Donald Trump Confirms What We All Know: He Won’t Attend Debates
The former president has repeatedly said he would not attend the first GOP debate this week. Then, on Sunday, he appeared to rule out attending all of them.

Reba Saldanha/Reuters
Never one to do something because of tradition, or democracy, or simply because it’s the right thing to do, Donald Trump has confirmed he will not be attending the first Republican primary debate this week—or any debate, for that matter. Citing a new CBS poll, which has Trump at a whopping 62% as preferred leader of the Republican party (trailed by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis at a measly 16%, and Vivek Ramaswamy at 7%) Trump boasted on Truth Social: “New CBS POLL, just out, has me leading the field by ‘legendary’ numbers. TRUMP 62%, 46 Points above DeSanctimonious (who is crashing like an ailing bird!).” Adding that the public already “knows who I am,” Trump then wrote: “I WILL THEREFORE NOT BE DOING THE DEBATES!” Even though Trump says he won’t participate in any upcoming debates, one of the former president’s spokespeople told CNN that he may still consider appearing at a later one.
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