The second GOP primary debate is still hours away, and front-runner Donald Trump is already complaining that it’s too long and too crowded on stage. In fact, he’s accusing CNN of “milking it” by letting it run for a scheduled three hours.
Will be heading over to the debate soon. Can you believe @CNN is "milking" it for almost 3 hours? Too long, too many people on stage!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 16, 2015
This comes a week after Trump, personally claiming credit for a hike in CNN’s ratings and therefore its ad rates, asked CNN’s Jeff Zucker to donate all of the profits from the debate to charities that help U.S. veterans.
Trump certainly isn’t going out of his way to ingratiate himself to CNN, which we assume is exactly the plan. But is three hours that long?
Lincoln-Douglas debates were each three hours long. 60 minutes for 1 candidate, followed by 90 minute rebuttal, then 30 minute re-rebuttal
— Scott MacFarlane (@MacFarlaneNews) September 16, 2015
We’re thinking less of Lincoln-Douglas and more of this:
Something about the #CNNDebate being 3 hours long makes me think of Gilligan's Island starting out as 3 hour tour pic.twitter.com/crkroQTyhQ
— SalenaZito (@SalenaZito) September 16, 2015
So CNN may stretch debate to 3 hours. And that's without a missing Malaysian airliner. #GOPDebate
— Steve Thomma (@stevethomma) September 16, 2015
WTF? Wednesday's debate is three hours long? Whose lunatic idea was this?
— Kevin Drum (@kdrum) September 16, 2015
https://twitter.com/Duvisited/status/644010925796687872
@kdrum Is there an intermission so we can make more popcorn?
— (((Andrea James))) (@theabjames) September 16, 2015
The GOP debate is three hours long. Chances that I'll be bleeding from the ears by 10:30 … 70%
— Michael Cohen (@speechboy71) September 16, 2015
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