Donald Trump calls Milwaukee debaters ‘pretenders to throne, second tier’

WASHINGTON: Former US President Donald Trump has mocked the Republican Presidential primary debate, hosted by Fox TV, saying that the debate was one of the "lowest rated ever" and showed that many of those participating are "second tier" and merely "pretenders to the throne".

This indicates that none of them feature in his list to ride on his ticket for vice president, even though Indian entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy said he would love to ride on his ticket and successfully raised $450,000 from his supporters soon after the debate. If Trump were to win the nomination, there is speculation that Marjorie Green Taylor, representative, could be his running mate, as she is a staunch loyalist.

Trump lashed out against Fox News on Friday, criticizing the network’s first GOP primary debate on Wednesday night, which he chose to skip with the remarks: "The Debate on FoxNews had a hard time with the proverbial RATINGS. It was one of the lowest rated EVER, if not THE LOWEST. It showed that many of those participating are 'second tier' and merely 'pretenders to the throne'." The former President posted the remarks on his social media platform, Truth Social.

“Some of the answers were so bad, with delivery even worse. The numbers were less than half what I had in 2016, not a good way to start the fight against Crooked Joe Biden, and his Lunatic Thugs. We will not let this happen. MAGA!,” Trump said.

However, Fox TV claimed the debate was television’s best performing non-sports programme of the year. The first of the Republican sponsored GOP debate hosted by FOX TV at Milwaukee live on Wednesday in Wisconsin state saw eight of the nine presidential hopefuls sparring each other. But with Trump's absence, the programme drew lower ratings than previous GOP debates, media reports led by the HILL said. Abortion, crime, law and order, border issue and Ukraine funding dominated the agenda for discussion.

Only two of the candidates former New Jersy Governor Chris Christie, the best performer and Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchison literally declined to endorse Trump, claiming the legal authorities could take recourse under the 14th amendment to debar him from contesting as the provision does not permit any citizen indicted or convicted of conspiracy or criminal conspiracy to contest the presidential elections. About 13 million people watched the show, compared to about 20 million who tuned in for the first Republican presidential debate in 2015, at the beginning of Trump’s first White House bid. This is the 3rd bid by Trump for the White House in 2024.

Though it's a dramatic fall from the 2015 ratings, the Milwaukee debate is, however, considered a success, by a section of the US media as it says as millions of Americans cut cords, and Fox News managed to capture the most eyeballs for the show in recent times, reports said. Trump had chosen to skip the debate as he considered it futile because he was already well ahead of the opponents in ratings at 53 per cent, a commanding lead over of Florida Governor Ron DeSantis at 16 per cent and Indian American entrepreneur a close third with 11 per cent.

Trump outdid the debaters by releasing an 46 minute taped sit down interview with the fired former host Tucker Carlson of Fox TV, in which he continued to maintain that the 2020 elections were stolen and that the prosecuting democrats were "really sick and savage animals" drawing angry remonstrances from the democratic party. The second 2024 GOP primary debate, to be held on September 27 and air on Fox Business, Trump has indicated he does not plan to attend any GOP debates leading up to the primaries of the Republican party to pick a candidate among the nine hopefuls. IANS

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