{"id":588042,"date":"2023-08-22T13:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-08-22T10:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/trump-decision-to-skip-debate-fuels-gop-anxiety\/"},"modified":"2023-08-22T13:00:00","modified_gmt":"2023-08-22T10:00:00","slug":"trump-decision-to-skip-debate-fuels-gop-anxiety","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/trump-decision-to-skip-debate-fuels-gop-anxiety\/","title":{"rendered":"#Trump decision to skip debate fuels GOP anxiety"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/thehill.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/08\/trumpdonald_081223getty_gop-angst.jpg?w=900\" \/><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>Former President Trump\u2019s decision to skip the first Republican presidential primary debate is fueling Republican angst that his rivals will have little opportunity to catch up to him in the polls.<\/p>\n<p>Many senior Republican officials and strategists in Washington think Trump would be a weak candidate in the <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/general\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"3\" title=\"General\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">general<\/a> election and have an uphill path to beating President Biden in 2024.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"ad-unit ad-unit--mr1_ab\"><\/aside>\n<p>But there\u2019s also a growing sense among Republican lawmakers and other party leaders that Trump may have wr<a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/download-scripts-themes-apps\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"9\" title=\"Download Scripts &amp; Themes &amp; Apps\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">app<\/a>ed up the nomination months before the Iowa caucuses, despite facing 91 felony counts and four criminal trials. \u00a0<\/p>\n<p>This in turn has left them worried about their chances of defeating Biden despite his weak approval ratings and of taking back control of the Senate despite this cycle\u2019s favorable electoral map. \u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.), one of seven Republican senators to vote to convict Trump on the impeachment charge of inciting insurrection, predicted over the weekend that Trump \u201cwill lose to Joe Biden\u201d and declared \u201cif President Trump ends up getting the nomination but cannot win the general, that means we will have four more years of policies which have led to very high inflation.\u201d \u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Reflecting broader GOP pessimism among Republicans about Trump\u2019s chances of winning the White House next year given his unpopularity with independent and women voters, Cassidy said on CNN\u2019s \u201cState of the Union\u201d that Trump should drop out of the race.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), a member of the Senate Republican leadership team, told a group of Texas reporters in May that Trump couldn\u2019t win the general election.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat\u2019s the most important thing for me is that we have a candidate who can actually win,\u201d he said. \u201cI don\u2019t think President Trump understands that when you run in a general election, you have to appeal to voters beyond your base.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<aside class=\"ad-unit ad-unit--mr2_ab\"><\/aside>\n<p>Sen. Mike Braun (R-Ind.), who is running for governor in his home state, on Monday danced around questions about Trump\u2019s electability and touted entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy as a candidate who would present a tough challenge to Biden in 2024 and help turn around the country\u2019s fiscal problems.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Asked by CNBC anchor Joe Kernen if Trump could win the general election, Braun said that Democrats are helping him in the primary by pushing politically motivated prosecutions because they think he would be a weak candidate in November 2024. \u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think whatever they try politically through the indictments and so forth, that strengthens him, not weakens him,\u201d he said of the multiple indictments against Trump.\u00a0<\/p>\n<aside class=\"ad-unit ad-unit--mr3_ab\"><\/aside>\n<p>When Kernen noted that Democrats think Biden can beat Trump, Braun acknowledged, \u201cThey are tabulating it that way.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Trump\u2019s calculation that he can skip the debate without feeling any repercussions is fueling GOP concerns that he faces little serious competition in the primary. They worry it will be even harder for other candidates to catch him in the polls if they don\u2019t have a chance to confront the front-runner on stage before a national television audience. \u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt does make it more difficult in part because they won\u2019t have nearly the audience that they would have if Trump was there and the whole <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/game\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"7\" title=\"Game\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">game<\/a> would be how those candidates stand up to Trump, whether they are directly critical of him,\u201d said Steven S. Smith, professor emeritus of political <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/sciencee\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"5\" title=\"Science\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">science<\/a> at Washington University in St. Louis. \u00a0<\/p>\n<aside class=\"ad-unit ad-unit--mr4_ab\"><\/aside>\n<p>Smith said the debates are more likely to change the trajectory of the race if Trump actually shows up.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s not obvious to me that Trump would do well in a debate. He\u2019s riding so high that it\u2019s entirely possible that he would lose his temper, ultimately look very unpresidential and it could very well be that the other candidates would effectively beat up on him,\u201d he said. \u00a0<\/p>\n<p>While polls show Trump is dominating the rest of the Republican presidential field, Republican voters aren\u2019t happy about his decision to skip Wednesday\u2019s debate in Milwaukee and declare the race effectively over.\u00a0<\/p>\n<aside class=\"ad-unit ad-unit--mr5_ab\"><\/aside>\n<p>A new poll by Firehouse Strategies, a public affairs firm, and 3D Strategic Research found that two-thirds of Republican primary voters want to see Trump on the debate stage. \u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The poll found that Trump\u2019s supporters are even hungrier to see him battle his Republican opponents face to face \u2014 77 percent of them said he should participate in the debate.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Alex Conant, a Republican strategist and partner at Firehouse Strategies, said Trump is employing \u201cthe classic frontrunner strategy of not giving the opposition oxygen.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<aside class=\"ad-unit ad-unit--mr6_ab\"><\/aside>\n<p>\u201cGoing on the debate stage is going to give the other candidates a chance to take him on directly,\u201d he said. \u201cHe figures he could skip at least the first two debates and not suffer in the long run.