One reason voters like to see candidates debate is that, at least in more conventional campaigns, these occasions sort out the thinkers from the poseurs, the candidates that have substance from those who are empty vessels making noise.
The public does not necessarily want to elect a wonk who can fully describe the workings of, for example, the Department of Veterans Affairs. But they do want someone who demonstrates a grip on what that lamentable agency's problems are and has a realistic plan to solve them.
This is why Donald Trump did every voter a disservice by withdrawing from the Republican candidate debate that was supposed to take place Monday in Salt Lake City, Utah. He wants the job, but suddenly is not prepared to go for another interview.
He is banking on a number of assumptions, some true, some false, some reasonable, some not.
One assumption is that voters will either forget or forgive his flip-flop on this, as on other issues. Even before he knocked Marco Rubio out of the race, Trump taunted the Florida senator and encouraged him to drop out, saying, "I would love to take on Ted [Cruz], one-on-one, I think that would be so much fun."
Well, Utah was his chance, but now he doesn't want it.
It is understandable that Trump would want to side step Cruz. The Donald used the early crowded debates effectively to deliver damaging insults, to bully his rivals, and often to cast himself as the big man on the stage. But as candidates dropped out and the field narrowed, Trump found the going harder. He was forced to confront substantive questions against skilled debaters with less time wasted. In the last two debates, Ted Cruz especially hammered him on issues of conservative principle and policy.
Whatever one's opinion of Cruz, it cannot be denied that he has a handle on every issue and a clear idea of how to deploy it. He is an excellent debater. Trump, who seems to have no realistic or fully-considered plans, has an interest in avoiding unnecessary encounters. He tends to change positions, sometimes within minutes or seconds of taking a stand, and Cruz can expose that weakness to the glare of public scrutiny.
It's not just that Trump had never heard of the nuclear triad, or that he thinks he can unilaterally dissolve North American Free Trade Agreement and impose punitive tariffs to make Mexico pay for his famous wall (which we're sure just got five feet taller). It's not just that he said he could order the military to violate the law by torturing prisoners or murdering terrorists' children. It's not just that he seems unaware of what he himself has said and done in the past, including his past support of wars in Iraq and Libya, which he now discusses as if he had opposed them from the start.
The bigger problem is that Trump says what's on his mind, but nothing more. And what is on his mind is often ill-informed and ill-considered.
Exit polling in the March 15 elections showed that depending on the state, between 30 and 42 percent of Republican primary voters, the hardest core in terms of November turnout for the party, remain uncertain whether they would vote for Trump in the general election, were he to be the party's nominee.
Trump and his campaign surrogates are encouraging Republicans to unite around him. But the burden here falls on Trump. He needs to show he deserves their support. They don't owe it to him just because others have supported him in large numbers. They especially don't owe it to him if he refuses to let them assess him against his rivals.
Front-runners and presumptive nominees often want to avoid debate simply because all the advantage of joining them goes to their trailing opponents. Doubtless, Trump and his advisers are making this sort of calculation.
But Trump, for all the power of the popular movement he has created, still has not won a majority of the Republican vote in even a single caucus or primary. In this, he is slower and less successful that GOP front-runners in any recent election cycle. So he cannot claim, as he essentially is doing, that he has already won and that everyone needs to stop messing about and get with his program.
He still has to prove himself. He must recognize even if he does not admit that he is an unorthodox candidate who must win people over. If he wants to be their nominee, he must show Republican voters that he can learn something and debate substantively on the issues.
http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/answer-the-questions-mr.-trump/article/2586185?custom_click=rss
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