As expected, Donald Trump is not going to show up for the first GOP primary debate on August, 23rd. That announcement came via a new report from Maggie Haberman, the far-left reporter from The New York Times who has long had an inside line directly to the former president.
As to what Trump will do instead, he'll reportedly sit down for an interview with Tucker Carlson in an attempt to overshadow and upstage the candidates who do show up to face the primary voters.
Former President Donald J. Trump plans to upstage the first Republican primary debate on Wednesday by sitting for an online interview with the former Fox News host Tucker Carlson, according to multiple people briefed on the matter.
In the past 24 hours, Mr. Trump has told people close to him that he has made up his mind and will skip the debate in Milwaukee, according to two of the people briefed on the matter.
Frankly, if a candidate for the presidency is not an incumbent, I think they owe it to voters and their party to show up and debate. There is no perfect Republican politician. Anyone running has things they should be made to answer for and explain, including how they might do things differently in the future. There is also no downside to that kind of debate happening. At worst, it sharpens a candidate for the general election by allowing them to hone their message outside of the friendly confines of supportive conservative circles.
With all that said, Trump is going to do what Trump wants to do. I understand that, and because he enjoys a large national polling lead, he obviously feels it's not worth the risk to show up. Still, does not mean the RNC should be so accommodating of candidates who thumb their nose at the process.
According to another report, RNC chairwoman Ronna McDaniel personally invited Rep. Byron Donalds, a top Trump surrogate, to show up at the debate and defend the former president on various panels.
That feels way too much like trying to rig the process, in my opinion. Did any other candidate get the offer to not show up and not sign the loyalty pledge but still be represented during the event? It's the kind of special treatment that Trump supporters (including me) would have never accepted during the 2016 cycle had it been done to favor someone like Jeb Bush. If you want an example of the establishment meddling in the primary, there it is. The fact that it's benefiting Trump doesn't make it acceptable.
If the former president can win the primary without debating, fair enough (though, again, I personally think it's not respectful of the voters), but the RNC should not be putting its thumb on the scale by letting a candidate undermine the debate while also having his narrative pushed at it. You either show up or you don't. There shouldn't be any workarounds offered, and McDaniel, even being a Trump ally, should be expected to maintain a sense of impartiality during the process. She's not doing that, and it's yet another reason she never should have been re-elected to her position in the first place.