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In addition to boycotting the first presidential primary debate of the year, the leading candidate for the Republican candidacy in 2024 is also aiming to steal Milwaukee's attention.
The debate stage is set, the Republican candidates vying to be the party's top challenger to former President Donald Trump are making their final preparations ahead of what will be among the most watched events in many of their political careers. The Republican National Committee's window to meet fundraising and polling requirements had closed Monday night. Trump's campaign is seeking to counter-program the discussion as his opponents get ready for the two-hour battle on Fox News.
The first debate, a crucial event in any primary for president, occurs during a week that will once again be dominated by Trump's legal issues.
Tucker Carlson, the ousted former Fox News personality, and Trump have already recorded an interview, according to two persons familiar with the situation who spoke to CNN on Monday. What platform the Carlson interview will be published on is unknown. It would be made public, according to the sources, around the time of the debate on Wednesday night.
The former president is anticipated to spend Wednesday night at his golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey, despite having stated on Sunday that he would forgo the first debate and possibly others as well.
However, Donald Trump Jr., the son of Trump, and other surrogates had plans to go to Milwaukee, where they would have had the chance to comment on national broadcasts both before and after the debate in the spin room.
But as the former president is not taking part in the debate, Fox News informed the Trump campaign on Monday that they will no longer issue credentials to some of his surrogates to attend the spin room at the debate, according to three sources with direct knowledge of the situation who spoke to CNN.
Some of Trump's surrogates have credentials from external media organizations and won't be affected. Reps. Byron Donalds and Matt Gaetz of Florida, former Arizona gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake, and other Republicans plan to attend the discussion.
The top advisers Jason Miller, Steven Cheung, and Chris LaCivita for Trump's campaign also intended to be present in the spin room.
The RNC oversees credentials for the main debate; Fox News manages credentials for the spin room. According to sources, those tickets are still anticipated to be honored.
However, according to two Trump advisors who spoke to CNN, members of Trump's staff and his surrogates still intend to go to Milwaukee and are working on a solution with the network and the RNC.
CNN's request for comment from Fox News did not immediately receive a response.
Some contenders are previewing their lines of attack ahead of the debate, including attacking Trump for declining to participate.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis stated on Monday that Trump "owes it to people" to participate in a debate, claiming that even supporters of the former president's record will be enraged by his choice to forego the first debate.
DeSantis stated on Fox News, "I don't think they're going to look kindly on somebody that thinks they don't have to earn it.
Trump, however, is set to make headlines once more this week due to fresh information regarding the legal issues that the former president is facing as a result of his attempts to rig the results of the 2020 election.
According to court documents acquired by CNN, Trump and his attorneys met with the Fulton County district attorney's office on Monday and came to an agreement on a $200,000 bond and other release terms in an election subversion case in Georgia.
Trump said on his social media platform on Monday that he would surrender on Thursday in Fulton County.
DeSantis might be the target.
DeSantis, who has regularly ranked in second place both nationally and in early voting states, may now be in a position to endure the most intense scrutiny as other candidates try to unseat him as the party's primary rival to Trump on Wednesday night.
On Monday, DeSantis said, "We'll be prepared. "I don't think it's a secret that I'm going to be probably the guy that people are going to come after," you said of Donald Trump's absence.
The Florida governor also maintained his distance from a memo from the super PAC Never Back Down, which last week recommended him to support Trump if he is attacked by former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie and "hammer" businessman Vivek Ramaswamy.
"That is a distinct thing. I played no part in it. I haven't read it, and it's not indicative of my approach, DeSantis said on Monday.
DeSantis, on the other hand, has particularly tight links to the super PAC. He has delegated to the super PAC, which is allowed to raise and spend an unlimited amount of money, many standard campaign tasks, including early-state organization. In his capacity as a "special guest" of the super PAC, DeSantis routinely attends events.
Other candidates prepare their plans
The 38-year-old entrepreneur Ramaswamy, whose poll numbers have risen recently, appears to have gained some traction among his rivals.
A rival candidate, Nikki Haley, a former governor of South Carolina and Trump's ambassador to the UN, attacked Ramaswamy on Monday, possibly setting up a debate stage brawl.
