Signs Donald Trump May Ditch The First Presidential Debate

The 2024 presidential race is heating up, and the first debate set to take place on June 27 is sure to make waves. However, there is more than one reason to question if Donald Trump will actually show up to debate President Joe Biden. With Trump and his campaign already claiming that the debate will be rigged against him, and the internet buzzing about his track record of skipping debates during the Republican primary, the evidence that Trump may be a no-show seems to be mounting.

Obviously, this won't be the first time that Trump and Biden hit the debate stage together. The pair ran against each other in the 2020 election and took part in two debates during the campaign season. Since then, neither candidate has engaged in another debate. Heading into the 2024, Trump and Biden have, so far, agreed to debate each other twice: First, in June, and then again in September. Yet, the closer we get to debate time, the more likely it seems that Trump may leave Biden standing alone on the debate stage.

From the results of the 2020 election to the outcome of his criminal fraud trial, when things don't go Donald Trump's way, he often claims that circumstances are "rigged" against him. That's already the case for the first presidential debate, which Trump claims is tilted in Joe Biden's favor. Since the debate has yet to take place, we don't yet know what the outcome will be. Trump telling his supporters that the odds have already been stacked against him may indicate that he is expecting to lose.

The presidential debate will have two moderators, Dana Bash and Jake Tapper, as well as, of course, two debaters. "There's two [of] us and two of them — it's like death," Trump said of this setup during a June rally, per The Hill. The debate will be held by CNN, a network that Trump has previously called "fake news." On June 24, Trump's campaign press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, appeared on CNN for an interview with Kasie Hunt (via X). When Leavitt repeatedly suggested that Tapper's openly negative view of Trump makes him a biased moderator, Hunt ended the interview. She then took to X, formerly known as Twitter regarding the incident, saying, "You come on my show, you respect my colleagues." Leavitt replied to the tweet, writing, "You cut off my microphone for bringing up the debate moderator's history of anti-Trump lies. This proved our point that President Trump will not be treated fairly on Thursday." 

It's not often that Donald Trump pays Joe Biden a compliment, so it's notable that his praise for Biden has been picking up as the debate approaches. This tactic may indicate that the former president is worried about how he will perform and wants to plant the idea in the public's heads that Biden is a particularly skilled debater. In a June episode of the "All-In Podcast," Trump said that Biden "beat Paul Ryan pretty badly" in a debate, adding, "I assume he's going to be somebody that will be a worthy debater. I would say I don't want to underestimate him," per NBC.

This perspective is in direct opposition to Trump's quotes in the past. Just one month prior, on May 15, Trump wrote on Truth Social, "Crooked Joe Biden is the WORST debater I have ever faced," adding that the president "can't put two sentences together!" Despite only being three years younger than the 81-year-old Biden, Trump's jabs at the president are often about his age. In March 2024, Trump discussed Biden's state of the union address with Fox News.

"He got through it. He is still breathing, and they didn't have to carry him out in a straight jacket," Trump said, noting that Biden was "very angry and that's also a symptom of a certain type of problem — senility." Despite prior insistence that Biden is too old and senile for public speaking, Trump now claims to respect the president's debating abilities.

Choosing a running mate is sure to be of the biggest decisions Donald Trump will have to make during his 2024 presidential campaign. If he doesn't make that decision by debate time, it may be another reason for him to steer clear of the stage. On June 22, Trump was stopped by a reporter with NBC News while campaigning in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. When asked if he had his pick for his vice president decided, he said, "In my mind, yeah." Regarding whether said pick would attend the upcoming debate, Trump confirmed their attendance, but teased an air of secrecy. "They'll be there. I think we have a lot of people coming." He also noted that "nobody knows" his choice yet. 

Trump's assertion that his choice for running mate will attend the debate may have a lot of folks talking about who is and is not in the audience. If Trump hasn't actually made his selection, or if he isn't 100% certain of his choice, it is possible that this may keep him away from the debate stage in an attempt to bide time.

If these possible signs really are indicators that Donald Trump won't be attending the first debate, it doesn't exactly come as a surprise. Trump ditching debates is far from unprecedented. He skipped numerous debates in the Republican primary in 2023. However, in an interview with Fox News, he was clear about why. "I like to debate. I probably am here because of debates. I don't mind it at all," he explained. "But when you're 40 points up. ... Why would I let these people take shots at me?"

"As long as he doesn't get on the debate stage, these other candidates can't call him out on anything," New Haven University's legal studies and political science practitioner in residence, Dr. Patricia Crouse, explained to WPTV at the time. In the past, Trump clearly believed that leaving his opponents alone on the debate stage would work to his advantage, and he may not be entirely wrong. Dr. Crouse said that when Trump ditches debates, "These candidates are, in essence, talking to a ghost chair ... they make these comments about, well, Trump's done this and Trump has said this. But as long as he's not on that stage, there's no pushback really." If Trump is getting cold feet about the upcoming debate, he may think that being a no-show is his best chance at coming out on top.

Donald Trump's history of flaking out on debates is leading plenty of people to expect a Trump-less debate stage on June 27. The internet has been buzzing about why he may not be there. On June 24, Republicans Against Trump, an account on X, posted a screenshot of one of Trump's Truth Social posts. The former president suggested that "Crooked Joe" Biden should receive a drug test before the upcoming debate while noting that Trump, "would also immediately agree to one!!!" The account captioned the screenshot, "Looking for an excuse to skip the debate?" One X-user commented, "Someone's sounding nervous ..."

On another tweet about Trump's call for a drug test, one commenter hypothesized, "I'm still fairly confident his excuse for bailing on the debate on Thursday will be some combination of 'Sleepy, mentally incapacitated Joe Biden will take magic pills to win the debate' and 'CNN shut down an off-the-rails interview which proves Jake Tapper won't be fair to me." Another X-user echoed this notion, tweeting, "Everyone's wondering what excuse convicted felon Trump will use to skip the debate with Biden." Only time will tell whether Trump will engage in the first debate, but one thing is already clear: If Biden ends up alone on the debate stage, most people won't be shocked.