Former President Donald Trump is incredibly confident in his ability to dominate the 2024 GOP Primary, and he’s not holding back. As confirmed on August 20th on his social media app Truth Social, he is refusing the Republican debates for the 2024 election.
“The public knows who I am & what a successful Presidency I had. I WILL THEREFORE NOT BE DOING THE DEBATES!”
Ever since he announced his candidacy for President a few months back, Trump has been rather clear about his distaste for debates when he is in such a commanding lead. In his mind, allowing people with low support ratings to ask him questions or be featured alongside him is not the best use of his time, mental energy, or money. With Fox News taking a heavy presence in these debates and his distaste for the network as of late, it’s not surprising if he also wants to avoid them.
While Trump’s campaign staff won’t comment yet, many suspect he will be buying out some blocks of airtime on TV or launching videos online of taped interviews and/or campaign messages. Until the debates start ramping up, it’s just speculation, but given his history of making himself the center of the GOP attention, it would make a lot of sense.
Other ideas have also included him watching from the audience, posting live updates on the debates via Truth Social, or simply hosting a rally. No matter what his decision, the logical main goal would be to take away viewers of the other candidates’ debates.
Given the shift from being allies to enemies, Fox News has shifted much of its focus and praise from Trump to Florida Governor Ron DeSantis. With his campaign suffering difficulties being able to build momentum in a way Trump can, he has yet to transition into a Presidential Candidate. Going from COVID sensation for Freedom and the right to deny the jab and face diaper to a Presidential front-runner is incredibly difficult.
Some people want to hear the real DeSantis, and they want him to speak intelligently about topics that matter. He either is misinformed or under-informed in many of these situations. Many also want to hear him pull some good off-the-cuff comments like Trump can. Unfortunately, DeSantis doesn’t have that kind of quick on his toes whit. Instead, he has more methodical plans and ways of delivering his message.
Unfortunately, they aren’t reaching people like his COVID messages did. Even in Florida, people aren’t feeling the love and respect the way many of them did for some time. From failed promises to unfair reopening when COVID was ending to horrific inflation in part due to his beef with Biden, he has come up short. The people of FL have, in large part, taken tremendous issue with all of it, and now that’s spreading through the nation.
As Trump’s closest rival at this point, DeSantis being this far behind is a good reason why Trump would skip these debates to do his own thing. However, this has a real potential to backfire on him.
Despite his thoughts to the contrary, more people are Independent than ever before, and now much of the registered voter base is split in thirds between Independents, Republicans, and Democrats. As conservatives, we need to lean into this information and get the message to those not convinced. By appearing at a debate, Trump could let the American people know more about him.
As it stands, fellow candidates like former NJ Gov. Chris Christie have been trying to call him out to get him to debate like it was an episode of Looney Tunes. His name-calling and needling have been more immature than anything DeSantis’ campaign released a message saying “We can’t afford a nominee who is too weak to debate. No one is entitled to this nomination, including Donald Trump. You have to show up and earn it.”
Nobody is asking him to have it handed over on a silver platter, or without cause. But if he thinks he can do it without the dog and pony show, then let the most Presidential win.
