Trump to Moderate GOP Debate
Conservative outlet taps the NBC reality star to ask the questions in Des Moines.
| Posted Friday, Dec. 2, 2011, at 1:52 PM
Photograph by Neilson Barnard/Getty Images.
This should spice up the GOP presidential debate cycle: Conservative media outlet Newsmax has tapped Donald Trump to moderate a Des Moines debate later this month, the New York Times reports.
"Our readers and the grass roots really love Trump," Christopher Ruddy, chief executive of Newsmax Media, told the paper. "They may not agree with him on everything, but they don’t see him as owned by the Washington establishment, the media establishment."
Trump, of course, stole headlines earlier this year with his flirtation with launching his own bid for the Republican nomination. Among his high/lowlights were demanding to see President Obama's birth certificate and then, after the White House complied, pivoting to ask for the president to turn over his college transcripts.
He has also met with a number of the Republicans who actually jumped in the nominating race, including Mitt Romney, Rick Perry and Michele Bachmann.
The debate is set for Dec. 27.
