Someone who is up 41 points should not participate in a political debate.
In the RealClearPolitics poll of national GOP primary polls, former President Donald Trump is 40.9 points ahead of second place.
What’s more, nationally, Trump sits well over the magic halfway mark with 55.8 percent support.
Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) is waaaaaayyy behind in second place with 14.9 percent support. The rest are in single digits.
Only a madman who’s up 41 points would risk that lead by participating in a debate with a half-dozen other candidates who—I’m sorry, but this is true—do not matter.
DeSantis and former Vice President Mike Pence are actually running for president but have so far run terrible campaigns. That could change, but for now, neither has been anything close to impressive and are no threat to the former president.
Businessman Vivek Ramaswamy, Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC), and former South Carolina Republican Governor Nikki Haley are not running for president. Instead, they are running to be Trump’s vice president or part of his cabinet. That’s fine.
As far as former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (RINO), he’s running to hear his own voice and see himself on TV.
Listen, as much hope as I had for DeSantis and Scott to show me something, they are not showing me anything other than this: they are not up to the business of running for president. That could change. But as of right now, the result is that this is not a serious presidential primary. Trump is stomping through the campaign as if he were a sitting president.
Let me put it this way… No one’s paying much attention to the Democrat presidential primary even though Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is doing about as well against His Fraudulency Joe Biden (Biden is up 64 to 13 percent) as DeSantis does against Trump (56 to 15 percent).
Why should Trump risk his current frontrunner-by-a-mile status by appearing at a debate?
A candidate has one job—and that is to win. Everything should come second to winning. I say the same thing when Democrats refuse to appear on Fox News. Why take the risk? And as far as all this silly talk about “precedent” and “democracy”? Spare me, y’all. As of now, Trump’s opponents circle him like gnats. Trump would be a fool to elevate them with a debate appearance. He would be an even bigger fool to show up for a debate on Fox News, an outlet that hates him as much as CNNLOL hates him. Why give Fox the ratings? Why allow yourself to be deposed by your enemies on national TV?
The 2024 GOP primary is Trump’s to lose, and when you’re winning, you stay the course. Only a fool changes tactics when he’s 41 points up nationally, up 26 points in Iowa, up 31 points in New Hampshire, and up 28 points in South Carolina. Now is not the time to hand Fox News a baseball bat to bludgeon you with.
To his supporters, his country, and himself, Trump has only one obligation, and that is victory.
Please allow me this caveat: Of course, things can change. DeSantis might get his act together. Christie could fall on Haley and Scott, and the supporters of the smushed could consolidate behind DeSantis. We have a long, long way to go to the GOP convention. All I’m saying is that for right now, Trump appearing at the Fox News debate would be a dumb move. There’s no upside for him, and the upside is all that matters in a political campaign.
Follow John Nolte on Twitter @NolteNC. Follow his Facebook Page here.
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