It’s that last bit that cracks me up!
More power to him if he can do this. He’ll probably score more points with his supporters!
Cleverness and effectiveness cracks you up? He will come out of this ahead, leaving you laughing awkwardly in the background.
He’s had a mild surge in the Iowa polls, so from his perspective, its probably advantageous to pass and avoid any blunder that might change the current situation (granted, its a little hard at this point to come up with something he could do that would hurt him).
I guess the risk is that without him taking up so much air-time, Cruz and/or Rubio (or Bush I guess, though that’s a little hard to picture) will be able to distinguish themselves more effectively, and get enough good media coverage in the few days before Iowa that they’ll come out ahead in the vote.
No, performance-art comedy cracks DSeid up. It’s long been rumored that Trump wants out of this race, and is desperately looking for something that will make his supporters abandon him. This looks like just one more desperate ploy.
Hey no question that childish tantruming has played well for him and this bit may as well.* Does not change the giggleworthiness of Trump trying to claim the part of playing the grownup.
*Or may backfire badly. I suspect the latter. We’ll see. Before this he was leading with an RCP rolling average of 5.7 above Cruz and 21.2 above Rubio. Giving everyone else more airtime and the portion of the public that is still making up their mind in the last week the chance to hear what the other candidates sound like without his posturing on the same stage? Somehow I doubt it will enhance his position from that. But again - we’ll see.
He didn’t actually specify that he was playing the grown up. Maybe he was just allowing a tantrum free space for others to have grown up time. 
It’s an interesting campaign decision. Paul skipped the last undercard debate in a move that got him more attention than the debate. That’s vastly different than the front runner skipping the main show. Trump can look strong to his core supporters. At the same time he avoids having to replay his contentiousness with FoxNews that might keep him from expanding his support. Whether avoiding reruns of the arrogant dickhead show mutes concerns or makes him look like a petulant child to the minds he needs to change remains to be seen.
It may be a brilliant move. I could also see it failing miserably. It’s certainly different. I wonder how it will play in IA and NH.
For a split second I saw that second sentence as “he’ll probably score more points with his superpowers” – which is actually not far from the truth of his utterly unfathomable campaign advances. 
I have no idea how this will impact him in this madness of a race, but it wouldn’t surprise me at all if the ratings go way down – in fact I strongly suspect they will. Because it will clearly be way less entertaining. The fascinating thing – truly absolutely fascinating – is that Trump thinks that the chief clown in the main circus tent deciding to take his cream pies, his unicycle, and his ball and go home out of sulking spite, and the consequent drop in circus attendance, has some kind of bearing on his qualifications to be president of the United States.
I’m watching CNN and they are positively giddy over this.
Interesting possible side effects…
Kasich has pulled into third in NH by RCP poll averages in a tight race between him, Cruz, and Rubio at 2-4. In the moderates pursuing the NH strategy, he’s ahead of Bush and Christie by 3.5 and 4.3%. With many thinking of NH as a likely elimination round between those three moderates, a Trump free debate presents an opportunity with an impact on which of them makes it to March.
and from that NY Times link: regarding his being treated unfairly at the debate.
"A statement from the network was even harsher, invoking President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia and Iran’s supreme leader:
“We learned from a secret back channel that the Ayatollah and Putin both intend to treat Donald Trump unfairly when they meet with him if he becomes president — a nefarious source tells us that Trump has his own secret plan to replace the Cabinet with his Twitter followers to see if he should even go to those meetings.”
wow, go Fox go!
It’s a balls on the table kinda move; he won’t show up to the debate, the ratings will be negligible, he will look quite powerful and in control to many.
Eh, I’m sure it’ll hurt ratings somewhat, but given that its the last debate before primaries start, I’m sure they’ll do alright. People did watch debates before Trump, after all.
Though regardless of what happens, I’m sure Trump will say ratings were negligable.
Ratings are though the roof when Trump is there-- no comparison to previous years. I suspect they will start out high, but without Trump, they’ll settle back to the so-so ratings of yesteryear.
If the goal is to actually win the nomination then what matters is not national ratings right now but impacting the decision of those who are likely Iowa caucus goers and NH voters who have not yet decided or whose decision is still soft and who say they might yet change their minds.
Those unsures are 30 to 45% of likely GOP voters. Those people are deciding for sure this week and their choices and who actually shows to vote are what will determine the outcome in those two states. They are likely viewers.
Not a big ratings number but a very important viewing demographic.
Underperforming in those states would deflate his brand faster than his losing his Viagra script would deflate something else.
Bummer.
I do think there will be a big drop in the ratings.
I also think there could be some possibility that Fox caves & apologizes to Trump, allowing him to look dominant & magnanimous as he returns to the debate stage. He might even come halfway through & walk in saying that he had punished them long enough & showed them he meant business.
Words I never expected to read here.
Let be frank, someone that watches debates to find out policy positions and decide on who to vote for… is not a Trump voter.
Please please Trump win the nomination please don’t let this circus be over yet *spoken as someone who doesn’t have a dog in this fight and wants anyone but the crazies to win
Unless he has a 1 hour special interview lined up with a local affiliate or competi g channel?
Exactly. It’s a risk free move because the facts don’t matter. Regardless of what the ratings are, Trump will claim they were down because he wasn’t there, and his followers will believe him as though he shot a guy on fifth avenue.