Donald Trump will not participate in the the first Republican debate.

 

Donald Trump. BBC/Getty.

Donald Trump will not participate in the first Republican debate. BBC. Trump is the clear frontrunner in the GOP race and Trump used those poll numbers to justify not appearing at the first debate on Fox News on August 23rd. Trump confirmed that he would not participate in the debates on a post on Truth Social. Trump has cited his large lead and the fact that he fears that the Fox News hosts will be hostile to him during the debate. 

My Comment:

I think Trump is right to not do this debate, though he might want to do one in the future if a candidate becomes a threat. Right now that's not true with any of the candidates. Trump's lead is basically insurmountable at this point so there is little reason for him to debate. 

Indeed, it's kinda of silly that they are even having the debate. Trump had primary challengers in 2020 as well and there never was a debate there because it was obvious that Trump was going to be the candidate. Though there are a few more viable candidates this time around besides Joe Walsh, Bill Weld and the other also rans, there is still little chance of another candidate taking down Trump. 

And I think that Trump is totally right, Fox News does seem to have a grudge against Donald Trump and would use the debate to try and damage him. In the 2016 election cycle the Fox News debate was the most biased one against Trump and I could see that happening again. 

Complicating things is the fact that a few of the candidates at the debate would only be there to attack Trump and that could potentially damage things. Chris Christie and Asa Hutchinson have zero chance of actually winning and are only running because they want to attack Trump. I am guessing that they would be ganging up on Trump during the debate and attacking him relentlessly. They are probably going to do so anyways. 

Trump debating would also legitimize the candidates running against him to some degree. If he doesn't show up it shows that he doesn't consider him a threat at all and that they can be safely ignored. If he did it would mean that he's some way afraid of the other candidates. I know DeSantis supporters are saying the opposite was true but it's really pretty obvious what Trump is doing. 

I do have to say that despite all of that I do miss seeing Trump at the debates. Trump is actually a skilled debater and is very entertaining to say the least, even if you hate the guy. Not seeing him tear into some of the candidates I actively dislike, like Chris Christie, is disappointing. We might never see the 2016 magic of Trump just destroying a candidate like he did with Jeb! Bush. 

As for me, I don't think I will be watching the debate. I doubt much newsworthy will be happening. I will probably watch Trump's interview with Tucker Carlson though, as he's a pretty good interviewer and may even press Trump a bit, which would be helpful. If I have the time and it's a slow news day without much else happening I might even write a blog post about it.