RNC, citing CNBC’s “bad faith” debate, suspends ties to NBC for future debates

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Reince Priebus delivered a letter to NBC earlier today informing them that they are suspending their partnership for their February 26th debate in Houston, citing this past week’s debate that the party conducted with CNBC. The campaign managers for both Ben Carson and Donald Trump, the two frontrunners, have already threatened to organize a revolt and stage their own debates without the RNC’s input if action isn’t taken to negotiate more favorable terms, and Priebus’s letter appears to be his first act of capitulation to their demands.

As Priebus wrote:

Third GOP debate, screenshot via YouTube

The RNC’s sole role in the primary debate process is to ensure that our candidates are given a full and fair opportunity to lay out their vision for America’s future. We simply cannot continue with NBC without full consultation with our campaigns.

The CNBC network is one of your media properties, and its handling of the debate was conducted in bad faith. We understand that NBC does not exercise full editorial control over CNBC’s journalistic approach. However, the network is an arm of your organization, and we need to ensure there is not a repeat performance.

For starters, the debate process does not exist for the sole purpose of giving candidates a chance to “lay out their vision for America’s future.” That’s a part of the process, yes, but the American people also care whether their elected officials are flagrant liars and actual snake-oil salesmen. Additionally, if a candidate’s “vision for the future of America” includes a tax plan that every independent analysis says will blow a fourteen-digit hole in the budget, that’s something worth asking about, too.

If the Republican Party wants to buy a two or three-hour long advertisement for its own party, I’m sure NBC can name a price. But if they want to hold an actual debate, they at least have to hold out the possibility that their candidates are going to come out on the other wide worse for wear. Given their slate of positively ridiculous candidates, that possibility is greater now than it was in previous years.

The problem here is that for all of the good reasons NBC has for telling Priebus exactly where to go with his letter, they’ve got a couple million reasons to cave. Every primary debate thus far — both for Democrats and Republicans — has shattered previous viewership records. So while it flies in the face of everything we understand to be the case when it comes to the media’s relationship with political parties, and moderators having free reign to ask questions of candidates as they see fit, chances are we’ll see NBC make some concessions to the Republicans and their candidates in order to allow the debate to proceed as planned.

For their part, NBC has already released a brief statement responding to Priebus’s letter, reading, “This is a disappointing development. However, along with our debate broadcast partners at Telemundo we will work in good faith to resolve this matter with the Republican Party.”

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