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The final GOP primary debate ahead of the Iowa caucuses is set to air on CNN Wednesday evening. 

The showdown, moderated by Jake Tapper and Dana Bash, will feature Ron DeSantis and Nikki Haley duking it out as they try to make their cases to Iowa voters with just days to go before the nation's first presidential nominating contest.

Donald Trump, the only other candidate who met the requirements to qualify, once again declined to participate in a Republican debate — despite being called out by both the DeSantis and Haley campaigns. Instead, he will counter program the duel with a Fox News-hosted town hall.

Before the high-stakes debate gets underway, we were fortunate to steal a few moments from Bash and Tapper for a Q&A. Below are our questions and their answers presented unedited.

What is the topic of discussion that you most want to focus on?

BASH: Big picture — there are obvious areas that not only are important to GOP voters — Iowa caucus goers in particular — but also illustrate the issue and philosophical debate not only between these candidates but also inside the Republican Party right now.

TAPPER: There are obviously an infinite number of good, challenging questions that can be posed to the candidates, but we’re focused on that overlap in the Venn diagram of topics of concern to Republican primary and caucus voters, and areas where there are real disagreements between Governors DeSantis and Haley. 

Ron DeSantis has a long history mocking and attacking the press as dishonest. What do you make of his recent willingness to appear on mainstream networks?

BASH: Governor DeSantis, like many candidates in both parties before him, got to the point where he realized that in order to stay viable, he needed to break out of the echo chamber that had worked for him in a different, smaller arena. And in participating in more events, Governor DeSantis and his team have seen that he has benefited in many ways, not the least of which is that he has been able to become more agile as a candidate.

TAPPER: Governor DeSantis has expressed frustration that conservative media haven’t been honest brokers throughout this process. "…all these conservative radio guys and Fox News people like, you know, they will like never criticize (Trump) because they’re so concerned that someone may yell at them," he recently said. I’m glad he’s done interviews and town halls with other news media such as CNN and we look forward to more. 

What would you say to cynics who might say that the GOP debate matters little given that the frontrunner, Donald Trump, still has a firm grip on the Republican Party?

BASH: The only thing we know is that we don’t have all the answers. The voters are the ones with the answers. Until their voices are heard, it is up to us in the media to provide platforms for candidates who qualify to debate and do our best to illuminate where they stand on issues that matter most to voters.

TAPPER: It’s not the same thing, but I have lived through many election cycles where candidates were told there was no use challenging the frontrunner, such as in 2008 Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. It’s all been polling and pundits until now. The voters get to have their say, and we will have much more of a feel for the reality of this after South Carolina. 

Trump will be counter programming the debate by participating in a town hall on Fox News. What do you make of that?

BASH: It’s classic Donald Trump. He doesn't want to be on the big stage, so he creates his own stage. It’s not a surprise.

TAPPER: This is what former Fox contributor Bernard Goldberg has said about it: "Trump, who refuses to debate his Republican competitors, insisted that it be at the same time as the GOP primary debate on CNN, and Fox caved to the demand. The issue isn't whether it's good political strategy for Trump. It is. The issue is whether the journalism wing of Fox (the commentary side is beyond hope) should be catering to that political strategy.... Again, hosting a Trump town hall isn't the problem. Caving to Trump's demand to hold/air it at the exact same time as a televised debate between his primary opponents (who he refuses to debate), to accommodate him politically, is the issue. An example of ratings > journalism."

If viewers take away one thing from the debate, what would you like that to be?

BASH: If viewers come away feeling smarter about the positions these top performing candidates take, where they differ and what kind of leaders they are - then we will have done our jobs.

TAPPER: I hope viewers come away from the debate, knowing more about where the candidates stand on issues, and knowing more about where they disagree.

