Shannon Thaler
Sirius XM podcast host Megyn Kelly will moderate the fourth Republican presidential primary debate on Wednesday alongside NewsNation’s Elizabeth Vargas and Washington Free Beacon editor-in-chief Eliana Johnson.
Per the requirements, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley will be at the event on Wednesday — which will take place at the University of Alabama’s Tuscaloosa campus and will be broadcast by NewsNation at 7 p.m. EST — as they vie for the the second-place spot in the primary race.
Vivek Ramaswamy has narrowly met the RNC’s guidelines after a “nasty” performance at the third GOP debate earlier this month, and former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie is reportedly struggling to meet the polling threshold.
Meanwhile, frontrunner Donald Trump, who’s been absent from all 2024 presidential debates, was originally expected to be a no-show yet again, though Kelly suggested there’s an outside chance he makes an appearance.The Post spoke with Kelly about how she’s hoping the next GOP debate will play out, plus what viewers can expect from her as a moderator.
New York Post: Who do you expect to win the fourth GOP debate?
Megyn Kelly: Well, geez, that’s a tough one. I mean, if it’s anything like the first three, the big winner will likely be Trump unless somebody manages to not to land a knockout blow. You know, Nikki Haley’s gone up a little thanks to her debate performances. Vivek went up after the first one, and then went down solidly after the next two, and DeSantis hasn’t made any moves whatsoever.
So I’d have to say if I were in DeSantis’ camp, I’d be looking to land some blows, and this one could change the trajectory of this race. And if no one does that, then Trump will remain the winner because he’s literally almost 60 points ahead, according to the latest poll.
NYP: Do you think Trump will be a no-show?
Kelly: I keep hope alive because the Secret Service went down there and was checking out the venue, and there’s only one man they would do that for.
But his team is saying no. Look, he’s winning so far by not showing. I’m not exactly sure why he would do anything to change his strategy. Having said all that, I know he loves Alabama. I think he knows the two of us together would get a lot of eyeballs and he enjoys that too.
I understand why he’s not doing it. Just look at the polls. I’m not blind. I see what he sees. However, it is not acceptable that we could wind up electing someone as president or reelecting someone as president who’s never sat for debate. At this rate, if Trump gets it [becomes the Republican presidential nominee], I have very little belief that Joe Biden will debate him. I don’t think Joe Biden is capable of debating him. I think Joe Biden will say I’m not debating an insurrectionist or I’m not debating someone who’s an accused or — perhaps by that point — convicted felon.
NYP: You had a very public spat with Trump after moderating a 2015 Republican primary, but recently had him on “The Megyn Kelly Show.” What is your relationship like with Trump these days?
Kelly: I did an interview with him in September, and it went well, it was great. He he criticized it [the SiriusXM interview] mildly after the fact because I didn’t just kiss his backside.
It didn’t blow up into a thing which I was relieved about, frankly, because I got to ask my tough questions. It was a totally fair interview. And he didn’t launch into the Trump-Kelly drama part two, so I think right now we’re fine. I wouldn’t say I’m his favorite reporter, but I’m not his least favorite, either, which is a good place to be.
NYP: Who are you most excited to hear from on Dec. 6?
Kelly: Chris Christie is on the fence right now about whether he’s going to make it, and there’s a very good chance he will not make it. That would be disappointing for us as debate moderators, because Christie and Vivek have very different views than DeSantis and Hayley on a number of things [such as foreign policy and TikTok].
So I would like them to be there just because they give you an interesting pivot point from which to get debate started. That’s my main goal for this whole thing, debate. They call it a debate for a reason. Many have seemed to forget that in the prior outings.
What I really want to do is to shrink into nothing and get them talking to each other — especially because the RNC forbids them from debating at any point other than on the debate stage during this primary process. We never get to see them going out each other and putting their differences in their own words, and making the case for why they’re right and the other one’s wrong. So the less moderator you can get and the more candidate you can get the better.
NYP: What can viewers expect from the moderators?
The main thing we’re asking as we go through the outline is allowing time for it [debate]. If you pack your rundown it looks like it looked at the last couple of debates. The NBC debate, I think did 45 or 42 [questions]. They never fostered debate and when debate started to break out, they stifled it.
To me, I think if we asked 42 questions, we’ve probably failed. Either somebody showed up asleep, or we just failed because ideally there will be half that because they’re busy fighting with each other on stage or having a robust back and forth and something substantive. We’re looking for opportunities up and down the lineup to make them talk to each other and not us.
This post was originally posted by New York Post
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