Reports suggest that former President Donald Trump is “likely” to boycott at least one of the first two Republican primary debates, the New York Times reported on Tuesday.
Donald Trump reportedly trying to boycott
Citing sources who discussed the debates with Trump, the Times said the former president is concerned he would “breathe life into his Republican challengers by sharing a stage with them.”
Trump also reportedly has an issue with Fox News – specifically, Special Report host Bret Baier:
“Why would I have Bret Baier” question me, Mr. Trump told an associate, explaining a reason to skip the Fox News debate. Mr. Trump was furious with Mr. Baier, a Fox host, over his coverage of the 2020 election, in which Mr. Baier refuted many of the election-fraud claims made by the Trump team.
It has been noted that Baier isn’t the only Fox News host or former host he has talked about privately.
“Mr. Trump has also mentioned his previous skirmish with the former Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly in his private conversations with associates as a reason not to agree to a debate hosted by the network,” the Times reported. In the first Republican primary debate in 2015, Kelly famously asked Trump about comments he made about women. After the debate, Trump raged at Kelly using “crude and sexist terms,” as the Times characterized them.
This would not mark the first time Trump has skipped a debate. It was back in January 2016 that Trump was a no-show at a Fox News debate in Iowa. After the field winnowed down to him and Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), Trump boycotted another debate set to air on Fox News in March, resulting in its cancelation.
Trump has falsely claimed the 2020 election was stolen from him and expects right-wing media to echo his views on the matter – or at least avoid contradicting him. As the anchor of Fox News’s nightly news program, Baier fact-checked a missive from Trump in 2021 in which the former president lashed out at the host for not going along with his election fraud claims.
