By Gabriel Rubin
WASHINGTON – A televised argument between current and former Treasury Secretaries Janet Yellen and Steven Mnuchin would not draw many viewers. Ditto a conversation between top regulators or diplomats.
But the American, and global, public would be better served hearing from these top advisors rather than the debate happening between President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump Thursday evening. Presidential consiglieri matter more than ever.
Debates are often about showmanship, with the “winner” being the candidate who comes across more likeable rather than intelligent. Both Biden and Trump have had some success channelling the drama of major televised events: Trump’s 2016 debate performances against Hillary Clinton paralyzed moderators and destabilized the usually formal atmosphere, a boon for his image as a disrupter. Biden parried with congressional Republicans during his 2023 State of the Union address, daring them to commit to preserving entitlement spending.
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Political theatre has its place — the problem is that it has completely crowded out policy. The Republican Party did not produce a new platform in 2020, and there are doubts it will be able to do so this year, either. Trump has floated seemingly major policy proposals, like replacing the federal tax system with tariffs, but has not released specific details about how they would work.
Outside advisors are presenting him with detailed plans – including on how to conclude the war in Ukraine – only to have campaign spokespeople say that the reported schemes have no official weight. Though the Biden administration has made substantial changes in myriad areas of policy, his campaign website has no information on the policies he plans to pursue in a second term, other than promising to “finish the job.”
A debate among top advisors would be more constructive. They could drill down on specifics, and would also give the electorate a more accurate view of how a presidential administration functions. A president has hundreds of high-level appointees and aides around them, formulating and executing the agenda.
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Investors care about the makeup of a corporate board and the rest of the C-suite in addition to the CEO. And they regularly elect them in and out of their seats. Voters only cast ballots for the president – advisors are appointed not elected. But that means hearing viewpoints ahead of time is even more important.
Pining for the return of hours-long debates where seasoned orators quote Thomas Jefferson and James Madison, as Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas did in their famed 1858 bouts, is anachronistic and futile. But a discussion of how presidential candidates actually plan to govern is the low bar that Thursday’s debate will likely fail to clear. For that, Americans need to hear from the people who will actually be running the show come January 2025. (Reuters Breakingviews)
