Donald Trump says he will skip first GOP presidential debate: ‘The public knows who I am’

Former President Donald Trump confirmed on Sunday that he wouldn’t be part of the Republican presidential main debate in Milwaukee on Wednesday — and hinted he would possibly sit out the others as effectively.

“The general public is aware of who I’m & what a profitable Presidency I had,” Trump introduced on Reality Social Sunday. “I WILL THEREFORE NOT BE DOING THE DEBATES!”

It stays unclear whether or not the ex-president plans to skip each debate throughout the election cycle.

The Republican Nationwide Committee has demanded that every candidate signal a loyalty pledge to assist the eventual nominee so as to enter the debates.

Trump has refused to signal the pledge.

Trump has teased plans to skip the debates for weeks, with experiences from the weekend suggesting he had made the choice to sit down with former Fox News host Tucker Carlson as a substitute of collaborating in Wednesday’s debate in Milwaukee.

That interview has already been taped, in response to The New York Times, and it’ll air on-line similtaneously the talk.

The forty fifth president at present main the Republican pack by 41 share factors, in response to latest polls compiled by RealClearPolitics, inserting him at 55.5%.

His closest competitor, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, follows at 14.5%.

For months Trump has voiced the opinion that his commanding lead over the Republican area meant there was little for him to realize by collaborating in a debate.

The stance has been the goal of opponents, together with an commercial from a DeSantis-supporting tremendous PAC that stated “We will’t afford a nominee who is simply too weak to debate.”

“Why would I permit individuals at 1 or 2% and 0% to be hitting me with questions all night time?” he stated in June throughout a Fox Information host and debate moderator Bret Baier.

“Nobody is entitled to this nomination, together with Donald Trump. It’s important to present up and earn it,” a spokesperson for DeSantis’ marketing campaign posted on X, previously generally known as Twitter, on Sunday.

Trump has dismissed such stances outright.

“It’s not a query of guts. It’s a query of intelligence,” he stated in an interview with Eric Bolling of Newsmax.