Charlie Sykes: Vacuous GOP debate revealed truth behind 'completely powerless' RNC

On Wednesday night, November 8, the Republican National Committee (RNC) held its third 2024 GOP presidential debate. Frontrunner Donald Trump, conspicuously absent, held an event of his own while five of his rivals traded barbs with one another: former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, businessman Vivek Ramaswamy, and Sen. Tim Scott (R-South Carolina).

Christie, true to form, was the most biting in his criticism of Trump. But on the whole, the candidates attacked one another much more vehemently than they attacked Trump.

Never Trump conservative Charlie Sykes offered some scathing analysis of the debate during a Thursday morning, November 9 appearance on MSNBC's "Morning Joe." Sykes not only slammed the debate as vacuous and short on substance — he also argued that it showed how "powerless" the RNC is against Trump.

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Sykes told host Mika Brzezinski, "The RNC, basically, is completely powerless. So, what you saw was a group of folks that are running against Donald Trump but have not yet figured out yet how to do it, which is really remarkable when you consider all of the things that are on the plate for Donald Trump."

The conservative pundit elaborated, "This is a man who has been found liable for rape. This is a man who is facing charges for violating the Espionage Act, who tried to overthrow the government — who is sitting in a New York courtroom because his entire business empire is based on fraud. And yet, these Republican candidates cannot figure out how to run against him. So, it's an extraordinary moment."

Sykes argued that Trump's GOP rivals were merely "going through the motions of the debate as if it was going to make a difference."

"The only thing that's at stake now is who is going to be in second place, who will be the last person standing before Donald Trump clenches this nomination," the conservative lamented. "It is just an amazing moment that Donald Trump has made the calculation that he…. doesn't need to be on the (debate) stage."

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