The Republican Party may not like Donald Trump, but they must thank him for one thing; the ratings for their debates are excellent. Without Trump, I don’t believe they would be half as large.

I know that it’s true that the American people are not watching them for substance; there is none. But they are watching them because they like reality shows. They watch them in the same way no one can avoid a serious car accident or a police chase filmed from a helicopter.

When I was much younger, I looked forward to the “Gillette Friday Night Fights;” now it’s the ‘Saturday night fights.’ They are entertaining and disgusting at the same time.

Saturday evening’s ratings for the ‘debate’ on CBS reached 13.51 million viewers. I must admit that news earlier in the day of Justice Antonin Scalia’s death may have aided the numbers, but I’m certain that viewers were expecting an ugly fight; and they got what they asked for.

The exchanges between the candidates became so heated, that at one point CBS moderator John Dickerson said: “Hold on gentlemen, I’m going to turn this car around.”

The 2016 debates have received the highest ratings in history; and the credit, or blame, depending on how you look at it, must be given to Trump. He set the agenda after the first weak effort by FOX Noise. It was obvious from the first question that he was the target. Reince Priebus and Roger Ailes had obviously conspired to derail Trump; the next day Trump’s poll numbers had risen.

Saturday night we watched Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio in a heated exchange. Trump attacked Jeb Bush again and the only reaction by Bush was to defend his brother’s failed and corrupt presidency. And so it went.

After I watched the debacle, I decided that it wasn’t even entertaining. It was an embarrassing revelation of our political system in the 21^st century.

Op-Ed

By James Turnage

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