Trump suggests he won’t participate in 2024 GOP debates

Former President Donald Trump on Wednesday declared that he is so far ahead of his 2024 Republican presidential primary opponents that he doesn’t see a reason to participate in the GOP debates. 

“I’m leading by 40 points. A lot of people say, ‘Why would you do a debate when you have people at two and three and fifteen and fourteen [percent]?’” Trump told John Catsimatidis, host of the “Cats & Cosby Show” on WABC 770. 

“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 76-year-old former president said. 

Trump went on to decry that the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in California, site of the second scheduled Republican presidential primary debate, is “run by the Washington Post,” which he derided as “the enemy of the people.”  

“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 told Catsimatidis, 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. 

Trump continued, “When you’re way up, you don’t do debates.” 

The former commander-in-chief then reiterated, “You’re going to have people at 1% and less than 1% asking you questions? It’s sort of like crazy.”

Most recent polls show Trump to be the 2024 GOP front-runner, but in head-to-head match-ups against President Biden, some polls demonstrate that Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis would perform better than Trump. 

A WPA intelligence poll released Tuesday shows Trump would lose to Biden by an average of 3.1%, while DeSantis, 44, would win the popular vote over the incumbent by an average of 1.2%.

An NBC News poll released on Sunday also appeared to show DeSantis, who has not said that he will run for president in 2024, closing the gap on Trump.

The survey found that 46% of GOP primary voters favor Trump, while 31% said they would select DeSantis. In comparison, a Yahoo News/YouGov poll earlier this month showed Trump leading DeSantis by 57% to 31% among GOP and Republican-leaning voters.

Behind Trump and DeSantis, the NBC News poll had former Vice President Mike Pence at 6%, ex-South Carolina Gov. and former US Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley, South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott  and former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson tied at 3%, and entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy at 2% support.

The first 2024 GOP presidential primary debate is set for this August in Milwaukee, the Republican National Committee announced earlier this month. It will be held in partnership with Fox News, Young America’s Foundation and Rumble.

During his interview on Wednesday, Trump indicated that if he is the GOP nominee, he would be amenable to debating Biden before the general election.

“You have a Democrat. You have a Republican. You have really an obligation to do that,” Trump said.