Former President Donald Trump, the current Republican frontrunner, announced on Friday that he will skip the third presidential debate in Miami on November 8. Trump, who still boasts a double-digit lead over his competition, will instead host a campaign rally in nearby Hialeah, Florida.
The Friday announcement from Trump’s campaign marks the third consecutive time the former president has skipped a GOP debate. In each case, Trump has offered some form of counter-programming as a not-so-subtle jab at mainstream media outlets that refuse to report on his success in the polls.
During the first debate in Milwaukee, Trump appeared in a pre-recorded interview with former Fox News host Tucker Carlson, drawing drastically more views than the debate.
Ep. 19 Debate Night with Donald J Trump pic.twitter.com/ayPfII48CO
— Tucker Carlson (@TuckerCarlson) August 24, 2023
During the second debate in California, Trump spoke to striking autoworkers in Michigan and livestreamed his address on Rumble.
Trump’s plan for the third debate will put him just 30 miles away from the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts, where his primary challengers will be facing off in what increasingly seems to be a battle for second place. Meanwhile, Trump’s rally will be held in Hialeah’s Ted Hendricks Stadium, with the event scheduled to begin an hour before the joint NBC/Fox News broadcast of the debate.
Trump’s campaign once again argued that the former president has no obligation to debate opponents who are so far behind him in the polls but his absence at the first two debates drew considerable criticism from his challengers.
In light of Trump’s announcement, former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie may have no choice but to start calling him “Donald Duck.”
The Republican National Committee is requiring participating candidates to have at least 4% support in national polls and 70,000 unique donors across multiple states. Aside from Trump himself, only Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, and former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley have met the requirements. With less than a month to go until the debate, the remaining candidates are quickly running out of time to catch up.
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