Have You Seen the Light Yet, or Still Plan to Vote for Biden?

Another – the fifth -- Republican presidential debate took place tonight, which former-President Donald Trump skipped, missing yet another opportunity to debate his GOP challengers. Instead, he appeared live on Fox News Channel to take town hall-style questions from an audience. According to Fred Lucas, Trump commented at one point: “Remember this: Our ultimate retribution is success.” 

The excitement for this debate took place with a sparring match between Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley. Vivek Ramaswamy tried a Trump type approach and “did an online event with podcaster Tim Pool.” Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie suspended his campaign earlier today.

Lucas found the following big takeaways from Trump’s town hall:

1. ‘You Have Chaos Now.’

Trump was asked about concerns and accusations that he would be the “chaos” candidate.''

“You have chaos now,” Trump responded, referring to the Biden administration. “We have chaos at the border.” …

“Most of the chaos was caused by the Democrats constantly coming after me,” Trump said, pointing to the ‘Russian collusion’ accusations and his impeachment over a phone call to Ukraine’s president.

Trump said there was less chaos in the world when he was in the White House.” I didn’t have any wars,” he said.

“I think bedlam is Joe Biden,” he said.

2. ‘Not Going to Be a Dictator.’

Trump also sought to tamp down Democrat attacks that he would become a dictator if elected to another term….

“We are closing the border and drilling, drilling, drilling. Other than that, I am not a dictator,” Trump told Hannity.

Democrats and some in the media seized on the sound bite.

Trump was more clear during the Wednesday night forum. He blamed the media for distorting a joke.

“The press picks it up, I say, ‘I’m going to be a dictator for one day,’” Trump said. “They cut it to say, ‘I’m going to be a dictator.’ But they cut the rest of the sentence.”

He continued:

I am not going to be a dictator. I am going to manage, like we did.

We were so successful that the country was coming together. It was actually coming together and coming together well. It was a beautiful thing to see, and we’re going to do that again….

3. ‘Didn’t Actually Have a Shutdown’ During COVID-19.

An audience member who identified herself as the owner of a small business asked Trump if he would ever shut down the economy, similar to what happened during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Trump asserted that he didn’t favor a national shutdown of the economy during the pandemic, but allowed states and their elected officials to decide what to do.

“I’m a federalist in a sense, because that’s the federalist way,” Trump said of his deference to the states. “No, I didn’t actually have a shutdown, despite the fact that some people wanted to and some people didn’t want to. But we had some great governors. The governors that did the best job were Republican governors, and they were the ones that didn’t shut down.”

Trump also denied that he listened that much to Dr. Anthony Fauci….

“Dr. Fauci was not a huge focus in my administration,” Trump said. “He wasn’t a big factor with me. He was a really big factor, after I left, with Biden.”

Also on the economy, Trump said his administration would have begun paying down the national debt had not COVID-19 surfaced and required an infusion of government spending to avoid a depression….

“I’m going to cut their energy prices in half,” he said of businesses, by not buying into what he called “the crazy electric car mandate” and “the green new scam.” Instead, he promised to focus on achieving “energy dominance” rather than only “energy independence.”

4. ‘Happen to Be for Exceptions’ on Abortion.

One audience member praised Trump for his role in the Supreme Court’s overturning of the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision that nationalized abortion on demand. But she pressed the former president on criticizing Iowa’s heartbeat law and asked for clarity on the life issue.

“They were trying to get Roe v. Wade terminated and I did it, and I’m proud to have done it,” Trump said to applause.

However, Trump said, he was for exceptions to allow abortion.

“I happen to be for exceptions – like Ronald Reagan – the life of the mother, rape, and incest,” he said.

“We still have to win elections. Otherwise, we will be back where we were,” Trump added of the divisive abortion issue….

5. ‘Largest Deportation Effort.’

Trump got a question from the audience about illegal immigration and border security. At one point, he said that “18 million people” will have entered the U.S. unlawfully by the time Biden’s four-year term ends.

“It’s not sustainable for our country,” the former president said. “We have millions and millions of people here. It is not sustainable. Did you see in New York City where they are getting the regular students out [of school] and they are putting migrants in their place?”

“We are going to have the largest deportation effort in the history of our country. We are bringing everybody back to where they came from. We have no choice,” Trump said to applause.

Trump added, in response to a question, that so-called sanctuary cities and counties will go away because Democrat mayors and county executives can’t sustain them. He referred to New York City Mayor Eric Adams, a Democrat who has been critical of federal immigration policies under Biden and the number of illegal aliens who have arrived in his city.

 

6. ‘Ultimate Retribution Is Success.’

Baier pressed Trump about previous references to “retribution” against political opponents, asking how much of a second term “would be about looking forward?”

Trump first defended the notion of retribution.

“Look at what they did: the Russia-Russia-Russia hoax, the FBI-Twitter hoax, the 51 intelligence agents hoax. All of these different hoaxes that they did,” Trump said. “A lot of people would say that’s probably quite normal.”

But the former president quickly said he would focus on the economy if elected again.

“I’m not going to have time for retribution,” Trump said. “We’re going to make this country so successful again, I’m not going to have time for retribution. And remember this: Our ultimate retribution is success.” …

I am amazed that Chris Christy is smart enough to exit the presidential campaign. To me, he is a dumb, loud-mouth, Trump-hating loser. However, I give him credit for being wise enough to bow out of the race now. Hopefully, Trump will do well enough in New Hampshire and Iowa to convince the other Republican candidates to get out of the race and concentrate on keeping Biden or any Democrat out of the White House, which is the only way to save America! May God watch over and bless America – please!