South Florida Tea Party Leader Says Donald Trump Is His "First Choice" to Moderate Debate

The GOP debate sponsored by the West Palm Beach-based Newsmax and moderated by Donald Trump is having some difficulties.It has two confirmed attendees -- former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and former Sen. Rick Santorum -- while four have declined, and Rep. Michele Bachmann hasn't responded.Aside from the "what the hell...

By Matthew Hendley

December 8, 2011

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The GOP debate sponsored by the West Palm Beach-based Newsmax and moderated by Donald Trump is having some difficulties.

It has two confirmed attendees -- former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and former Sen. Rick Santorum -- while four have declined, and Rep. Michele Bachmann hasn't responded.

Aside from the "what the hell is Newsmax?" angle and the likelihood of anything run by Donald Trump turning into a circus, there are a few (very few) people who endorse the debate -- one of them being Everett Wilkinson of the South Florida Tea Party.

The whole thing just looks like a setup to promote Gingrich -- consider the fact that half of Newsmax's website homepage is dedicated to Gingrich news, and the site is littered with Gingrich ads -- and apparently Wilkinson's onboard with that.

Wilkinson joins two other irrelevant GOP figures -- Sarah Palin and Grover Norquist -- who now have articles dedicated solely to their support of the debate.

Among other things, Wilkinson appears to blame the debate's apparent failure on "biased news agencies and moderators" and goes on to say that Trump would be his "first choice" of debate moderators.

Really?

Check out Wilkinson's statement, which was posted in full on Newsmax, which seems pretty damned suspect:

Any candidate that fails to go the Newsmax-ION Presidential Debate eliminates themselves as a 'presidential candidate' from the tea party and conservatives. I am tired of liberal biased news agencies and moderators.

Last November, the taxpayers voted for less government and change. The recent presidential debates have lacked the spirit of America. This debate is set up at a crucial time for Americans to pick the top office holder.

Donald Trump would be my first choice of moderator, because he is a proven leader in the business world with a reputation of getting the job done. Most of the past moderators didn't have any business success remotely to Trump. The winner of this debate will win the GOP nomination.

If this all doesn't look like a drawn-out, highly publicized endorsement of Gingrich, we don't know what does.

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