The Republican National Committee has booted ‘the National Review’ from co-hosting their upcoming debate after they printed a slew of articles dedicated to taking down the Donald.
The failing @NRO National Review Magazine has just been informed by the Republican National Committee that they cannot participate in debate
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 22, 2016
Here’s their rationale:
The message from the RNC seems clear enough: media outlets that want to engage as debate hosts have to remain uncommitted in the race. “A debate moderator can’t have a predisposition,” RNC spokesperson Sean Spicer said as he confirmed that National Review had been disinvited from the February 25th debate in Houston after publishing its “Against Trump” issue yesterday…
Here’s the response from NR’s publisher:
The publisher of the conservative National Review suggested on Thursday that the Republican National Committee is “depriving” its party by disinviting the magazine from hosting a debate because of an anti-Donald Trump symposium it published.
National Review publisher Jack Fowler told BuzzFeed News in an email Thursday night that he was not surprised that the RNC had rescinded its invitation to the magazine to co-host a GOP debate next month. “That said I would argue that the RNC should have waited for someone to complain, if someone was going to,” Fowler said. “The presumption is that our moderator / participant would not have asked an intelligent / fair question.”
“But maybe the RNC based the decision on something along the lines of — you guys just crossed a line (for a debate participant). I’d like to see their statement, if / when it comes out,” Fowler said. “After all, it’s their party and they can deprive [it] if they want to.”
I really think this is a bad development, but I understand why they think it’s necessary. National Review has long been a haven and inspiration for the conservative movement, to cut it out of a debate for the GOP primary seems like a turning away from our principles and traditional right-wing institutions. But then that’s what Trump is all about…