Former president and again-candidate Trump expressed his displeasure Tuesday concerning the announcement of the GOP primary debates, hinting that he might boycott at least one because of potentially adversarial moderators.
“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,” he said on his social media platform, 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?”
He’s scared to debate. pic.twitter.com/OTXqLOFZQh
— Bonchie (@bonchieredstate) April 25, 2023
Currently, Trump faces primary opponents such as former South Carolina governor Nicki Haley, entrepreneur and conservative pundit Vivek Ramaswamy, and conservative radio host Larry Elder. Former vice president Mike Pence alluded to his intention to run last weekend, saying that any “serious” potential contenders should enter the race by June 2023. Former secretary of state for the Trump administration, Mike Pompeo, said earlier this month that he wouldn’t be putting his hat in the ring.
Even though Florida governor Ron DeSantis has not yet announced a presidential bid, Trump has treated him as an opponent, frequently citing his underperformance below him in 2024 hypothetical matchup surveys. Trump has flip-flopped between praising his leadership in the Sunshine State and blasting his Covid record and calling him derogatory nicknames.
During the 2016 campaign cycle, Trump took issue with a number of the debate moderators, such as Megyn Kelly, whom he claimed disproportionately grilled him with “gotcha” questions over the other candidates on the stage.
“Also, the Second Debate is being held at the Reagan Library, the Chairman of which is, amazingly, Fred Ryan, Publisher of The Washington Post. NO!” Trump wrote Tuesday.
In February, the Republican National Committee shared that the first Republican presidential debate of the 2024 election season would be held in Milwaukee in August 2023. The committee is considering as many as twelve debates between August 2023 and its national convention in the summer of 2024, PBS Wisconsin reported.