The elephant in the room
“Elephant in the room: An obvious major problem or issue that people avoid discussing or acknowledging.” – Merriam-Webster Dictionary
There’s hardly anything predictable about the current state of American politics.
It’s weird – and getting weirder as the days fly by.
Last Wednesday, hours before that much-ballyhooed first Republican presidential debate, Donald Trump declared himself the winner – even though he wasn’t going to be on the debate stage.
Ironically, by the end of the night, with one question and answer, Mr. Trump did notch himself a debate win.
Here’s how.
“If former President Trump is convicted in a court of law, would you still support him as your party’s choice? Please raise your hand if you would,” asked Fox News debate moderator Bret Baier.
Until that point in the two-hour debate, Trump hadn’t been mentioned. Trump was truly the elephant in the room.
The six raised hands brought Trump and his hold on the Republican Party into sharp focus.
It was an affirmation of the fact that six of the eight Republican presidential candidates on stage, who are polling in the single digits, (Tim Scott, Nikki Haley, Ron DeSantis, Doug Burgum, Mike Pence, and Vivek Ramaswamy) are doing nothing more than auditioning for vice president, or some undefined Cabinet posts in a possible second Trump administration.
They don’t appear to be seriously running for president themselves.
To humble themselves by still promising to support a convicted felon, they’re helping to solidify Trump’s hold on his rabid followers.
Trump could easily be thinking, “With enemies like these, who needs friends?”
Ramaswamy, that smarmy entrepreneur, appears to be running to be Trump’s mini-me – promising the loudest to pardon him, regardless of the 91 charges of which he might be convicted.
Ramaswamy found himself the target of withering attacks from Chris Christie, Pence, and Haley.
But the more ferocious the attack, the more the Milwaukee audience cheered for him.
After the debate, CNN ran a focus group, and it was Ramaswamy who (with a small sample size) won it – largely due to the young participants involved.
He’s 38 years old, and he does have lots of youthful energy. That could be refreshing for those potential voters who feel that Trump and Joe Biden are too old.
But that youthful enthusiasm might find scrutiny, with a discussion of one of Ramaswamy’s key issues – the voting age.
He favors raising the standard voting age to 25. He’s for repealing the 26th Amendment which allows people to vote at age 18.
He’d allow people to vote at ages 18 to 24 if they enlisted in the military, work as first responders, or pass the civics test that’s required for naturalization.
Note: Ramaswamy most likely didn’t have to do any of those things before he first voted.
He would also eliminate Juneteenth Day as a federal holiday. He calls it a “useless,” “made-up” holiday.
It’s no wonder he’s suddenly become a target of the more experienced presidential candidates.
Until last Wednesday night’s debate, it was thought that DeSantis would be the main target of attacks on the debate stage.
He’s a distant second to Trump in the polls. He has used his sharp political elbows to set himself up as a younger, more polished version of the original article.
But the debate tended to prove that he’s not much of a force to be reckoned with.
Instead, it was the political neophyte who got most of the attention.
It was Ramaswamy’s smug persona that was too easy to attack.
Pence called him “a rookie.”
Christie called him an “amateur.”
Haley claimed Ramaswamy “has no foreign policy experience, and it shows.”
Haley also had a lot to say about Trump.
She said that he was the “most disliked politician in America,” and that “we can’t win a general election that way.”
But she still proudly raised her hand when asked if she’d support Trump (as a presidential candidate) if he’s convicted of a crime.
Who can untangle that paradox?
Not me.
Edward A. Owens is a multi-Emmy Award winner, former reporter, and anchor for Entertainment Tonight, and 50-year TV news and newspaper veteran. E-mail him at freedoms@bellatlantic.net.