Former President Donald Trump reportedly dined with Fox News executives this week to discuss the rapidly approaching first Republican ...
Former President Donald Trump reportedly dined with Fox News executives this week to discuss the rapidly approaching first Republican Party primary debate after he previously dismissed the idea as “stupid” and indicated that he did not want to face “hostile” opponents and questions on the debate stage.
Trump dined with Fox News President Jay Wallace and CEO Suzanne Scott at his club in Bedminster after learning that he was going to be criminally charged in what is now the third case in which he’s been indicted.
The executives “made a soft appeal” in lobbying the 77-year-old former president to participate in the debates, according to a report from The New York Times. The report noted that several people close to Trump have warned that if he does not show up, it could backfire by allowing another candidate to catch fire.
Trump remains the frontrunner for now, while Florida Governor Ron DeSantis continues to be in clear second place. No other candidates poll anywhere near double digits, according to The New York Times/Siena poll, which is rated by FiveThirtyEight as the top poll in the nation. The poll shows a dramatic drop off after DeSantis with the next closest candidates barely registering with voters as former Vice President Mike Pence, Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC), and former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley all sit at 3%. The remaining candidates all sit at 2% or less.
While Trump appears to be dominant at the moment with just over half of the vote in The New York Times/Siena poll, the poll showed that nearly half of the respondents who chose Trump in the poll — 46% — say that they are “considering other candidates.”
The dinner between Trump and Fox News executives was described as “cordial” and the president reportedly told them that he has not yet made a decision on whether he’ll debate.
Trump said in an interview late last week with Breitbart News that the debates were what won him the 2016 GOP nomination and the 2016 general election.
The former president said that he did not want to face “hostile questions” from a “hostile network” and from “hostile” candidates on the debate stage.
The candidates that he said he did not feel like going up against were polling at “one, two, three, four, five” points, which, according to The New York Times poll, are all the candidates except for DeSantis.
Trump participating in the debates could “be a stupid thing to do,” but he says he enjoys doing them and thinks “they’re a good thing.”
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