CNN ‘passed’ its test in that came in the form of the first presidential date in June between President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump. Opinions are divided on whether CNN passed or failed in its interview of Vice President Kamala Harris. (Having helped moderate five GOP presidential primary debates and being the only non-network individual in the debate prep rooms, the grade goes to the network involved, not the host. Debates and big interviews are collective efforts by the organizations hosting them.)
Tuesday ABC is carrying a heavy burden. To my knowledge, the network does not have on its payroll even one individual of significant stature as a host, contributor or executive who is a likely Trump voter. This means in a country that polling portrays as evenly divided between ‘blue’ and ‘red,’ inputs from Trump supporters into the debate preparation process are almost certainly unlikely to occur and thus it is extremely unlikely for the debate to feature questions that such voters believe are relevant and indeed crucial to the choice before the country.
How could ABC get to high ground from which the questions vetted by its debate team and posed by hosts David Muir and Linsey Davis don’t result in a ‘Bud Lite’-level meltdown for its brand and the brands of its parent company Disney? The surest path is to lean heavily on Commander-in-Chief questions. Presidents don’t pass laws. They either sign what Congress sends them or veto such bills. Hypotheticals about whether a candidate would sign this or that hypothetical bill are just hobby horses for ideologues posing the queries.
A president does indisputably have control over America’s national security and the deployment and use of its military. The primary relevant examples of this power relevant are (1) President Biden’s decision to pull American troops out of Afghanistan in the way that he did with the consequences that pullout had and (2) support or refusal of support for Israel in its multi-front war with Hamas, Hezbollah, the Houthis and of course Iran (the head of the snake’ as many supporters of the Jewish State deem the mullahs in Tehran.) A third obvious question in this category is whether former President Trump did the right thing when he ordered Qasem Soleimani killed in Iraq on January 3, 2020.
There are many other extremely relevant questions in this area including whether American military force will be deployed to defend our treaty ally the Philippines in the escalating confrontations with China’s People’s Liberation Army Navy or to defend the island state of Taiwan if it is attacked by China?
Another obvious area is America’s southern border. What both candidates will do about the more than 10 million migrants who crossed into the country without an invitation in the past three-and-a-half years should be on the agenda.
Because the enforcement of Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 rests with the president and his or her executive branch appointees and the Biden/Harris Administration has proposed new, controversial regulations about Title IX, an obvious and pressing question should be whether and why the candidates support biological boys who identify as girls should be allowed to compete in scholastic sports?
While we know the positions of both candidates on abortion, it is not a priority question but as FDA-approved drugs that result in abortion have been much litigated, a question in that area would not be inappropriate but, if asked, should be matched with one about when such drugs become inappropriate to prescribe? Planned Parenthood states on its website that ‘In general, you can have a medication abortion up to 77 days (11 weeks) after the first day of your last period.’ The organization adds ‘If it’s been 78 days or more since the first day of your last period, you can have an in-clinic abortion to end your pregnancy.’ A question about ensuring the interstate availability of this federally approved medication is not particularly germane as the Supreme Court has ruled on a case involving the medication’s current availability but no doubt liberals and Democrats would welcome a question about these drugs and it’s not a wholly hypothetical one. The next president has authority over the Health and Human Services Department which controls the FDA just like they will have authority over the Department of Education which enforces Title IX. These are questions for presidents.
So is the forthcoming response from a new president to the explosion of anti-Semitism on campuses. So is the pace and success of the massive expenditures of the already legislated Green New Deal provisions. So is the future of nuclear energy and permit reform to expedite fossil fuel extraction and export. If a president can unilaterally act in an area, it ought to be on the table.
All of these questions are legitimate. Will any of them get asked? Asking both candidates how they assess each other’s choice of a running mate would be interesting. There are a hundred fair and tough questions to pose.
If ABC produces an equal number of questions that strike both red and blue America as pointed but fair, and as many that are difficult for former President Trump to answer as are posed in that category to Vice President Harris, the network, and by extension Disney, will pass. If not, the whole country and its electorate will have rendered a verdict of ‘fail’ on both by Wednesday.
Hugh Hewitt is host of ‘The Hugh Hewitt Show,’ heard weekday mornings 6am to 9am ET on the Salem Radio Network, and simulcast on Salem News Channel. Hugh wakes up America on over 400 affiliates nationwide, and on all the streaming platforms where SNC can be seen. He is a frequent guest on the Fox News Channel’s news roundtable hosted by Bret Baier weekdays at 6pm ET. A son of Ohio and a graduate of Harvard College and the University of Michigan Law School, Hewitt has been a Professor of Law at Chapman University’s Fowler School of Law since 1996 where he teaches Constitutional Law. Hewitt launched his eponymous radio show from Los Angeles in 1990. Hewitt has frequently appeared on every major national news television network, hosted television shows for PBS and MSNBC, written for every major American paper, has authored a dozen books and moderated a score of Republican candidate debates, most recently the November 2023 Republican presidential debate in Miami and four Republican presidential debates in the 2015-16 cycle. Hewitt focuses his radio show and his column on the Constitution, national security, American politics and the Cleveland Browns and Guardians. Hewitt has interviewed tens of thousands of guests from Democrats Hillary Clinton and John Kerry to Republican Presidents George W. Bush and Donald Trump over his 40 years in broadcast, and this column previews the lead story that will drive his radio/ TV show today.