———  BELOW THE FOLD  ———

ESPN Sidelines Rodgers: It's been a difficult day for fans of "Aaron Rodgers Tuesdays" on Pat McAfee's ESPN show. The sports shock jock announced Wednesday that Rodgers will no longer be appearing on the program for the remainder of the NFL season. The move to end the injured quarterback's regular appearances, just as the NFL playoffs get underway, came directly as a result of Rodgers' recent behavior on McAfee's show, I'm told. Rodgers, of course, not only sullied the reputation of Jimmy Kimmel from within the Disney tent, but he also promoted dangerous medical misinformation, assailed the news media, and even launched an ugly attack on an ESPN executive. Together, it was simply too much for the Magic Kingdom to tolerate — particularly as the controversy started to suck in executives by the likes of Bob Iger and Jimmy Pitaro, both of whom have far bigger problems to spend their times dealing with. Here's my full story.

🔎 Zooming in: Even McAfee, who sports a good relationship with Rodgers and has come to his defense before, said he was "happy" that the controversy stemming from Rodgers' regular appearances would be coming to an end because it is "not what we want to be known for." McAfee added that he is "pumped" he will no longer have to deal with the fallout from Rodgers' antics, which he said had taken up "every single Wednesday" of his life for the last few weeks. "We've given a lot of people who have been waiting for us to fail a lot of ammo, and things to attack us for," McAfee said, adding, "We would love to get back to the point where we just move on."

Sounding the Alarm: A group of media executives on Wednesday appeared before the Senate and urged lawmakers to enact new legislation to help protect the media business from the threat of A.I. "Quite simply, if Congress could clarify that the use of our content for training and output of AI models is not fair use, then the free market will take care of the rest," Condé Nast boss Roger Lynch said. "Fundamentally, we think the simple fix or clarification that use of content for training and output of AI models is not fair use, the market will take care of the rest." Lynch was joined by News Media Alliance chief Danielle Coffey and National Association of Broadcasters head Curtis LeGeyt.

► OpenAI is in licensing talks with CNN, Fox Corporation, and TIME, Bloomberg's Shirin Ghaffary, Graham Starr, and Brody Ford reported Wednesday evening, citing sources.

You Need To Calm Down: Say what? Fox News prime time star Jesse Watters on Tuesday night floated a bonkers and absurd conspiracy theory, asking whether Taylor Swift might be a Pentagon asset used for potential psyop operations. Yes, you read that right. Fox News did not comment on the ridiculous drivel peddled to its audience by its 8pm anchor, but the Pentagon had some fun with the story. "As for this conspiracy theory, we are going to shake it off," spokesperson Sabrina Singh quipped. "But that does highlight that we still need Congress to approve our supplemental budget request as Swift-ly as possible so we can be out of the woods with potential fiscal concerns." POLITICO's Olivia Alafriz has more.

The Bot Store's Beginnings: It has arrived. Sam Altman's OpenAI on Wednesday launched the GPT Store — a place where users can go to find custom apps built using ChatGPT. The landing page, which you can check out here, featured curated picks, trending GPTs, and those specifically created by OpenAI. The launch of the GPT Store is only in its early phases. "In Q1 we will launch a GPT builder revenue program," OpenAI said. "As a first step, US builders will be paid based on user engagement with their GPTs." The Verge's Emilia David has more here.

SAG Noms Set: The nominations for the 30th annual Screen Actors Guild Awards were announced on Wednesday — and "Barbenheimer" looks to dominate. Both "Barbie" and "Oppenheimer" nabbed four nominations, leading the film pack. On the television front, "Succession" was ahead of the competition, with five nominations. The Roy family series was followed by "The Bear," "Ted Lasso," and "The Last of Us," which each earned four nominations. CNN has posted the full list of nominees here. 

► The Directors Guild of America also announced on Wednesday nominees for the 2024 DGA Awards, which included Greta Gerwig, Christopher Nolan, Martin Scorsese, and others. THR's Beatrice Verhoeven has more.

Thank you for reading! This newsletter was edited by Jon Passantino and produced with the assistance of Liam Reilly. Have feedback? Send us an email. You can follow us on Instagram, Threads, and LinkedIn. We will see you back in your inbox tomorrow.