Former President Donald Trump is hinting that he might skip primary debates against Republican rivals this year.
Mr. Trump, the front-runner in the emerging GOP field, said no one consulted him about the schedule, and he fears the moderators will be biased.
“I see that everybody is talking about the Republican Debates, but nobody got my approval, or the approval of the Trump Campaign, before announcing them,” Mr. Trump wrote on Truth Social. “When you’re leading by seemingly insurmountable numbers, and you have hostile Networks with angry, TRUMP & MAGA hating anchors asking the ’questions,’ why subject yourself to being libeled and abused?”
The Republican National Committee scheduled an August debate in Milwaukee and said the second debate will be at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in California.
Mr. Trump used the 2016 debates to swat away his GOP rivals, but he has a tortured history with the sessions. During the 2020 campaign, he complained that moderators were biased against him and rebuked organizers for proposing rules to prevent interruptions.
Mr. Trump took particular aim at the Reagan Library debate, saying the chairman of the library’s board of trustees “is, amazingly, Fred Ryan, Publisher of The Washington Post. NO!”
Mr. Trump enjoys double-digit polling leads in early surveys of the GOP electorate heading into 2024. However, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is considered his chief rival and hasn’t officially launched a campaign.
If Mr. Trump follows through on his threat to ditch the debates, his opponents will likely accuse him of avoiding voters.
During the 2020 race, Mr. Trump frequently accused Joseph R. Biden, who is now president, of hiding in his basement instead of waging a real campaign during the coronavirus pandemic.
• Tom Howell Jr. can be reached at thowell@washingtontimes.com.
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