Trump ‘unlikely’ to participate in first two GOP presidential debates, longtime adviser says 

Former President Donald Trump is “unlikely” to take the stage at the first two Republican presidential primary debates later this year, according to his longtime adviser. 

“At the moment, President Trump has indicated that he’s unlikely to participate, at least in the first two debates. He’s up by 30, 40, and even new polling shows he’s up by almost 50% in certain places,” Jason Miller, a longtime adviser to the 77-year-old former president and current member of his 2024 campaign team, said in an interview on NewsNation Tuesday. 

Miller cautioned that the former president has still not made a final decision on whether he will participate in the early debates, but the communications specialist argued that it would not be beneficial for Trump to take the stage with such a commanding lead.  

“It really wouldn’t make much sense for him to go and debate right now with a bunch of folks who are down at three, four and five percent. Even [Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis], who’s the second-place candidate in the race currently, is at least 20, 30 or 40 points behind,” Miller noted. 

“So ultimately, President Trump will make a decision as we get closer. He has not said anything definitive, one way or the other. I’m not expecting him to participate, though,” he added.

The first 2024 Republican presidential primary debate sanctioned by the Republican National Committee is slated to take place in Milwaukee, Wis., on Aug. 23. 

In April, Trump argued during a radio interview that “people don’t debate when they have these massive leads.”

“They say, ‘Why would we debate?’ I would have a hostile group of anchors — a hostile network — asking questions. Why would I do that?” the former president told John Catsimatidis, host of the “Cats & Cosby Show” on WABC 770. 

The date of the second debate has yet to be announced, but it will take place at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in California. 

Trump decried the site of the second debate as being “run by the Washington Post,” which he deems “the enemy of the people,” in the same interview with Catsimatidis.   

“The publisher of the Washington Post is the chairman of the Reagan library. And that’s where one of the debates would be. I don’t want to be there,” Trump said, referring to former Reagan White House aide Frederick Ryan Jr., who is now chairman of the Reagan library and publisher and CEO of the Washington Post. 

On Friday, Blaze Media announced that former Fox News host Tucker Carlson will host a GOP presidential primary forum for the news outlet in Iowa that will include five candidates – DeSantis, former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC) and former Vice President Mike Pence. 

The forum will notably not include Trump, who is averaging 53% support in GOP primary polls, according to RealClearPolitics, and is ahead of DeSantis, his top opponent, by 32 percentage points. 

Miller maintained Tuesday that Trump is not planning to skip any debates against President Biden if both candidates were to make it to the general election.

“We look very much forward to taking on Joe Biden, which is really what this race is going to be about,” Miller said.

“And at a certain point here, I think the other candidates, who are down at three, four and five percent, have to look in the mirror and say, ‘Hey, is this actually helping their candidacy? Or is it really just getting in the way of us beating Joe Biden next year?’” he added.