Qualifying for tomorrow night's internecine playdate are Ron DeSantis, Vivek Ramaswamy, Mike Pence, Nikki Haley, Tim Scott, Chris Christie and, somehow, Doug Burgum.
Naturally, the sanest of GOP presidential candidates, former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson, failed to make the cut.
Trump will be rabidly foaming and counterprogramming at a rabid Michigan rally.
Only four candidates have so far qualified for November's debate in Miami, though only three of the losers will appear: DeSantis, Ramaswamy and Haley. Trump has checked out of all future GOP debates.
Producer and author David Rothkopf notes that the most relevant questions will not be asked at tomorrow night's debate: "Do you support a president who threatens his critics with death? Do you support a president who seeks to silence freedom of speech in America? Isn’t it long past time to acknowledge the threat Donald Trump represents?"
Call them unasked rhetorical questions which, if asked, would go unanswered. The irony is that an honest answer to any of the three questions would likely put the interlocutor in a leading position for the GOP presidential nomination in 2028.
Beginning in 2025, after Trump just as likely blows up the party in'24, an internal scramble will commence to distance the GOP far from Trumpism. Next year will be the third major blow to the Republican Party: the partisan disasters of 2020, 2022 and President Biden's reelection.
The neofascistic fringe will never give up. But Republicans who prefer winning elections to strutting ultra-authoritarian ideology will pull in the reins. And this year's candidate who in 2028 can honestly say that he or she warned against Trumpian excesses back in '24 will be sitting pretty.
What they'll do instead is disingenuously claim they warned against Trump and his ism. Because they're cowards.