RNC chief: It'd be a 'mistake' for Trump to skip debate

Republican National Committee (RNC) Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel said she thinks it would be a mistake for former President Trump to skip the first Republican presidential debate next month. 

“I think he should be on the stage. I want everybody on the stage that qualifies, obviously,” McDaniel told Fox News’s Steve Doocy in an interview Wednesday morning. 

Trump, the front-runner for the Republican presidential nomination, has not yet committed to the debate, which is scheduled to take place late next month in Milwaukee and air on Fox News.

“I like to debate. I probably am here because of debates. I don’t mind it at all,” Trump told Fox News’s Bret Baier in an interview last month.

“But when you’re 40 points up … Why would I let these people take shots at me?” he added, referencing polling that shows him leading in the Republican primary.

“But here’s the problem, you know that once we have the first debate, people are going to go shopping around and go, if Trump’s not there, they’re going to, you know, ‘I kind of like that person or I like that person,'” McDaniel said, noting if the former president came back to another debate, it would look like “he had to because he’s losing momentum.” 

McDaniel said she has spoken with Trump about his attendance, but did not provide further details on that conversation.

“But I do think it’s two-fold. One, short term, you want to win the nomination,” McDaniel continued. “You’ve got to get in front of those primary voters. But for me, it’s another part of it, which is if you end up getting the nomination for any of these candidates, this is an honest audience of 20 million plus.” 

McDaniel argued President Biden has the “legacy media on his side,” and not getting on the debate stage would be “more of an opportunity for Joe Biden to continue to get his message out.” 

McDaniel urged Trump to talk about what can be done under Republican leadership, “after the failure of Joe Biden,” pointing to topics including fentanyl deaths, the border and crime. 

“This is an opportunity for us to contrast our ideas versus the Democrats,” McDaniel said. “It’s not just about the primary, it’s also about the general election, because we are going to need independent voters and other to win the White House."

In order to participate in the debates, the RNC requires candidates to pledge to support the eventual GOP presidential nominee, something Trump has not promised to do. 

Trump previously said it would “depend on who the nominee is.”