A chance for former President Donald Trump to reignite his notorious feud with current SiriusXM host Megyn Kelly wasn't enough to convince him to participate in next month's fourth Republican National Committee primary debate.
Jason Miller, a senior adviser to the Trump campaign, simply said "No" when the Washington Examiner asked on Thursday if the former president would reconsider attending the debate after Kelly, a former Fox News host, was announced as one of the debate moderators alongside NewsNation’s Elizabeth Vargas and the Washington Free Beacon’s Eliana Johnson.
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The decision by Trump comes as five GOP competitors squared off in Miami Wednesday night but largely avoided attacking the front-runner. While former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley and Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) battle it out for second-place contender, the fireworks haven't posed enough of a threat for Trump to want to join them onstage.
Kelly had famously clashed with Trump during the Aug. 6, 2015, Republican primary debate when she questioned Trump's past comments about women. “You’ve called women you don’t like fat pigs, dogs, slobs, and disgusting animals," Kelly said at the debate. "Only Rosie O'Donnell," Trump quickly responded.
She and Trump reunited for an interview on her SiriusXM show in September after a seven-year absence following the 2016 election cycle. Toward the end of their talk, the former president complained about Kelly questioning his past derogatory comments on women at the 2015 primary debate.
"It was a nasty question," Trump claimed.
"It was awesome," Kelly pushed back.
Had Trump changed his position on debating his 2024 Republican rivals, he would have likely faced questioning about struggles with suburban women voters. Republicans have routinely suffered electoral losses, including on Tuesday, when abortion is on the ballot after the Supreme Court struck down Roe v. Wade with the addition of Trump-nominated justices.
The former president has repeatedly maintained it doesn't make sense for him to participate in debates with his rivals given his lead in national and state polling. During his Wednesday night rally in Hialeah, Florida, which was meant to divert attention away from the debate in Miami, Trump attacked the RNC-sponsored debates and his critics. "It's time for the Republican establishment to stop wasting time and resources trying to push weak and ineffective RINOS and Never Trumpers that nobody wants and nobody's going to vote for," Trump said.
"In the primary, we're leading the field with an average of 61% for Trump, and you have about, what, seven or eight candidates left? I think they're at a debate tonight. Nobody's talking about it," Trump also said.
A RealClearPolitics polling average showed Trump at 58.5% support, far ahead of DeSantis at 14.4%, Haley at 9%, biotech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy at 4.7%, former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie at 2.6%, and Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC) at 2.5%. In Iowa, home to the first nominating contests next year, Trump dominates his opponents at 45.6%, according to a FiveThirtyEight polling average.
DeSantis and Haley had the most to prove during Wednesday's debate, and while both had solid performances, they haven't come anywhere close to dethroning Trump's hold over the GOP base. However, that hasn't stopped them from attacking each other and making the case there are still persuadable voters who won't back Trump.
"I think you're going to see — because I'm on the ground in the early states — voters are now starting to really pay attention," DeSantis said in post-debate comments to NBC News, a co-sponsor of the debate. "It is going to hurt him if he's not willing to debate going forward because voters expect you to earn their vote."
The Florida governor criticized Trump for garnering 43% of support from Republican caucusgoers in a recent Des Moines Register/NBC News/Mediacom Iowa poll. "He's the most famous former elected official in the world, a former Republican president, he's at 40%," DeSantis said. "We're in this situation now the vast majority of people in Iowa and New Hampshire clearly do not want to nominate Donald Trump. So that is not a great position and the field is going to narrow."
Haley's campaign claimed the former South Carolina governor is "the most formidable challenger to Donald Trump and Joe Biden" in an email after the debate.
"With arrows flying at her, she stood her ground and offered moral clarity in a world of chaos," the campaign wrote. "She criticized Donald Trump’s runaway spending, defended Israel, called out Joe Biden for cozying up to Iran, told the American people the truth on entitlements and abortion, set the record straight on energy, and explained that China, Russia, and Iran are an unholy alliance that wants to destroy America."
But if the past debates are any indication, even a stellar debate performance won't be enough to knock Trump. Haley's first two performances led to an increase in her poll numbers and fundraising, but that surge has come at DeSantis's expense instead of Trump's. Ramaswamy, who was one of the breakout candidates during the first debate in August, has seen his support decrease, sparking an eight-figure ad buy in Iowa and New Hampshire to reverse sliding poll numbers.
While Trump was mentioned during the third debate, his 2024 rivals spent the majority of their time attacking one another. In one of the most heated moments of the night, Haley called Ramaswamy "scum" when he brought up her daughter's use of TikTok.
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Despite skipping all three debates and the next debate in Alabama, voters don't appear willing to penalize Trump. His poll numbers have steadily increased since the first Aug. 23 debate in Milwaukee. Trump's campaign has moved on to specifically attacking DeSantis and Haley for their "rapidly eroding political futures."
"They are going nowhere, and at this point, every dollar sent to their campaigns or their SuperPACs may as well be going directly to Joe Biden. Donald J. Trump is going to be the next President of the United States," said senior adviser Chris LaCivita in a statement. "It’s up to DeSantis and Haley to determine if they want a political future … or not.”