And what you've got. Honestly, every time I hear you, I feel a little bit dumber for what you say.
Last debate, he said we were all bought and paid for.
I can't imagine how you could say that, knowing that you were just in business with the Chinese Communist Party. We opened a subsidiary in China.
But you know what I did that was different than every other company. We got the hell out of there.
That's just wrong.
And let's just get real here.
My plan will get the job done. You literally bring it fifty thousand dollars on curtains at a fifteen million dollar subsidized location. Next, you got bad information.
They were there before I even showed up.
At the residents who make you stop?
You know that that is a good like of the speaking. But we need a little of that cacophony before we get Gary On thirty four.
Michael thirty four, you.
Said you can't on both sides.
Gentlemen, you'll have your turn.
One of the challenges we have a focus on the show business and China.
Everybody knows that I just on holding Joe Biden accountable.
That's how we need to be.
I actually agree with Ronson's Tower of bab Well, if debate after debate for years and years, you reward the person who jumps in and takes the mic, that's what you're going to get.
We're joined by old friend of the Armstrong and Getty Show, non partisan political analyst Gary Dietrich. He's a great follow on Twitter at Gary Dietrich. Gary was at the scene of the debate last night. How was the dumpster fire from your perspective, Gary.
Well, Joe, you stole the exact colloquialism. I think it, Uh, Jack, of course, pretty dead up. Gave it a nice gentil cacophony, which is also a good way to describe it, at least initially. And then really what happened was I think all the candidates can finally check in when the moderator said, look at one point, you know, listen, we're going to cut off your mic. If you continue, that's it. Let's go to break them and we'll come back. So I think they kind of got it about a third of
the way in. But it was tough to watch initially and certainly tough to either be there. The spin room not any better. I mean, we are right now, guys. I think the reality is out of last night. It's political survival mode for some of these folks going forward. The next debate in five weeks of Miami on November eight, criteria go up to four percent in the two national polls are won, and then a couple from the early States. Some of these folks right now do not qualify in
that regard. You could take Bergham, you could take Christy, you could take Scott. Unless their fortunes turn around, they are not going to be on the next debate stage. That's going to leave DeSantis, Hailey, hence and Ramswami, who took a lot of hits last night, we can talk about that. I mean, so the field is starting to win on like it or not.
You know, the particulars of last night's debate don't interest me that much. I have my own impressions. I've read a fair amount of echo chamber and spending that sort of thing, and more or less we emerged with the status quo that we went into it.
With, which is Trump getting the nomination and an asteroid hits.
But having said that, what we're most troubled about is the whole primary system, the debate system, the coherence of the Republican Party last night was was was awful.
So you're wanting me to come out on the fact that these debates are what inconsequential or even delagias to the party?
Yes, well, I guess I'm sorry. I gave you a very very broad set up there. What we discussed a little earlier was the fact that the Republican Party, which exists for the sole purpose of getting people elected, is now completely incompetent to that purpose. In my mind, they have to take a serious look at the way they do what they do and change it. Would you agree or was that just an unfortunate, you know episode last night?
Well, Joe, I think you're onto something for this election cycle. I mean Trump people last night said let's just call off the rest of the debates. Of course they would say that, but you know, this is and having and if you just look at the polling, they're right on that. Right now. You know what's going to happen in the next four months before iowen in Hampshire, et cetera. Who knows,
but that's certainly true. Now. I think the unique part of this one, guys, I was thinking about this last night after debate one of the uniquenesses is a leader in the party's nominating process that has a forty percent lead nationally and a thirty percent lead in iowand in Hampshire. Who's unique to this whole nominating position and who's decided, you know what, I'm just not going to bother to
show up. I think all those uniquenesses in this cycle certainly lead to what you're talking about, Joe, and that is different from what we've seen in the past.
Well, so you talked about the spin room. Did any of you all get together, like I don't know, over drinks after the debate or anything like that and have any conversations about like really changing the way we do this, like actually have an on off switch for the mics and everybody gets to speak only when their MIC's ot. I mean, like really revamping it because it's it's degenerated into just a mess.
Yeah. I do think. I think that one change you're talking about there, Jack, in terms of mics is probably overdue, and I think it's probably likely to happen, you know, just the turning down to the mics, or you ask somebody a question and their mic is the only one on for at least the initially designated whatever its right,
sixty seconds or whatever. I think that's probably something that's going to be considered because it did render i'd say about a good third of debate debate nearly intelligible.
