NY.- The leading Republican candidate for president, Donald J. Trump, is unlikely to participate in one of the first two debates for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, according to five people who have commented on the matter with the former president.
Last month, Republican National Committee Chair Ronna McDaniel announced that Fox News would host the first GOP primary debate to be held in Milwaukee in August.
The second debate will be in Southern California at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library.
In private comments to his advisers and confidants in recent weeks, Trump has made it clear that he does not want to give his Republican opponents the opportunity to share the stage with him.
Trump leads his closest rival, Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida, by about 30 percentage points in recent polls.
The other contenders have earned single-digit percentages.
“I’m up by a lot of points,” said one aide, quoting what Trump said.
An aide stressed that the situation was fluid, particularly given the early stage of the 2024 race and because DeSantis has yet to declare himself as a candidate.
It would be hard for Trump not to participate in a scenario where others are going to criticize him, some high-ranking Republicans hope he will finally join the debates.
He has long viewed the 2016 campaign debates, both in the primaries and the general election, as a victory.
Although if Trump decides not to attend some of the primary debates — as he did on one occasion before 2016 — it will decrease the number of viewers and limit his rivals’ chances of having a successful moment in the debate. .
It’s hard to get the visibility that those moments offer in a competition in which Trump almost monopolizes the attention of the media.
For Trump, denying his trailing rivals access to a massive television audience is part of his calculations for skipping the debates, according to people who have discussed the matter with him.
