The RNC held its final formal presidential primary debate last week. Did this election cycle put a stake through the heart of the primary-debate format? Did they end up mattering at all? And do they encourage ever-more authoritarian candidates?
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Welcome back to our VIP video series “The Amiable Skeptics,” featuring my friend Adam Baldwin! Adam is well-known for his long and storied Hollywood career, starting with My Bodyguard, and especially for his roles in Full Metal Jacket, Firefly, its film sequel Serenity, Chuck, and The Last Ship.
Adam watched the debate, which I missed due to other commitments, and he relates his analysis — which is that it didn’t matter much at all. Both of us express concern that Republican candidates seem too enamored of executive power rather than committed to reforming it. Donald Trump has been joking about being a dictator for a day, but every candidate in both parties now makes promises to rule by EO diktat on Day One. Ron DeSantis did cite Calvin Coolidge as one of his models for the presidency, and perhaps that’s a sign of hope, Adam suggests.
As of now, it looks as though Trump will win the GOP nomination. What happens then? Adam and I try to game it out in the latter half of the episode.
Be sure to watch it all, and extend the conversation in the comments!