Most 2024 Republicans – notably, not Trump – will be heading to Simi Valley, Calif. next Wednesday to participate in the second GOP debate at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library, hosted by Fox Business.
While it’s not immediately clear the exact list of candidates who will be returning to the debate stage, Trump is skipping the second debate and planning to deliver remarks in front of current and former union workers in Detroit as the country grapples with a critical autoworkers strike.
Republicans say it’s a savvy move on Trump’s part and one that will once again take away some eyeballs from the second debate. It’s also likely to frustrate opponents like Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, former U.N. ambassador Nikki Haley and former Vice President Pence, as Trump avoids opportunities to share the same platform as the rest of the field.
As our Brett Samuels notes this morning, Trump’s latest counter-programming effort also shows how the former president’s campaign is already viewing the 2024 election as another rematch between him and President Biden.
“Trump is running the race as if this is going to be himself and Joe Biden in November of 2024,” Florida-based GOP strategist Ford O’Connell told Brett. “And anyone who’s being honest will tell you that’s the right way to go, barring a seismic moment or shift or anything else.”
As Brett also notes, Trump has shown that he isn’t relying on his primary polling alone – he’s made recent trips to Iowa, including the University of Iowa-Iowa State football game earlier this year.
So far, his rivals have been unable to topple Trump in the polls, including in Iowa – raising the question of whether there will even be a primary after the Iowa caucuses in January.
“He sees Iowa very much in play, that this is not a sure victory for him,” The Family Leader CEO and president Bob Vander Plaats told Julia earlier this week. “If Trump is to get beat here, I think Trump knows and everybody else knows it’ll be game on to a nomination. If Trump wins here, I just don’t think anyone is going to beat him.”
