Donald Trumps day trip to an Atlanta jail Thursday will show that the defining moments of the election are more likely to happen in the courtroom than in campaign trail rituals like the presidential debate that he coldshouldered . The idea that the frontrunner for a major party nomination would boycott the first televised clash between candidates then the next day surrender to authorities over his fourth criminal indictment would have been unthinkable at any previous moment in history . At best the debate turned into an audition for second place in a race that on the current trajectory looks likely to catapult Trump to his third consecutive Republican nomination . Other major candidates are struggling to take advantage of Trumps legal quagmire without angering primary voters many of whom see the prosecutions lined up against the former president as politically motivated even if they are open to an alternative nominee . Candidates like Christie who are willing to tell the truth about the expresident. The reaction reflected the fact that taking on Trump over indictments he has skillfully branded as political persecution is hardly a recipe for success in a Republican primary, writes CNN’s Julian Zelizer . Zelizer says. The debate was like a prize fight that lacked the reigning champion in Milwaukee was lacking the ability to take on Trumps . The debate turned to an audition to be an audition . The Republican presidential primary debate turned around an audition, Zelizer writes. The Republican primary race was like an audition in Wisconsin. Zelizer: The debate is like a question of an audition. The race is about an audition between DeSantis and Zelizer said. It was about a debate. It is about a battle between the debate. The Democratic candidate. The GOP candidate. It should be about a winner. The presidential candidate. For the Republican candidate. You need to be
Trump turns the unthinkable into reality in 2024 campaign . Trump turns to the future in a
