The GOP debate debate

Or: Who's afraid of Donald Trump?

The New York Times ran a story about advice memos produced by Axiom Strategies, which is owned by Jeff Roe, chief strategist of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. (The document refers to DeSantis as GRD.) The end of one memo features the link to the above ad.

This 60-second spot by WinItBack PAC is brilliant as it captures the angst many Republicans who voted for Trump feel as 2024 looms. “I’m not sure he can focus on moving the country forward,” John offers. And “John” is not sure Trump can win.

“John” also recalls all the family divisions that haunted the Trump years.

As the story noted,

Super PACs are barred by law from strategizing in private with political campaigns. To avoid running afoul of those rules, it is not unusual for the outside groups to post polling documents in the open, albeit in an obscure corner of the internet where insiders know to look.

What did we learn? The pro-Trump Never Back Down PAC, aka NBD, apparently believes DeSantis’ most assailable opponent is Vivek Ramaswamy.

Political junkies should appreciate the memo’s invocation of Roger Ailes’ Orchestra Pit Theory:

Let's face it, there are three things that the media are interested in: pictures, mistakes and attacks. That's the one sure way of getting coverage. You try to avoid as many mistakes as you can. You try to give them as many pictures as you can. And if you need coverage, you attack, and you will get coverage . It's my orchestra pit theory of politics. You have two guys on stage and one guy says, I have a solution to the Middle East problem, and the other guy falls in the orchestra pit, who do you think is going to be on the evening news One thing you don't want to do is get your head up too far on some new vision for America because then the next thing that happens is the media runs over to the Republican side and says, Tell me why you think this is an idiotic idea.

We still don’t know if former President Donald Trump will participate in the Aug. 23 debate, the first GOP debate in the 2024 primary. Probably Trump doesn’t know either.

Still, NBD apparently thinks it would be smart for the Florida governor to to pick on former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie. (I don’t agree. I think Christie’s willingness to criticize Trump could put Christie at the front of the pack. )

As for Trump, NBD suggests DeSantis avoid criticizing Trump. That’s the conventional wisdom inside the beltway. I disagree. If GOP hopefuls are fearful to take on Trump, why are they running?

Debra J. Saunders is a senior fellow at the Discovery Institute’s Chapman Center for Citizen Leadership. To receive notices of new posts, please sign up via the subscribe button.