Throughout the start of this scandal ridden (entirely because of Donald Trump... big surprise) 2024 Republican Primary, the lesser known candidates have lambasted the Republican National Committee (RNC) for creating rules designed to keep them off the debate stage. Every election cycle, the threshold is exceedingly difficult to reach. However, with the exception of years where an incumbent is running for re-election and no primary debate is even held, 2024 has proven to have the most exclusive rules of any primary to date. As mentioned in passing in the article about Mike Pence passing the 40,000 donor threshold, the requirements for getting in the 2024 GOP Primary debate are these:

• The candidate must be Constitutionally eligible and appropriately filed with the FEC;
• Prove to the RNC that they have polled above 1% in RNC approved polls since July in either
  • at least three national polls, or
  • two national polls and one poll from each of two of the following states:
    • Iowa
    • New Hampshire
    • Nevada
    • South Carolina;
• Receive donations from at least 40,000 individuals with at least 200 from each of 20 states or territories;
• Sign a pledge by August 21 that they will not participate in any non-RNC debates; and finally,
• Sign a pledge by August 21 that they will support the eventual Republican nominee.

While the 40,000 donations is an enormous and difficult threshold to break through and a major reason why the first GOP debate will not be hosted in two groups of a dozen candidates each (like in 2016), that's not the reason Donald Trump would be disqualified from this debate.

Donald Trump has refused to pledge his support to the eventual nominee if that nominee is not himself. In other words, Donald Trump is willing to let Joe Biden be puppeted around like a titular character from Weekend at Bernie's by leftists so insane that even Vladimir Lenin would blush at the stupidity rather than accept his failure to win the nomination.

I'm amazed more Republicans aren't talking about this. Donald Trump is literally trying to hold the success of the 2024 election hostage, not at all unlike the sadistic Islamofascist terrorists who cut off their victims' heads when ransoms weren't paid in Iraq and Chechnya.

Of the Republicans on the debate stage, I'm not aware of a singe one who would be a bad President. Even Donald Trump proved in his four year Presidency that he's actually a pretty darn good leader of the executive branch, even if he is a lousy human being. The only reason to avoid signing the pledge is that you're more committed to your own ego than rebuilding the United States after years of Bidenflation.

So far, I think every candidate has said they hope Donald Trump is on the debate stage, with Mike Pence's line "I've debated Donald Trump a thousand times, just not in front of the cameras" being my favorite. In addition to having almost eight years since 2016 when some of the most talented politicians in the GOP failed to put a dent in Trump's band wagon of vanity, these candidates all need Trump to not only sign the pledge to support the eventual nominee, but rally his supporters to their campaigns if they win the race (and he's not in jail). Unfortunately, I don't think Donald Trump is selfless enough to do that.