Former President Donald Trump has cast the upcoming Republican party’s presidential debates as a contest for second place in the party primary, with the winner potentially getting to be his 2024 running mate.
Mr. Trump, who has opened up a wide lead in the RealClearPolitics Republican presidential primary polling average, has repeatedly suggested he sees no need to debate the other Republican candidates in the primary field. Mr. Trump still hasn’t said whether he will attend the first Republican presidential debate in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on Aug. 23, but encouraged the rest of the field to duke it out in a Monday post on his Truth social media account.
“Let them debate so I can see who I MIGHT consider for Vice President!” Mr. Trump wrote on Monday.
The former Republican president holds the support of 54 percent of Republican primary voters in the latest RCP polling average. Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis holds the second place spot in the polling average, still trailing by more than 35 points on average. Businessman Vivek Ramaswamy has taken the third place position at 4.9 percent in the RCP average, overtaking Mr. Trump’s 2016 and 2020 running mate, former Vice President Mike Pence.
At a campaign rally in Erie, Pennsylvania, on Saturday, July 29, Mr. Trump suggested he stands little to gain even if he performs well at the debate. He said he mostly stands to be “abused” with “terrible questions” from the other candidates and from Fox News, which is set to host the first debate and which Mr. Trump has said has been a “hostile network” toward him.
“If I agree to do the debates I get hit by a hostile network, but I also get hit by all these guys—and they are professional politicians, I mean they’re not stupid people, they just happen to be at zero—and they say, ‘What about this, President Trump? What about this?’ And I look at the guy and say, ‘You’re at zero, you’re asking me these questions,'” Mr. Trump said.
By Ryan Morgan
