Donald Trump and the skipped debate

A lot of my international friends are curious about American  politics, in particular Donald Trump.  The most recent question involves his decision to skip the final Republican debate this week, just days before the first state primary election is held – in Iowa.

Part of the scuttlebutt is that Trump is afraid to take questions from a journalist moderating the debate – a journalist known to despise him. And Trump did attempt to have her removed as a moderator, without success. Shortly thereafter he pulled out of the debate.

Opponents and the mainstream news media have – in a rather sexist fashion – tried to position Trump now as “afraid of a girl” and therefore completely unfit to face the likes of Putin or Iran’s Ayatollahs as president.

But if you follow Trump’s tactics, you might see a different strategy at work. He is now so far out ahead of the other candidates – he has  double the support of the next closest candidate – he doesn’t need to participate in another debate. There is only downside for him in the debate, particularly with journalist moderators who are only too happy to try and take him down on live television.

Just for fun, he scheduled an impromptu fundraising event to benefit wounded veterans. He scheduled it for the same time slot as the debate he skipped.  He raised $6 million for wounded veterans that evening and drew two of the other Republican candidates to his event. The debate he skipped had only half the viewership of the last televised debate, when Trump participated.

Pundits here are still debating if it was a smart move for Trump to skip the debate, but he sure had a lot more fun at his event and managed to once again demonstrate an uncanny ability to outwit his competition.