Fox Business anchor Neil Cavuto, who will co-moderate Tuesday’s Republican presidential debate, anticipates that the candidates currently most in danger of fading into obscurity will be the ones most likely to lash out at the news media during the evening’s event.
In a recent interview with Fox 6 of Milwaukee, Wis., Cavuto referred to the last debate, which was hosted by CNBC and largely panned by conservatives and media critics who said the moderators were ineffective and lost control of the forum.
“I think what happens is they can veer out of control sometimes when the tone is misinterpreted, whether deliberate or not,” Cavuto said. “I think some candidates can seize on it to deflect questions as well.”
The CNBC debate was marked by several moments where the candidates on stage struck back at the moderators for what they said were unfair or overtly hostile questions.
“It’s not a very nice question, the way you say that,” Trump began his first answer of that debate, after he was asked if he was running “a comic book version” of a campaign.
Cavuto said it was likely that more incidents like that would play out for the Fox Business debate because candidates who are struggling to maintain relevance would see it as an easy applause line.
“I think that we’re at the point as the closer we get to the Iowa caucuses where a lot of people will start turning on the questioner, even if it was Mother Teresa asking the questions,” Cavuto told Fox 6. “So, I do think there’s a predisposition to be agitated. A lot of peole are getting nervous. A lot of the candidates are running out of cash. A lot of them are seeing their support decline and they’ll strike out.”
Cavuto didn’t specify which candidates were “nervous” but several reports since the last debate have suggested that the campaigns of Jeb Bush and Rand Paul, both polling in the single digits, are failing to gain traction and maintain donor support.
“I think you can get more places asking firm but tough questions without being weird about them and we’re not going to be weird about them,” Cavuto said.
The Fox Business debate takes place at 9 p.m. ET in Milwaukee, Wis.
