It took some time, but at last our suspicions have been confirmed: A Republican debate is indeed a fact-free zone, and those seeking factual information need to look elsewhere.
This admission came from conservative radio host and GOP debate moderator Hugh Hewitt, who was appearing on CNN to discuss the most recent debate on Fox Business Network and the tense moments between Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz. Hewitt said:
“Using my boxing analogy, in the 15th round, Marco Rubio laid one on Ted Cruz. But here’s the deal about fact checkers. Nick Kristof, a terrific columnist for ‘The New York Times, tweeted out that Donald Trump said, in fact, in his hearing that he wanted a 45 percent tariff. Fact checking doesn’t matter in these things. What matters is personality, an aura and your command presence. And of all those two, the best command presence last night was Donald Trump and Marco Rubio. And I keep marveling at how Donald Trump can dominate a television screen. He reaches through the screen sometimes, and you know, you’re back on Celebrity Apprentice. It’s an amazing skill set.”
You mean the skill set that allows Trump to lie and bullshit his through a two-hour debate without a single moderator calling him out for it? Would that be classified as skill or being a master of intimidation? But he said it with presence and a commanding tone, so that means it’s OK if he was lying through his teeth the entire time.
And Trump is not the only practitioner of blatantly twisting the facts on the GOP debate stage. Ted Cruz is trying to pretend he isn’t a Canadian citizen when all evidence points to the contrary. Marco Rubio is hoping to convince the country that he has a freaking clue about anything at all other than how to spend money like it’s going out of style. Kasich, Christie, Bush, Fiorina, and the other second-tier candidates want to us to believe they still have a chance, when it becomes clearer with each day they don’t and never have.
So kudos to Hugh Hewitt for verifying what we knew: the 2016 GOP field is a collection of hacks, liars, phonies, and downright scoundrels. Turns out we were right all along.
Watch Hewitt’s Admission on CNN
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