Morning Glory: ABC News and its pass/fail test

CNN “passed” its test as it aired the first presidential date between President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump in June. Opinion is divided on whether CNN passed or failed its interview Vice President Kamala Harris(Having helped moderate five Republican presidential primary debates and being the only non-network person in the debate prep rooms, this grade goes not to the host, but to the network involved. Debates and major interviews are collective efforts by the organizations that hold them.)

ABC is shouldering the heavy burden on Tuesday. To my knowledge, the network does not have a single person of significant stature as a host, contributor, or executive who is a potential Trump voter. This means that in a country that polling shows to be evenly divided between “blue” and “red,” the debate preparation process is almost certainly unlikely to have had input from Trump supporters and thus the debate is much less likely to include questions that such voters feel are relevant and genuinely important to the election facing the country.

How can ABC reach a higher level where the questions probingly posed by its debate team and asked by hosts David Muir and Linsey Davis do not result in “Bud Light”-level downturns for its brand and the brands of its parent company Disney? The surest path is to go heavy on the commander-in-chief questions. Presidents do not pass laws. They either sign bills sent to them by Congress or veto such bills. Hypotheticals about whether a candidate would sign this or that hypothetical bill are mere hobby horses for the question-asking think tanks.

The president has unquestionable control over America’s national security and the deployment and use of its military. The primary relevant examples of when this power is relevant are (1) President Biden’s decision to withdraw American troops from Afghanistan in the way he did and the consequences of this withdrawal and (2) supporting or refusing to support Israel in its multi-front war with Hamas, Hezbollah, the Houthis, and of course Iran (the “head of the snake” as many supporters of the Jewish state consider the mullahs in Tehran). The third obvious question in this category is whether former president trump He did the right thing by ordering the killing of Qassem Soleimani in Iraq on January 3, 2020.

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There are many other highly relevant questions in the region, including whether U.S. military forces will be deployed to defend our treaty ally, the Philippines, in a growing confrontation with China’s People’s Liberation Army Navy, or to defend the island state of Taiwan if it is attacked by China?

Another obvious area is the US southern border. What both candidates will do about the more than 10 million immigrants who have entered the country without an invitation in the past three and a half years should also be on the agenda.

Trump aides offer debate strategy to defeat Harris

Because enforcement of Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 rests in the hands of the president and his executive branch appointees, and the Biden/Harris administration has proposed new, controversial regulations regarding Title IX, an obvious and pressing question should be whether and why the candidates support that biological boys who identify as girls should be allowed to compete in academic sports?

While we know both candidates’ positions on abortion, this is not a priority question, but since FDA-approved medications cause abortions, a question in this area would not be inappropriate, but if asked, it should be paired with a question about when do such medications become inappropriate to prescribe? Planned Parenthood states on its website that “In general, you can get a medication abortion up to 77 days (11 weeks) after the first day of your last menstrual period.” The organization further states “If it has been 78 days or longer since the first day of your last menstrual period, you can get an in-clinic abortion to end your pregnancy.” A question about ensuring interstate availability of this federally approved drug is not particularly relevant since the Supreme Court has ruled on a case involving the current availability of the drug, but there is no doubt that liberals and Democrats would welcome a question about these drugs and it is not entirely hypothetical. The next president will have power over the Department of Health and Human Services, which regulates the FDA, just as he will have power over the Department of Education, which enforces Title IX. These are questions for presidents.

So is the new president’s upcoming response to the explosion of anti-Semitism on campuses. So is the pace and success of the massive spending of Green New Deal provisions already enacted into law. So is the future of nuclear power and permit reform to accelerate fossil fuel extraction and export. If a president can take unilateral action in an area, it should be put up for discussion.

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These are all legitimate questions. Will any of them be asked? It would be interesting to ask both candidates how they evaluate each other’s running mate choices. There are a hundred fair and tough questions to ask.

If ABC generates The number of questions asked fairly and that affect both red and blue America equally, and that are difficult for former President Trump to answer, and the number of questions asked of Vice President Harris in the same category, will pass both networks, and by extension Disney. If they don’t, the entire country and its voters will declare both “failed” by Wednesday.

Hugh Hewitt is the host of “The Hugh Hewitt Show,” heard weekdays from 6 a.m. to 9 a.m. ET on the Salem Radio Network, and simulcast on the Salem News Channel. Hugh wakes America up on more than 400 affiliates nationwide and all streaming platforms where SNC can be seen. He is a frequent guest on Fox News Channel’s News Roundtable, hosted by Bret Baier weekdays at 6 p.m. ET. A son of Ohio and a graduate of Harvard College and the University of Michigan Law School, Hewitt has been a professor of law at Chapman University’s Fowler School of Law since 1996, where he teaches constitutional law. Hewitt began his eponymous radio show from Los Angeles in 1990. Hewitt has frequently appeared on every major national news television network, hosted television shows for PBS and MSNBC, written for every major U.S. newspaper, has written a dozen books and moderated numerous Republican candidates’ debates, most recently the November 2023 Republican presidential debate in Miami and four Republican presidential debates in the 2015-16 cycle. Hewitt focuses his radio show and his column on the Constitution, national security, American politics and the Cleveland Browns and the Guardian. Hewitt has interviewed thousands of guests during his 40 years on the air, from Democrats Hillary Clinton and John Kerry to Republican Presidents George W. Bush and Donald Trump, and this column previews the main story that will drive his radio/TV show today.

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