Ramaswamy's request for the US to cut back on military aid to Israel, according to Haley, is "completely incorrect." Ramaswamy asserted he would stop providing new funding to Israel in 2028, when the current $38 billion US aid deal expires, in an interview with Russell Brand on Rumble last week.
Haley wrote on Twitter, "This is part of a pattern with Vivek—his foreign policies have a common theme: they make America less safe."
For his part, Ramaswamy posted a video of a shirtless version of himself playing tennis. He said, "Three hours of good debate prep this morning."
Christie is a significant wild card for Wednesday night. He is the only candidate on the stage who has already run against Trump and has demonstrated his deadly debating skills: He effectively stopped Florida Senator Marco Rubio's momentum in February 2016 by making fun of Rubio for reciting lines from a script.
Since announcing his 2024 campaign, Christie has primarily attacked Trump. However, he also blasted DeSantis while running for office in Miami last week, citing the super PAC letter.
"Beating someone is the only way to win. In Christie's opinion, "[DeSantis] should do Donald Trump and our party a favor, come back to Tallahassee, embrace Donald Trump, and get the hell out of the race if he thinks he's going to stand on stage and defend Donald Trump on Wednesday night.
Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina, a capable fundraiser who many in the GOP perceive as becoming more significant in the race, has mostly maintained a cheerful and upbeat approach. Wednesday night will be a test of whether and how he is willing to engage in conflict with his opponents.
Mike Pence, a former vice president, has stressed his support for conservative philosophies on topics like abortion. But he had also anticipated a confrontation with Trump, his erstwhile campaign partner, on the debate stage. He blasted the former president for boycotting the first debate on ABC on Sunday.
Pence stated that everyone who had earned a spot on the debate stage "ought to be on the stage, willing to square off and answer those tough questions."
Trump is clearly in the lead in polls.
Polls of likely Republican voters nationwide and in the early voting states of Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina, and Nevada indicate Trump to be far ahead of his rivals at this point in the race as the first debate approaches.
Despite slightly over half of probable Iowa GOP caucus-goers saying they are not committed to their pick and could be persuaded to support someone else, Trump maintained a significant lead over his opponents in a poll conducted by the Des Moines Register, NBC News, and Mediacom released on Monday.
Overall, 42% of voters rank Trump as their top pick, with 19% backing DeSantis. No additional contender cracks the double digits. Scott is supported by 9% of voters, Haley and Pence by 6% each, Christie by 5%, Ramaswamy by 4%, North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum by 2%, and former Texas Representative Will Hurd by 1%, with the other field tested candidates receiving less than 1% of the vote.
A majority also expresses favorable opinions of Scott (59%) and Haley (53%), while over two-thirds say they have favorable thoughts of DeSantis (66%) and Trump (65%). Pence (53% unfavorable to 42% favorable) and Christie (60% unfavorable to 28% favorable) both have bad views. Four out of ten people or more are unsure about several of the other contenders, who have minimal name recognition.
The majority of those who plan to participate in the caucuses, 52%, think they could be convinced to vote a candidate other than their top pick, while 40% claim to have made up their minds. Trump's fans are more likely to be committed (66% say as much), but 34% of them think they might be swayed to vote someone else. 69% of those supporting a candidate besides Trump believe they could change their minds and 31% say they have already made up their minds.
Selzer and Co. conducted the survey from August 13–17 among 406 Iowa voters who were expected to participate in the Republican primary. It has a plus or minus 4.9 percentage point margin of sampling error.
Chris Sununu, the governor of New Hampshire, who thought about running for president before passing away earlier this year, stated on CNN's "Inside Politics" on Monday that the GOP primary field needs to be reduced before the contest reaches the Iowa caucuses and New Hampshire primaries.
He advised candidates to withdraw if their poll numbers are in the low single digits by the first week of December.
"By New Hampshire, you need three or four candidates in the race to really make it, you know, a real opportunity and an option for the Republican voter," he remarked.
Sununu also criticized Trump's consistent advantages in national polls, predicting that they would erode "as we get closer to Christmas," while citing early state surveys, in which the former president maintains a slight edge.
Trump is utterly monopolizing the airwaves of the national media. That he is there is not shocking," he remarked. However, "I think nationally his numbers come back down to what you see in Iowa and New Hampshire as the debates start, as people get more and more into that conversation in October, November, as we get around to Christmas.
