Democratic National Committee chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz argued Wednesday that the fifth GOP debate looked like the candidates were running to become the head of an “authoritarian regime” rather than the president of the United States.
Appearing on CNN with host Wolf Blitzer, the DNC chair also tried connecting the whole GOP field to Donald Trump, telling the host that the GOP is trying to do “everything they can” to “worship his agenda.”
“What I was struck by last night was in thinking that if I had been watching and listening to this debate with my eyes closed, you would not have known that these were candidates for the presidency of the United States of America. It was more like a debate about the presidency of some authoritarian regime.”
“Each and every one of these candidates has taken Donald Trump’s playbook and tried to make off with it and do everything they can to emulate it and worship his agenda and his proposals and make sure that they can earn the support of his supporters anticipate, probably incorrectly, that eventually he is going to nosedive,” she said.
The Florida congresswoman also argued that none of the GOP candidates are much different from President Barack Obama on foreign policy and, specifically, defeating the Islamic State. Wasserman Schultz made the comment after Blitzer pointed out that Sen. Lindsey Graham wants to send ground forces into the region and that Obama is opposed to a no-fly-zone in Syria.
Later on, Wasserman Schultz got testy with Blitzer, who moderated Tuesday night’s debate, when asked if the Democrats planned on adding debates to the “limited number” already on the calendar.
“We have a combination of candidate forums and debates, and we are continuing to add candidate forums to our schedule, and we have our six debates that are scheduled already,” she said.
“So no more debates, but just candidate forums, where individuals are interviewed one-on-one, but there’s no real debate between the candidates,” Blitzer said. “Are you going to stick with that format?”
“We’re giving them a variety of opportunities to see our candidates while preserving their ability to be out on the campaign trail, so that they can get up close and personal with voters,” Wasserman Schultz said.
