Karl Rove, former adviser to ex-President George W. Bush, is encouraging former President Donald Trump to participate in the coming GOP primary debates, calling it an opportunity for Trump to show he’s still the “leader” of his party.
Trump has given mixed signals on participating in the first official Republican National Committee (RNC) debate, scheduled for August 23 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. While the former president previously stated that he would not be attending, he told Newsmax anchor Eric Bolling last week that he would announce his final decision about the event within the coming days.
While several of his rivals have pressured Trump to appear on the debate stage, some experts have warned that the former president would only be putting his so-far successful campaign in harm’s way by facing up to some of his biggest critics in the Republican field. Trump has maintained a steady lead ahead of the crowded field of 2024 GOP contenders, with 53 percent of likely Republican primary voters indicating in a Fox News poll conducted over the weekend that they would prefer Trump as the presidential nominee.
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Voters outside of the Republican Party, however, might tell a different story about how the debate stage could impact Trump’s success next year. According to a poll conducted by the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research, 53 percent of Americans said that they would “definitely not support” the former president if he is the Republican nominee. Another 11 percent of the 1,165 Americans surveyed said they would “probably not support him.”
Polling data released earlier this month by Reuters/Ipsos also indicated that 45 percent of Republican voters said they would not vote for Trump if he were to be “convicted of a felony crime by a jury.” The two-day poll was conducted after the former president was charged by the Department of Justice, accused of attempting to overturn the 2020 presidential election.
Rove, the former deputy chief of staff under Bush, said during an appearance on Fox News Thursday that recent polling data shows that Trump needs to appear on the debate stage to subdue the growing “doubts” around his reelection campaign.
“Look, there are dangers,” Rove said when asked if he believed Trump should debate. “If he shows up, he will be attacked by everybody in one way, shape or form.”
“But I’d show up if I were him,” Rove continued. “Because this is where you get to demonstrate, ‘I am the leader and I will remain the leader.’ If he doesn’t show up, there are going to be people who say to themselves … ‘didn’t he mock Joe Biden for not debating, and hasn’t he said he’s the world’s greatest debater?'”
“Doubts are growing,” he added. “So he’s got to find ways to assuage those kinds of growing concerns. And the best way to do it is to show up on August 23 and September 27.”
Trump has previously said that he would not participate in the primary debates because they are being hosted by Fox News, which the former president claims hasn’t covered his other campaign events enough.
He also has said that he takes issue with the RNC’s pledge that all candidates are required to sign before debating, which states that if the signee loses in the GOP primary, they will “honor the will of the primary voters and support the Republican presidential nominee in order to save our country and beat Joe Biden.”
In a post to his Truth Social account Thursday night, Trump raised questions about why he would need to participate in the GOP debates at all, pointing to his “extraordinary” polling numbers ahead of the other Republican candidates.
“[Former President Ronald] Reagan didn’t do it, and neither did others,” he wrote. “People know my Record, one of the BEST EVER, so why would I Debate? I’M YOUR MAN. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!”
Newsweek contacted Trump’s campaign team on Thursday night for further comment.
Update 08/17/23, 9:06 p.m. ET: This story has been updated with additional comment from Trump’s Truth Social account.
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