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CNN GOP Debate: Trump, FOX "News" BFFs Again; Ramaswamy Opts Out
Donald Trump & FOX "News" are counter-programming CNN's GOP Debate set for next week while Vivek Ramaswamy is heading to Twitter.
If you hold a debate where most of the candidates running won't actually be on the stage for it, did you really hold a debate? CNN is finding itself having to tackle that very twisted take on the "If a tree falls…" quandary when the new network holds a Republican debate at Drake University in Iowa on Wednesday, January 10th. First up, it was confirmed earlier today that ex-reality show host & multi-impeached ex-POTUS Donald Trump would be getting his own town hall courtesy of FOX "News" that same night – starting at the exact same time, 9 pm ET. That means Sean Hannity gets the boot for the night, with Bret Baier & Martha MacCallum set to be the co-sounding boards that we get to see on our screens so it doesn't look like an obvious jacked-up infomercial for Trump. But that's not the only problem that CNN's debate is facing…
Based on criteria laid down by CNN (candidates "must receive at least 10% in three separate national and/or Iowa polls of Republican caucusgoers or primary voters" and that at least one poll must be an "approved CNN poll of likely Iowa Republican caucusgoers"), it appears that it might just be a two-person debate between former UN ambassador Nikki Haley and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis. Why? Because that criteria makes it tough for former NJ Governor Chris Christie and Vivek Ramaswamy to make the cut – with both having participated in the prior four debates. That – and the fact that he was pretty much everyone's punching bag (and deservedly so) at the last debate – might be one of the reasons why Ramaswamy is spinning it so that it seems like he's the one who broke up with CNN – not vice-versa. Here's a look at the "spin manifesto" that hit Twitter earlier today: