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Why is Trump afraid to debate?

Washington Examiner April 26, 12:01 AM April 26, 12:01 AM Video Embed

Former President Donald Trump is unarguably the man to beat in the race for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination. Beyond that, he is the 900-pound gorilla of Republican politics, capable with his endorsement of changing primary outcomes — even or particularly if giving nominations to poor candidates.

He also has the brass to declare that he will continue his candidacy even in the unlikely event that he is found guilty of any of the 34 felony charges he faces in New York.

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Given such a show of confidence, why is Trump afraid to debate his Republican opponents for the presidency?

There is nothing deeper than cowardice behind a tirade Trump poured on to Truth Social yesterday about the primary debate process:

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The statement is a ludicrous claim of entitlement. Trump acts as if he were owed not only the Republican Party’s nomination but also unilateral control of its debate schedule. He is owed neither. In fact, he is asking for a privilege.

Trump is coming to the Republican Party as anyone else might. With his candidacy, he is asking for the great honor and opportunity that only very few people enjoy — to represent a party’s members and voters in the next presidential election. He doesn’t get that just because he is a former president or just because he is The Donald — he has to earn it again. It is not his by right.

If he is too chicken to debate his current or prospective opponents, people whose intelligence and competence he calls into question, what makes him think he can win the presidency? Of Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL), who is not yet a candidate, Trump has said the man would be “working probably at a law firm, or maybe a Pizza Hut,” if not for Trump’s support. If Trump believes this or any of his other derisive assertions about candidates who are running or might run against him, he should easily outperform all of them on the debate stage. After all, he dominated the 2016 debates.

Candidates who refuse to debate usually do so because they have something to hide. In Trump’s case, it appears to be his weakness as a general election candidate. Multiple polls in key states now him losing the general election to President Joe Biden for a second time, even though Biden is unpopular and trails at least one other Republican candidate in head-to-head matchups. Trump’s other weakness was hinted at in one of these polls. Arizona voters who were prompted with a Trump-Biden matchup question first were significantly more likely to support Democrats for Congress than the ones prompted with a matchup between DeSantis and Biden. That means Trump weakens his party colleagues as well as is weak himself.

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Trump should participate in the Republican debates if he wishes to persuade Republican voters that he is not the loser portrayed in polling data and the 2020 election result. He needs to convince them that even though the Republican Party has now lost three elections in a row under his leadership, it will be different next time.

Trump owes Republican voters that much. He owes them much more, indeed, but thinks only that other people owe him.

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