Fox News ought to have grief counselors on hand if Donald Trump boycotts the first nationalized televised presidential debate next month in Milwaukee.
It is the way Boston University does it when they supply grief counselors for law students upset with U.S. Supreme Court decisions that do not go their way, like student loans.
The Fox News grief counselors would not only administer to Fox News executives who are praying for Trump to show up, but also for the rest of the 10 (and counting) Republicans running for president.
Fox News is co-sponsoring the event with the Republican National Committee. It is scheduled to take place on August 23.
Both the television cable news network and the candidates need Trump to participate to attract viewers and to make the event work.
Without Trump the showman on stage with the rest of the candidates, the debate will not be worth watching, and everybody knows it. Without the showman, there is no show.
Despite his troubles — two impeachments and two indictments — Trump is by far the leading Republican candidate to win the GOP presidential nomination. If so, he would take on fading President Biden in a 2024 rematch of 2020.
The more Biden and the politicized Democrat-run U.S. Justice Department and FBI go after Trump, and cover up Biden family wrongdoings, the more popular Trump becomes.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is running second in the GOP polls, but he is some 20 to 30 percentage points behind Trump, while the rest of the field hardly makes an impact in the polling.
To qualify for the debate candidates must pledge to support the eventual Republican nominee for president, show 1% in three national polls, and list 200 donors in at least 20 states.
The rules set by the RNC are designed to weed out fringe candidates and prevent an unwieldy circus-like atmosphere that took place in 2006 when Trump first appeared on the scene as a presidential candidate.
For those who make the cut, it would be the first time that the public would see the surviving candidates square off against each other in a national setting. Of course, the one they would most go after is Trump, the leader of the pack.
But Trump, who is in a lover’s quarrel with Fox News, is threatening to play the spoiler and not show up, which would be a blow to Fox News.
Trump has accused the cable news network, which covered him extensively in 2016, of freezing him out of coverage, ignoring his well-attended campaign rallies, and siding with DeSantis.
Fox News needs Trump to participate to make the debate worth watching. It is the first televised debate in the presidential campaign, a campaign that promises to be contentious and controversial.
Without Trump, there will be no show, and voters know it.
The candidates know it as well. They need Trump on the stage as badly as Fox News does, not only to go after him, but to play off him. Without Trump, the Republican Party is like the New England Patriots without Tom Brady.
Trump is so far ahead in the Republican polls that he does not need anyone tugging on Superman’s cape, let alone subjecting himself to attacks from people who used to work for him — Mike Pence, Nikki Haley — or wanted to work for him — Chris Christie, the former New Jersey governor.
Christie, who supported Trump in the past, predicted last week that Trump’s “ego” will not permit him to shun the debate.
“If Trump doesn’t want to debate then he doesn’t want to be president,” Christie taunted.
“He can’t have a big TV show that’s he not on,” Christie told Maureen Dowd of The New York Times.
Yes, he can.
Not only is Trump talking about boycotting the debate, but he is also contemplating holding a counter-television event or rally at the same time.
“Not to be braggadocious but the debate will not be a very exciting one if I’m not there,” the braggadocious Trump said.
He’s right.
Peter Lucas is a veteran Massachusetts political reporter and columnist.
