Donald Trump’s Fox town hall pulled in 4.4 million TV viewers in early returns. In comparison, the DeSantis/Haley debate pulled in 2.6 million TV viewers on CNN (which is more than double the viewers they normally pull in during a weeknight), reports Reuters.

It should be noted that Fox didn’t attack him with Gotcha questions.

Donald Trump pulled in the single largest ratings night for CNN in 2023.

Reuters says Trump’s refusal to attend any Republican Party debates so far has turned them into sideshows with dwindling viewers.”

The first two Republican debates netted 12.8 million and 9 million on Fox Business and Fox News, respectively, with the third debate earning 7 million viewers on NBC, Reuters notes.

Donald Trump sidelined the other Republicans very cleverly by not giving them a chance to debate him, yet he was all over TV and streaming services because he is the leading candidate and knows how to draw in an audience.