican Primary debate, we’re often joking about what ridiculous comment Donald Trump made about another candidate. All the while, candidates who I actually want to hear more from, like Marco Rubio, Jeb Bush, or Rand Paul are barely given any airtime and when they are, they’re forced to talk about this political sideshow that Trump and Carson have created instead of actual issues that matter to the majority of the American populace. I agree with Ted Cruz in that the mainstream media fails in its effort to properly inform the American electorate. However, when it comes to the media failing to take the Republican Primary seriously, Ted Cruz and the rest of the Republican field should look to blame no one else but themselves for allowing their primary to turn into a caricature of a very unfunny Saturday Night Live skit.