Well right, and I think unfortunately that unintelligible stuff was front loaded at the beginning and drove most of America away. I can't wait to hear the numbers for you know, hour one versus hour two. But anyway, putting aside the utter incompetence and cacoffey of the thing, if Trump is not to win the nomination, it's because Republicans, and there are enough Republicans don't ont Trump if they were to unite around one candidate that that would be enough to
overcome Trump, at least theoretically. Who, to your mind, has the most momentum, Gary in terms of appeal, maybe even fund raising the early primary states. Who would you bet on as the dark horse?
Yeah, that's a good question, Joe, and I'd say right now, you'd pick two. I mean, first would be Ron DeSantis, who, while he slipped in some of the poles, still retains that number two position. And I think most people's estimation last night didn't do himself a disservice at least held you know, sort of steady even or went up some. And the second is Nikki Haley, who you know, in
the first debate we sell numerically. Afterwards her poll members went up demonstrably, I mean some poles almost fifty percent. So I think those are the two. If there's some that clearly sank last night, you'd have to save with vek Lamaswami, I mean people, it was a dog pile on him. You guys probably know, and they got some shots, especially related to China that seemed to do some political damage.
And then Mike Pence just kind of holding on. I don't think he's likely to you don't have any momentum going forward. So those are the two I'd say right now coming out of this probably best position to if there is one, become the Trump alternative.
How do the political parties not have more power than they do at this point to like somehow narrow these fields because this didn't used to happen when I was younger. You didn't you didn't end up with fifteen people on every stage all the time shouting at the same time.
Well, Jack, remember this that you know political party political power cuts both ways. Remember the Bernie Sanders argument, you're rigging this election, which if you look, I remember this very distinctly, thinking, why aren't there any debate schedules. I mean, you got Bernie Sanders out there sitting in US center Gal, He's moving up rapidly in the pulse, and they just ice the whole de right desolutely on. And you know what,
there are many people who have gone back. Political sciences has gone back and looked at all the trends and the polling trends and all the rest of it and said, you know, had it been a quote unquote normal primary season with those debates were on anything else and the nominating prossis the delegate count, the super delegates, all that. Remember that Bernie Sanders had a serious chance of winning that nomination. And to this day, these people believe that the DNC did him dirty.
Yeah, well, I think that's absolutely true. But they also saved themselves a horrific loss. Bernie would have got just stomped. I mean, that's what the point of the party is, as Joe started this is to win elections. So they stepped in to make sure a candidate that couldn't possibly win nationally, didn't get the nomination. Isn't that what they're supposed to do?
Well? The problem with that, you might on a pragmatic sense, Shoe, you might excuse me, Jack, you might be right, but remember we were right in the beginning, right. The big throws of the battle within that party that is a democratic party, you know, the progressive wing versus the old kind of traditionalist wings, and that is some people say those are debates and sort of momentum worth having. You know, where is the Republican Party going to go post Trump?
Remind people elected or not next time around, there's only one more shot for Donald Trump than what And I think those are the big debates that some people say the small debates small d debates actually serve a purpose over several election cycles.
Well after the second term. He can play kingmaker and bring us more doctor Oz's and herschel Walker's. Anyway, you know, the counter to Jack's argument, which I happen to be pretty sympathetic to, is that you can't alienate your customers.
And there's a widespread perception among Republican leaning voters, conservative voters that the fat cats of the Republican Party have brought us nothing but higher and higher deficits, you know, promising us that globalization would lift all votes and empty promises. So I understand the populist right saying, no, I don't trust the fat cats to find me somebody who's quote unquote electable. I don't want that. So it's a tough
time for the Republican Party. It's tough time for Democrats too, Honestly, Well.
I think the small de democratization of the entire political process, and it certainly, you know, some people like talk radio got in there, but most importantly social media. I mean that's really what built you know, the initial Donald Trump momentum. It was not remember, you know, it was sort of universally understood the Republican Party at large did not want Donald Trump as their nominate, you know, and just whittled down, whittled down, whittled down. So I think we are witnessing
the wholesale change. I mean, even in terms of donors, small donors have come to begin to dominate a lot of the early fundraising process, which makes candidate's bible. So we are in a transition in our political process in the United States. But I'm not sure anybody knows exactly where it's going to end up, but it certainly is changing rapidly.
Yeah, that's a really, really good point, because that is what's happening. We're going through a transition. We're going to come out the other end with something different. We just don't know what it is yet.
You can trust Gary Dietrich for non partisan political analysis. He's not going to throw you one party spinner or the others, and we really appreciate that. Follow him on Twitter at Gary Dietrich. Hey Gary, always a pleasure, Happy travel, It's good to talk to you.
Thanksuck, your so
Armstrong and Getty