On December 27, 2011, if it isn’t cancelled for lack of participants, Donald Trump is scheduled to moderate the Newsmax ION Television Republican Presidential Debate in De Moines, Iowa. The jury is out on whether Trump’s P.T. Barnum approach to the 2012 presidential election ultimately will help or hurt Republicans. What’s clear is Trump and P.T. Barnum have a lot in common; and “The Donald’s” approach to the upcoming presidential election is right in tune with the three-ring circus Barnum invented and American presidential elections have become.

Phineas Taylor Barnum (1810-1891) was the first American show-business millionaire. He also was a politician, author, publisher, and philanthropist; but above all, he was a showman. Barnum, an abolitionist, started out as a Democrat (1824-1854) and became a Republican (1854-1891). He began his career as a small business owner and served in the Connecticut legislature before he moved to New York, embarked on his entertainment career, and became a wealthy man.

Barnum was multitasker, involving himself in various activities simultaneously. He organized flower shows, beauty contests, dog shows, poultry and baby contests; and he wrote books, including his autobiography. He invested in real estate and what he called “profitable philanthropy.” He didn’t begin his circus, however, until he was 61.

Donald Trump is our modern-day P.T. Barnum. He engages in profitable philanthropy; and not only is he a business tycoon and real estate mogul, but he is active in the entertainment industry and politics. He owns and operates the Miss Universe Organization. He hosts The Apprentice reality show on NBC television. He has hosted WrestleMania events at Trump Plaza. He has been both a Democrat and a Republican; and he toys with the idea of running for president.

Trump, an outspoken critic of President Obama, stopped short of declaring his own candidacy in the fall, but he says if Republicans don’t pick the right nominee, he will run as a third-party candidate. One after another, Republican candidates and non-candidates have made the pilgrimage to New York to see and be seen with Trump and seek his endorsement.

Whether or not to participate in the December 27th debate, however, has presented Republican candidates with a dilemma. Republican and Democratic pundits argue that a Trump-moderated debate demeans the candidates. Others point out that, besides saying he may become a candidate, Trump has indicated he will endorse one of the candidates sometime following the debate as if it were another episode of The Apprentice, making the debate look more like a reality show. Certainly, all this is a bit strange and opens the candidates to ridicule and criticism by Democrats and the mainstream media.

Only Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum have said they will participate in Trump’s debate, which brings into question whether the debate will even take place. Reports say Trump is considering canceling it, although he may go ahead with just Gingrich and Santorum.

If the debate takes place, given Newt Gingrich’s growing lead in the polls and his winning performance in ABC's December 10 debate, however, can Mitt Romney, Michele Bachmann, Rick Perry, and Jon Huntsman afford to forgo another opportunity, a week before the January 3, 2012, Iowa caucuses, to get the better of Gingrich?

The only other debate between now and then is the Fox News debate on December 15; and it promises to be more of the same. What the Trump debate offers is an opportunity to score points with caucus goers by standing up to Trump in front of millions of people, when he asks questions intended to stump the candidates and make him look good.

As for demeaning themselves in a P.T Barnum-style event, presidential candidates in America long ago crossed the threshold of becoming a performers in a three-ring circus. There’s far more entertainment in politics than there is politics in entertainment.

As for Trumps threat to run as a third party candidate, that ruse is as phony as his previous talk about running as a Republican. Trump stands next to no chance of winning the 2012 election as a third-party candidate. He would only reassure the reelection of Barack Obama; and he knows what happens to failed third party candidates. Like old soldiers, they just fade away.

No, ladies and gentlemen, children of all ages, a Trump moderated debate, if it takes place, won’t demean the candidates any more than Democrats and the mainstream media do every day or than the political circus that is American presidential politics. How voters view the candidates is up to the candidates and how well they perform. A trump-moderated debate not only would be entertaining, but it would provide the candidates trailing in Iowa one more opportunity to turn their poll numbers around.

Post a comment on this column at Ed's Blog