Former President Trump is leaning toward skipping at least one of the first two Republican presidential primary debates, according to a report from The New York Times.
Trump is expected to not attend either the first debate, which will be held in August in Milwaukee and hosted by Fox News, or the second, which will take place at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in California, according to several anonymous sources who talked to the Times.
Last week, Trump reiterated earlier thoughts about skipping the debates because of his “massive” lead in the polls.
“When you’re way up, you don’t do debates. If you’re even or down, you do debates, but when you’re way up, what’s the purpose of doing the debate?” Trump said on the “Cats & Cosby” show with hosts John Catsimatidis and Rita Cosby.
Trump, who also said that “people don’t debate when they have these massive leads,” has a history of threatening to skip presidential debates. He used the same tactic during his 2016 and 2020 bids for the White House.
The former president, who has held a commanding lead over his confirmed and prospective GOP rivals for months, now holds a 36-point lead over Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who has yet to announce he is running, in a new poll of Republican primary voters by CBS News-You Gov.
Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley and conservative entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy polled at 4 percent and 5 percent, respectively, while former Vice President Mike Pence earned 5 percent. Pence has yet to formally jump into the running for the GOP nomination, but Haley and Ramaswamy have launched official campaigns.
The Times cites “denying his low-polling rivals access to a massive television audience” as one reason Trump might skip the debates.
Additionally, Trump reportedly has an issue with the second debate being held at the Reagan Library because the organization’s board of trustees chair, Frederick J. Ryan Jr., is also the publisher and CEO of The Washington Post.
Plus, Trump’s relationship with Fox News has been increasingly strained since the network on election night 2020 called Arizona for rival Joe Biden. Timing could also be a reason, because Trump doesn’t want to debate in August, according to the report.
Ramaswamy said on Sunday that he wouldn’t let Trump “get away” with skipping the debates, during an appearance with Chuck Todd on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”