On January 10th, mere days before the critical Iowa Caucus, CNN will host a fifth Republican primary debate in Des Moines—the first non-RNC-sanctioned event of the election cycle. But while Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley have qualified and are preparing to take the stage, other candidates like tech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy haven’t made the cut…and former President Donald Trump has once again declined to attend.
The CNN primary debate, which will air live from Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa, features the strictest participation requirements so far. In order to appear onstage, candidates were required to report 10% support in preapproved national polls by the January 2nd deadline.
(RELATED: CNN Announces Two Republican Primary Debates in 2024…Without GOP Approval)
Donald Trump, the current frontrunner with 63% of the national vote, easily made the cut, as did Nikki Haley (11%) and Ron DeSantis (10.9%). Vivek Ramaswamy (4.3%), former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie (3.3%), and former Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson (0.8%) all missed the deadline after struggling to gain ground in Iowa.
But despite his more than 50-point lead—or perhaps because of it—Trump has once again decided to skip the debate in favor of some form of counter-programming.
On Tuesday, the former President announced that he will participate in a town hall event hosted by Fox News, marking an apparent end in Trump’s rivalry with the conservative network. The town hall, hosted by Fox hosts Bret Baier and Martha MacCallum, will air live at 9 p.m.—the exact same time as the CNN broadcast.
Trump also preemptively announced his intent to skip CNN’s debate in New Hampshire on January 21st, though he made no mention of additional counterprogramming for that evening. Last month, Trump told radio host Hugh Hewitt that he would only debate another Republican if someone managed to catch up to him in the polls…and so far, no one has.
“Yeah, I would, if it’s very close,” Trump said. “I would debate that Republican, yeah. But it’s not close.”
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Meanwhile, DeSantis and Haley, who are neck-and-neck in Iowa ahead of the Caucus, both bashed Trump for once again dodging a confrontation.
“With only three candidates qualifying for the CNN debate, it’s time for Donald Trump to show up,” Haley said in a statement after Trump’s announcement. “As the debate stage continues to shrink, it’s getting harder for Donald Trump to hide.”
“We understand Donald Trump is scared to get on the stage because he’d have to finally explain why he didn’t build the wall, added nearly $8 trillion to the debt, and turned the country over to Fauci,” DeSantis campaign spokesperson Andrew Romeo said in a statement. “If it would make the debate more inviting, we would gladly agree to make it a seated format where the former president would be more comfortable.”
“He’s not been willing to come here and answer questions,” the Florida governor told reporters in Iowa. “He parachutes in for 30, 45-minute, hour speech and then just leaves, rather than listening to Iowans answering questions and doing, I think, what it takes to win.”
But while the qualified candidates squabble over participation, Vivek Ramaswamy has written off the entire event as establishment propaganda.
“Establishment insiders will be on the CNN stage,” he told Fox News. “Outsiders will be speaking directly to the people.”
“Ratings wasteland CNN has not only guaranteed themselves the most boring presidential ‘debate’ in modern history with two career politicians reciting consultant-vetted talking points, but the network has exposed itself to be actively engaging in egregious interference with the Iowa GOP caucus and disrespecting GOP voters,” the entrepreneur’s campaign spokespeople continued. “Censorship, cherry-picking polls, and legal threats are just the mainstream media’s latest tactics to prop up their favorite puppet.”
Like Trump, Ramaswamy will attempt to supersede the CNN debate by having a live town hall with podcaster Tim Pool. This announcement was accompanied by a lengthy X post detailing his various grievances with CNN.
Forget @CNN’s fake Iowa “debate” on Jan 10 which will be the most boring in modern history. We’re doing a live-audience show that night in Des Moines with @Timcast instead. Won’t hold back. Here’s the backstory on CNN’s shenanigans:
– On Dec 13, CNN disgracefully cut short its…— Vivek Ramaswamy (@VivekGRamaswamy) January 2, 2024
Connor Walcott is a staff writer covering politics, culture, and business for Valuetainment.com. Follow Connor on X (Twitter).
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