Why isn’t Donald Trump participating in the first Republican party debate?
August 23 marks the first Republican debate for the 2024 elections, but frontrunner Donald Trump will not attend.
The first Republican debate ahead of the 2024 presidential election is taking place in Milwaukee. The Republican National Committee (RNC) has
announced that eight candidates from the red party qualified for the primary debate under its rules regarding polling and donors.
But there is one huge omission. Donald Trump, former US president and frontrunner for the position does not appear on the list and will not be present at the debate.
Why Donald Trump is not attending debates
Days before the RNC revealed the list of participants, Trump took to his official Truth Social account to share with his more than six million followers the reasons for those who will not attend the first Republican debate.
“New CBS poll, just out, has me leading the field by ‘legendary’ numbers… I WILL THEREFORE NOT BE DOING THE DEBATES,” Trump wrote on Sunday.
Instead, Trump agreed to record an interview with former Fox News host Tucker Carlson, which will be broadcast online at the same time as the primary debate in Milwaukee.
Trump tries to divert attention from the debate
According to the Guardian, by being absent from the debate Trump’s team has two objectives: to divert attention from the other Republican presidential candidates and to “publicly humiliate” Fox News. Fox News associates have reportedly been begging Trump to take part in the debate, while Tucker Carlson is a Fox News alumni though lost his show earlier this year. The ‘news’ organisation was a fervent supporters of Trump in 2016 and 2020 but their support has waned.
The first debate takes place on the eve of the fourth arrest of Donald Trump. On August 24, he will travel to Atlanta, Georgia, to surrender to authorities after facing charges of interfering in the results of the 2020 presidential election. This will surely be a topic for the candidates at the debate.