Trump Says It Would Be ‘Sort of Foolish’ to Go to the Republican Debate

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Former President Donald Trump questioned why he would want to take part in the Republican Partyโ€™s first primary debate, saying it could be โ€œfoolishโ€ doing so given his sizable leads in polls over other presidential hopefuls.

In an interview with Breitbart published on Aug. 2, Mr. Trump said he had not decided whether he would join the debate, which is to be hosted by Fox News on Aug. 23 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. According to the outlet, the interview was taped on July 27.

โ€œI havenโ€™t totally made a decision. I like the debates. I might be here because of the debates. I might have won against Hillary [Clinton] with the debates, and I might have gotten the nomination because of the debates,โ€ Mr. Trump said.

โ€œBut when youโ€™re leading by 50 and 60 points against these people, and you have people at zero, and 1 and 2โ€”and then theyโ€™re going to be asking me hostile questions, and they probably wonโ€™t have much of an audience if Iโ€™m not in the debates according to what I read,โ€ Mr. Trump continued. โ€œIf Iโ€™m not in the debates, then theyโ€™re not going to have a very big audience. It seems almost like it would be foolish to do them.โ€

According to theย latest pollย from Morning Consultโ€”which surveyed 3,716 registered voters between July 28 and July 30โ€”58 percent of the respondents said they would support Mr. Trump, with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis in a distant second with 15 percent of support.

Vivek Ramaswamy was in third with 9 percent of support, followed by former Vice President Mike Pence with 7 percent. None of the remaining Republican candidates picked up more than 3 percent of support.

Mr. Trump noted that he wouldnโ€™t be the first to skip a debate since former Presidentย Ronald Reaganย didnโ€™t participate in one in 1980.

Furthermore, taking part in the debate would mean putting himself up against a โ€œhostile network,โ€ the former president added.

โ€œI feel itโ€™s sort of foolish to be doing it,โ€ Mr. Trump said. โ€œI think it could be stupidโ€”it could be a stupid thing to do.

Byย Frank Fang

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