Donald Trump skips second Republican debate: Do they even matter?

We are almost a year away from the United States 2024 presidential election, but the race is already on. The Republican Party has already conducted two of its presidential debates, with the second being held on 27 September at the Ronald Reagan library in California.

Seven Republicans presidential hopefuls – political newcomer Vivek Ramaswamy, former UN ambassador Nikki Haley, former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, Florida governor Ron DeSantis, Trump’s vice president Mike Pence, South Carolina senator Tim Scott and North Dakota governor Doug Burgum – took to the stage in California, battling it out on issues ranging from immigration to China.

However, former US president and leading frontrunner from the GOP, Donald Trump, once again decided to skip the debate and instead chose to deliver a speech at a non-union plant in Clinton Township in Michigan, in an attempt to court blue-collar workers of America.

Trump’s decision to refrain from the debate for a second time – he also skipped the 24 August event in Milwaukee – has got people asking: Is there any point to such debates? Does it matter that the former president opts not to participate?

Trump’s a no show

Former US president Donald Trump skipped the California debate as he did in Milwaukee. However, his absence was recognised at the second debate unlike the first one. The candidates went after the former US president hoping to distinguish themselves.

Florida governor Ron DeSantis, who is attempting to be an alternative to Trump, said: “He should be on this stage tonight. He owes it to you to defend his record where they added $7.8 trillion to the debt. That set the stage for the inflation we have now.”

Chris Christie also lambasted Trump for his absence, saying the former president “hides behind the walls of his golf clubs and won’t show up here to answer questions like all the rest of us are up here to answer.”

He even added, “Donald, I know you’re watching. You can’t help yourself. You’re ducking these things. And let me tell you what’s going to happen. You keep doing that, no one here’s going to call you Donald Trump anymore. We’re going to call you Donald Duck.”

Trump, on the other hand, travelled to Michigan and addressed workers at a non-union plant. “I side with the autoworkers of America,” said the former US president, laying out his vision of economic nationalism. He also attacked his successor, Joe Biden, saying, “Joe Biden claims to be the most pro-union president in history. Nonsense. Think of it. His entire career has been an act of economic treason and union destruction.”

Debate matters

The former US president’s absence at the GOP debates has become a talking point amongst leaders and pundits. Trump, himself, however, has said that he won’t attend them as he sees no point in them.

In a statement sent a few minutes before the debate wrapped, Chris LaCivita, a senior adviser to the Trump campaign, complained that the Fox Business and Univision-hosted event was “as boring and inconsequential as the first debate,” and added that “nothing that was said will change the dynamics of the primary contest being dominated by President Trump.” LaCivita also noted the polling advantage that Trump has over his GOP rivals, and his competitiveness against President Joe Biden.

“The RNC should immediately put an end to any further primary debates so we can train our fire on Crooked Joe Biden and quit wasting time and money that could be going to evicting Biden from the White House,” LaCivita added.

This statement echoes what Trump had said in August when he announced that he would be skipping the first debate. “The public knows who I am & what a successful presidency I had. I WILL THEREFORE NOT BE DOING THE DEBATES!,” he wrote on his social media site, Truth Social.

Even prior to this, Trump in an interview in June with Fox News host Bret Baier had said: “Why would I allow people at 1 or 2 per cent and 0 per cent to be hitting me with questions all night?”

And many poll pundits concur with Trump. The former US president is leading the polls with considerable advantage over other candidates and sharing the stage with them brings Trump no benefit.

Alan Schroeder, professor emeritus of journalism and expert in televised debates, told Northeastern Global News, “Candidates who are ahead in the polls can be a little more choosy about whether they participate more [and] at what point do they begin to participate.” He further added that live debates can be risky because it is hard to predict what is going to happen. “Debates can hurt or help a candidate stand out in the crowd.”

Even Zack Beauchamp writing for Vox said that the “Republican primary debate is not a real event. It is a performance, a show, a pantomime: a shiny object with virtually no relevance to the outcome of the 2024 presidential primary”.

In his article, titled ‘The Republican debate is fake’, he writes, “Trump isn’t participating in the debates because he doesn’t need to: He would be lowering himself to share a stage with people who pretend to be rivals, but are really just the warm-up act for his coronation.”

But there are others who believe that the debates matter. The debates give viewers an opportunity to see the candidates speak their minds, without aides hanging on their shoulders or whispering in their ears. Of course they rehearse, but even if they go off-topic, that’s important too.

Moreover, the debate lays the ground for whom the Republican Party’s biggest donors will loosen their purse strings. As the New York Times reports, it will be after the second debate that major contributors will decide who they might rally behind in the coming months.

Debates also make a big impact in how television audiences perceive the candidates. In Milwaukee at the first debate, Christie faced audible boos in the audience after he was critical of Trump. It wasn’t the same in California.

Some poll experts also opine that the debates are significant, as it will help the candidates improve their future political prospects. It also provides a window into the policy debates that will define a post-Trump Republican Party.

History of the GOP debates

But even as America argues about the significance of the GOP debate, it’s interesting to note that the practice began all the way back in 1948. Two Republicans aspiring to depose Democratic President Harry Truman battled it out in an audio-only radio debate hosted in Portland, Oregon.

Later, former President George W Bush, like Trump, too skipped the first few debates in the 2000 race.

Notably, since 1980, the number of Republican primary debates has increased – from seven in 1988 to 20 in 2012 and 19 in 2016. The growth coincides with the rise in number of people seeking the party’s nomination in each cycle.

It’s left to be seen if Trump will join the third debate, but for now, he remains the frontrunner for the Republicans, with most expecting a rerun of the 2020 polls – Trump vs Biden.

With inputs from agencies