The Republican National Committee on Thursday voted unanimously to pull out of the Commission on Presidential Debates, the group that every four years organizes live face-offs between major presidential candidates. Republicans accuse the commission of bias, a charge that is especially nonsensical, given how the nonpartisan nonprofit maintained its steadfast neutrality even in the face of Donald Trump's attempts to hijack the 2016 and 2020 presidential debates.

In fact, a repeat of those experiences is what Republicans really have to fear. In 2020, President Trump's first debate against challenger Joe Biden was a disaster for the incumbent, as he constantly interrupted his opponent, made wild claims and raged on national television. Though low on substance, that debate provided the public a live glimpse at the out-of-control personality then in the Oval Office. While the debacle was one of his own making, Trump has long claimed that the commission rigged the debates against him.

Now Republicans running for all sorts of offices are skipping debates, a phenomenon of a piece with the GOP's broader rejection of mainstream news and fact-checking outlets — and the party's concomitant slide into an echo chamber of alternative facts. This reflects poorly on Republicans' confidence that their candidates can withstand straightforward questioning, marshal their arguments and defend their positions when they are challenged. It also exposes contempt for voters, whom they assume will not care. Debates — if they happen — would be conducted under rules negotiated and set by political campaigns and parties, without the approval of an independent body. To use one of Trump's favorite words, they could be rigged.

Even in their imperfect form, presidential debates are among the few times in which the wide swaths of Americans who are not glued to cable news channels see the candidates for sustained periods of time and take their measure, in circumstances over which the parties do not have total control. By slinking away from the commission, Republicans reveal their low regard not just for a process that sometimes falls short, but for the electorate itself.