Six Questions GOP Candidates Should Ask NBC Moderators at This Week’s Debate

[Valin]

AMAC

Aaron Flanigan

November 4, 2023

As the third Republican presidential primary debate in Miami approaches this Wednesday, conservative groups are increasingly sounding the alarm about the long-established anti-conservative biases at the debate’s host network, NBC News—and urging the debate’s moderators, Lester Holt and Kristen Welker, to remember that they are in fact moderators—not participants—in the debate.

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Here are five questions candidates should ask network moderators at this Wednesday’s debate.

1. Before I answer your question, Mr. Holt, let me ask a question of you. What do you and your network’s corporate leadership say to the millions of voters watching this debate who believe that NBC is a singularly left-wing organization committed to advancing the agenda of the Democrat Party and progressive activist class while turning virtually every political story into an attack on Republican candidates or conservative views? What do you say to conservatives who view you as far more powerful than the Democrat Party and think of you as the real opposition party?

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2. Ms. Welker, before I answer your question, let me ask you this question. Legal scholar Jonathan Turley has stated that a public official using his office to enrich family members violates several federal criminal statutes. Furthermore, there are now bank records confirming that Joe Biden received personal checks from his brother and sister-in-law, paid with money they laundered from Communist China. When is NBC planning to tell viewers about Biden’s potential criminality and show them pictures of the checks made out to him by his family members?

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3. Before I answer your question, Mr. Holt, let me ask you this: why has NBC failed to run a story on the Biden DOJ’s political persecution of whistleblowers in the Hunter Biden cases?

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4. Ms. Welker, before I answer your question, I would like to offer you the chance to take this moment to apologize to the American people on behalf of NBC News for more than two years propagating the lie dreamt up by Hillary Clinton and her lawyers that Donald Trump was a Russian operative, and then cover up the Hunter Biden “Laptop from Hell” story that is now precipitating what could be the worst public corruption scandal in U.S. history. Will you take me up on my offer?

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5. Mr. Holt, before I give you an answer, let me give you the opportunity to address this. In 2020, the New York Post reported that former NBC personality Chuck Todd (who had no experience as a reporter prior to his post with NBC, and one time worked for far-left Senator Tom Harkin) was once the landlord of former presidential candidate Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) with significant financial transactions. Todd has also been the subject of other conflicts of interest—yet, NBC has failed to disclose them. Do you think NBC’s refusal to disclose these relationships was appropriate, and will you ask NBC’s general counsel to conduct an investigation?

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6. Ms. Welker, before I answer that question, let me ask you about two incidents that some people believe began your network’s decline in ethical journalism. As you know, NBC was rocked by the Brian Williams scandal—and perhaps even more telling is your network’s treatment of Lisa Myers, who left NBC on account of its refusal to honestly report on Obamacare when she discovered the Obama administration was deliberately lying to the American people about its content and promises. Do you feel these incidents marked the beginning of what has become a culture of unethical behavior at NBC News?

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An October 2023 Gallup poll found that Americans’ trust in the media has plummeted to its lowest on record. And it’s no wonder why. Until NBC executives and personalities can acknowledge their complicity in this waning trust, our nation’s much-needed media reform will remain an impossibility.

For the sake of honor, honesty, and transparency in our media, every American of good will should hope that the media can reckon with these mistakes—and there could be no better opportunity than this Wednesday’s debate.

Aaron Flanigan is the pen name of a writer in Washington, D.C.