As with the second debate, Newsmax’s enthusiasm level for the third Republican presidential debate on Nov. 8 was subdued, largely because Donald Trump refused to take part and wasn’t doing much in the way of counterprogramming. It published a wire article previewing the debate, then published a couple more wire articles along with its original content about the debate itself:
- Ramaswamy Rips RNC’s McDaniel for GOP Losses, Calls on Her to Resign
- Ramaswamy: DeSantis, Haley ‘Dick Cheney in Three-Inch Heels’ (wire article)
- Republican Candidates Talk Social Security Cuts (wire article)
- Haley Only One to Bring Up Tax Cuts to Help Economy
- At Debate, All GOP Candidates Back Israel in War
- Haley to Ramaswamy: ‘You’re Just Scum’
In a post-debate analysis, John Gizzi made sure to inject Newsmax’s preferred (and no-show) candidate into the mix:
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and former U.N. ambassador Nikki Haley were the big winners of the third Republican presidential debate, but there was still considerable force felt on the part of the candidate who wasn’t there Wednesday evening — former President Donald Trump.
That was the opinion of a group of political experts who spoke to Newsmax shortly after the showdown between the five contenders who qualified for the GOP forum.
[…]The political muscle of Trump was something to which Newsmax experts repeatedly returned to.
“Let’s be clear: former President Trump remains the party’s overwhelming favorite,” said Rotterman. “And as long as that’s the case, all the candidates on stage were just auditioning for backup quarterback.”
Newsmax gave McDaniel space to respond to Ramaswamy’s attacks in a Nov. 9 article by Sandy Fitzgerald:
Republican National Committee Chair Ronna McDaniel, dismissing calls from presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy during Thursday night’s RNC debate for her resignation, said the GOP must stop “infighting” as it is “not helping” the party.
“This Republican-on-Republican infighting — I’m not running for president so I’m not in this primary — isn’t helping our party,” McDaniel told CNN after the debate Thursday night, The Hill reported.
“We lost races in 2022 because of vitriol within our party,” she added. “We need every Republican and then some to win elections. And the Republican voters want to hear us talk about the border, fentanyl, Israel, our kids, crime, inflation, and they want to see us take on Joe Biden.”
Newsmax also made sure to mock the debate’s ratings in a Nov. 9 article by Jim Thomas:
The third Republican presidential primary debate, hosted by NBC News, witnessed a dramatic viewership decline with just over 6 million viewers tuning in, marking the lowest audience turnout of the current campaign season and a 45% drop in viewers from the first debate.
The drop in Wednesday’s debate was blamed on RNC chair Ronna McDaniel, with GOP presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy criticizing her handling of the forums and calling for her to resign.
[…]Wednesday night’s audience figure was lower than the 9 million viewers who tuned in for the second GOP presidential primary debate in September, which was broadcast on Fox Business and Fox News.
The third GOP debate was also significantly lower than the nearly 12.8 million who watched the inaugural debate on Fox News back in August — as that event saw a 50% decline in ratings from the first debate of the 2016 campaign.
With then-candidate Trump attending, the Fox News 2015 prime-time GOP debate drew a record 24 million viewers.
Thomas claimed that the fourth debate was “shifting from mainstream media to liberal cable.” In fact, the lead channel airing it, NewsNation, is a right-leaning network built and staffed in part by former Fox News personalities and executives and regularly fawned over by Newsmax’s right-wing friends at the Media Research Center.