I KNOW JUST HOW REPUBLICANS WILL WORK THE REFS ON PRESIDENTIAL DEBATES, AND THEY'LL BE SUCCESSFUL

We knew this was coming:

The Republican National Committee on Thursday voted unanimously to withdraw from the Commission on Presidential Debates, following through on threats to bar GOP presidential nominees from participating in debates sponsored by the nonprofit organization.

The RNC has accused the commission, which was repeatedly attacked by Donald Trump, of being biased in favor of Democrats. The bipartisan commission, which was established in 1987 and has hosted the debates since 1988, has rejected the charge.

In a statement Thursday, RNC Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel said that her party is “committed to free and fair debates” but that they would be held through other platforms. She did not specify them.

When the RNC made those threats in January, I told you what was coming:

Republicans plan to work on developing a GOP-friendly alternate debate process, which they will then push as fair and balanced, as opposed to the CPD's process, which they'll say favors "the radical-left Democrats." If there's any Democratic resistance to this process, they'll get the message machine cranked up and push a narrative saying that the Democratic nominee is dodging the debates.

And here are the beginnings of that alternate debate process, as reported by The Wall Street Journal:

The RNC plans to form a working group to sanction debates based on input from presidential campaigns and criteria that may include timing, frequency, format, media outlet, candidate qualifications and the “best interest of the Republican Party.”

Most voters aren't paying any attention to this now, and won't pay much attention to the process of organizing the debates even in 2024 -- but, as I said in January, Republicans will make it seem as if Democrats are the ones who refuse to debate if they won't go along with this Republican debate plan, which will lean heavily on moderators who've worked at Fox or are right-leaning podcasters.

Democrats could do right now what I proposed in January:

If I were the Democrats, I'd start pushing back now. I'd declare that Republicans want to destroy an impartial institution because they're afraid of any dialogue with anyone who might disagree with them. I'd say that Republicans want the debates to be like Donald Trump interviews on Fox News -- "Mr. President, why are you so amazing? Is it hard to be an amazing as you are?"

And I think they should say now that they intend to continue working with the Commission on Presidential Debates, because the CPD has been the gold standard since 1987. As I said in January, the Democratic nominee should agree to debate the Republican and also encourage participation by the better-known minor candidates, and should go ahead with the debate, along with just the Green and Libertarian candidates if necessary, if (when) the Republican doesn't show up. Make Trump or DeSantis look like the one who's afraid to debate.

But as I also said in January, Democrats won't do this. Out of fear that they'll look like debate dodgers, they'll allow themselves to be dragged into the GOP's process and ultimately agree to it.

I hope I'm wrong about that.