The Republican National Committee is making candidates pledge to support the nominee. And news networks are facilitating a possibly illegal demand.
, who is currently running about forty points ahead of his nearest competition, has been suggesting he might not show up.
But starting in 2016, both parties began to use their power over the nomination process to assert control. Conventional wisdom set in that the parties, as such, were not being well served by the status quo. The media sponsors of debates were, unfortunately, acquiescent in this power grab. The limited number of approved debates made each one more valuable, and the networks were able to outsource the contentious process of setting inclusion criteria. Pushback from the candidates was also minimal. But both the media and the candidates were short-sighted, neglecting the long-term implications of this scheme.At first, the party debate rules did not seem very objectionable.
It’s also unlikely the committee could stick to its delegate-stripping punishment if any major candidates called their bluff. If Trump and DeSantis decided to do a head-to-head debate, would the RNC really throw them both out of the race? Say no Trump or DeSantis delegates will be seated at the convention? It’s obviously an empty threat, at least for any candidate with substantial support.Candidates should refuse to sign the pledge, both on principle and because it’s bad politics.
Most importantly, debate sponsors must use “pre-established objective criteria” to decide which candidates to invite. This means rules have to be based on objective measures of a candidate’s support, not subjective political biases about which candidates or positions the debate hosts prefer. Anything else would be, in effect, an ad for the chosen candidates rather than a neutral debate.
News desks and media executives should carefully consider how far they’d let this game go. If the party committees can require a pledge for one political position, what others could they require? If the RNC demanded it, would CNN agree to invite only candidates who have signed a pledge to oppose tax increases? Would Univision go along with it if the DNC said pro-life candidates must be excluded?Legal and ethical concerns for journalists aside, the RNC’s pledge is objectionable on the merits.
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