Fox News star Dana Perino is at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library & Museum in Simi Valley, California, where she’s preparing to moderate the second Republican presidential primary debate on Wednesday, September 27 on FOX.
[Note: Six of the seven remaining candidates in the race will participate (excluding Donald Trump): Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley, former Vice President Mike Pence, former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, investor Vivek Ramaswamy, and South Carolina Senator Tim Scott.]
During the first GOP primary debate in Milwaukee, one of the challenges moderators faced was keeping the candidates “reined in.” Asked if she has a strategy for that, Perino replied: “Well, I think they should have a strategy for that. If they’re all talking over one another, no one is going to hear what they have to say.”
Perino added that “the rules will be made clear to the audience, and people like people who follow rules and standards, even dress codes.”
The notion that “people like people who follow rules” is hard to square with the fact that the frontrunner in the Republican primary race has decided not to follow protocol and debate his fellow candidates, and is lionized by the MAGA faithful as a “rule breaker” — Time magazine even produced a special issue called Trump: The Rise of a Rule Breaker. (There is also the fact that the former President is facing 91 criminal charges.)
Perino’s mention of “dress codes” is an obvious dig at the new lenient U.S. Senate dress code changed by Democratic majority leader Chuck Schumer, evidently for the benefit of casual dresser Senator John Fetterman (D-Pa).
WATCH: Co-moderator of the second GOP primary debate @DanaPerino joined the show to break down what to look forward to during Wednesdays debate. Tune in! #FoxNewsSunday pic.twitter.com/YfaiaVL29i
— Fox News Sunday (@FoxNewsSunday) September 24, 2023
Perino, Stuart Varney, and Ilia Calderon will moderate the second GOP primary debate on Wednesday, September 27 on FOX.