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Conant said if one of the other candidates emerges through the debates as \u201cthe primary alternative to Trump,\u201d then \u201cyou could see Trump\u2019s lead cut very quickly.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>He said Trump\u2019s strategy is to make that tougher by staying away and likely limiting the size of the national television audience. \u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<aside class=\"ad-unit ad-unit--mr7_ab\"><\/aside>\n<p>He acknowledged, however, that Trump will be very tough to beat in the primary because of his huge lead in the polls and the fact that the 50 percent of the GOP electorate not currently supporting his campaign are deeply split over whom they would prefer.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAnyone who is looking at the polls recognizes that beating Trump at this point is very difficult. You look at where we were six months ago when Donald Trump was in the thirties, there was one obvious alternative and there was a real sense that the party was ready to move on,\u201d Conant said, referring to what appeared to be a more competitive race between Trump and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) earlier this year. \u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHere we are less six months from actual voting and Trump is as dominant as ever. The only candidate with any momentum in this race is Trump,\u201d he said. \u201cThat said, the debates haven\u2019t started, Trump\u2019s legal woes are unprecedented, and there remains interest in an alternative just none of these [other] candidates have broken through.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat\u2019s what debates are for,\u201d he said. \u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Jason Miller, a senior adviser to Trump\u2019s campaign, told <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/news\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"2\" title=\"News\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">News<\/a>max that Trump\u2019s decision to skip the debate\u00a0\u201cis really going to put the spotlight on \u2026 the fact that this \u2018DeSantis reboot 4.0\u2019 is not going so well.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>A Des Moines Register\/NBC News\/<a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/social-mediaa\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"1\" title=\"Social Media\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Media<\/a>com poll of likely Republican caucus voters released Monday found that Trump\u2019s lead over DeSantis has grown by 5 points since his indictment in Georgia last week on 13 criminal charges related to trying to overturn the results of the 2020 election in the state.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The poll found 42 percent of likely caucusgoers plan to support Trump while 19 percent say they support DeSantis.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Sen. Joni Ernst (R), who represents Iowa, which will host the first contest of the 2024 presidential primary season, told The Hill last month that Trump should participate in the first debate. \u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes, he should. I think all of our Republican candidates need to express their views on the topics that are really important not just to Iowans but to all Americans,\u201d she said.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Conant, the GOP strategist, said Cassidy\u2019s view that Trump will likely lose to Biden is shared more broadly by Republican officials and strategists in Washington. \u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cPeople are tired of losing and we lost three straight elections with Donald Trump leading the party and there\u2019s concern his standing with independents hasn\u2019t gotten any better,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Smith, the political scientist affiliated with Washington University in St. Louis, said he\u2019s surprised that not more Republican senators have joined Cassidy in calling on Trump to drop out of the race given the drag his legal problems put on his viability as a general election candidate.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m surprised more Republicans have not said that already,\u201d he said, arguing that Trump\u2019s legal problems are \u201cobvious baggage that congressional Republicans do not want to carry into an election next year.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf the party\u2019s entire reputation is wrapped up in Trump \u2014 and who knows what his legal status will be [before Election Day] \u2014 that\u2019s just the kind of uncertainty that Republicans want to avoid,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>Copyright 2023 Nexstar Media Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><strong><span style=\"color: #ff6600;\">If you liked the article, do not forget to share it with your friends. Follow us on\u00a0<span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><a style=\"color: #ff0000;\" href=\"https:\/\/news.google.com\/publications\/CAAqBwgKMLG0nwswvr63Aw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\">Google News<\/a><\/span>\u00a0too, click on the star and choose us from your favorites.<\/span><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">For forums sites go to <span style=\"color: #ff9900;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/forum.buradabiliyorum.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Forum.BuradaBiliyorum.Com<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>If you want to read more News articles, you can visit our <span style=\"color: #ff9900;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/news\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">News category.<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"color: black;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/thehill.com\/homenews\/campaign\/4163349-trump-decision-to-skip-debate-fuels-gop-anxiety\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Source<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Former President Trump\u2019s decision to skip the first Republican presidential primary debate is fueling Republican angst that his rivals will have little opportunity to catch up to him in the polls. Many senior Republican officials and strategists in Washington think Trump would be a weak candidate in the general election and have an uphill path&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":588043,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thehill.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/08\/trumpdonald_081223getty_gop-angst.jpg?w=1280","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[70897],"tags":[96637,117,134343,134420,991,135665,71525],"class_list":["post-588042","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-bill-cassidy","tag-business","tag-campaign","tag-equilibrium-sustainability","tag-joe-biden","tag-mike-braun","tag-national-security"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/588042","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=588042"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/588042\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/588043"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=588042"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=588042"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=588042"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}