# Trump to skip debate **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [January 27, 2016, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-to-skip-debate/744323 "2016-01-27T00:36:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2016, 4:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-to-skip-debate/744323/41 "2016-01-27T04:36:54Z")
I wasn’t really serious, guys. 😉 At least about the new network. OTOH, I still bet the marketing and branding team @ FoxNews is shitting bricks about how this is dividing their (previously-believed monolithic) audience. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2016, 4:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-to-skip-debate/744323/42 "2016-01-27T04:38:05Z")
… And thank you, Qin. ---
**Author:** ![Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/f04885/32.png) [@Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qin_Shi_Huangdi)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2016, 4:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-to-skip-debate/744323/43 "2016-01-27T04:40:58Z")
> [@DSeid](#): > > Except that his support is weakest within the far-right of the party. [In Iowa at least](http://www.quinnipiac.edu/news-and-events/quinnipiac-university-poll/iowa/release-detail?ReleaseID=2318://) those self-identified as “very conservative”, as “Tea Party” and as “Evangelical” all solidly prefer Cruz to Trump. He is stronger among those who identify as “moderate/liberal” (liberal?) … and is stronger among those who have never before attended a caucus than those who have (Cruz leads in the latter). Does that matter? What matters is that he’s leading and he’s been increasing his lead ever since calling into question the Canadian’s eligibility for office and his disgusting behaviour of attempting to turn Americans on each other with his vile “New York values” comment. > [@](#): > > His supporters believe he is a strong leader. That’s what they care about. I just have a hard time seeing how running away from a debate plays into that persona. A wise and strong man picks his battles and does not blindly fall into traps. > [@](#): > > No hiding in a veterans themed charity event will not save him from being mocked: “The man who mocked Senator McCain’s war service while never having served himself now looks to veterans as cover as he hides …” [/QUOTE] Nonsense. To sensible observers, it will be obvious that Trump is behaving Presidentially by effecting real change while the party hacks bicker over trivialities. ---
**Author:** ![Peremensoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ce7236/32.png) [@Peremensoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peremensoe)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2016, 4:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-to-skip-debate/744323/44 "2016-01-27T04:42:23Z")
> [@Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](#): > > Yet Trump’s nuggets of wisdom have packed enough fight in every previous case to utterly annihilate and reduce to atoms the carefully amassed, pseudointellectual critiques of him. Don’t you mean TRUMP’s Nuggets of Incredible Wisdom! ---
**Author:** ![SlackerInc](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slackerinc/32/275_2.png) [@SlackerInc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SlackerInc)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2016, 4:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-to-skip-debate/744323/45 "2016-01-27T04:51:11Z")
> [@Morgenstern](#): > > That’s fine, as long as he doesn’t gain more supporters. It’s really scary that adults in American could actually consider voting for this guy. I wonder if there has ever been a more unqualified individual get this far in the process. Dubya? Keep in mind that Texas has a very weak governor by design. > [@Simplicio](#): > > I didn’t realize the difference was that big, but you’re right. I looked up, and this years viewer totals are twice or three times 2012. Though they do appear to be dropping, suggesting even with Trump, poeple are loosing interest in the spectacle. > > Sort of an interesting business question though. Do advertisers pay after the fact based on what the ratings were, or ahead of time based on expected ratings? Will they get a partical refund if ratings do end up half of the expected total? My understanding is (B) and (C). Rebates (perhaps compensatory ad time later on) will be owed. ---
**Author:** ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2016, 4:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-to-skip-debate/744323/46 "2016-01-27T04:56:46Z")
If you say so **Qin**. Meanwhile a **DSeid** prediction: Trump, despite being currently up by nearly 6 on Cruz and 21 on Rubio in the RCP Iowa rolling average will now lose Iowa handily and will drop his lead in New Hampshire significantly over the next week of polling. But hey I’m an insensible observer who does not see disrespecting the voters running away from a debate as presidential … “true sensible observers” may be very rare. I am still hopeful he will do well enough to last the distance and keep this circus going for a good long time. So I hope you are right and I am wrong! Oh **Qin** the way it matters is that the poll that counts is the one taken on election day. As a general principle those who identify as very conservative, as Tea Party, and those who have caucused before, are more likely to make it to vote on caucus day than the other groups. Trump could flip that tradition (past performance is no guarantee of future results) but unlikely. ---
**Author:** ![foolsguinea](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foolsguinea/32/14751_2.png) [@foolsguinea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foolsguinea)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2016, 6:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-to-skip-debate/744323/47 "2016-01-27T06:12:51Z")
[Politico](http://www.politico.com/story/2016/01/donald-trump-fox-debate-218264) > [@](#): > > This is not the first time Trump has played hardball with a debate host. After the mogul looked physically fatigued at a marathon three-hour CNN debate in September, he threatened in October to withdraw from the following debate if its host, CNBC, did not limit the debate’s length to two hours. A day after the businessman threatened withdrawal, the network set the length of its debate to two hours, and Trump took credit for the time limit. > > [snip] > > Trump’s campaign issued a statement on the debate late Tuesday: "Mr. Trump knows a bad deal when he sees one. FOX News is making tens of millions of dollars on debates, and setting ratings records (the highest in history), where as in previous years they were low-rated afterthoughts. Unlike the very stupid, highly incompetent people running our country into the ground, Mr. Trump knows when to walk away. Roger Ailes and FOX News think they can toy with him, but Mr. Trump doesn’t play games. There have already been six debates, and according to all online debate polls including Drudge, Slate, Time Magazine, and many others, Mr. Trump has won all of them, in particular the last one.” > > Read more: [http://www.politico.com/story/2016/01/donald-trump-fox-debate-218264#ixzz3yQGd4wZ3](http://www.politico.com/story/2016/01/donald-trump-fox-debate-218264#ixzz3yQGd4wZ3) Trump apparently is too weak to be President, and he’s afraid he might lose the last debate. Here is the beginning of the end of his campaign. Good! This gives the non-Trump, non-Cruz candidates more opportunity to make their own (possibly still stupid) cases for being elected President. ---
**Author:** ![Lobohan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobohan/32/79_2.png) [@Lobohan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobohan)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2016, 6:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-to-skip-debate/744323/48 "2016-01-27T06:58:53Z")
> [@Jayhawker\_Soule](#): > > Cleverness and effectiveness cracks you up? He will come out of this ahead, leaving you laughing awkwardly in the background. It’s fair to point out that the Trump’s demographic are fucking idiots. If they like him capering like a mental deficient, that doesn’t mean it’s not worth laughing at. ---
**Author:** ![up\_the\_junction](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/f1d935/32.png) [@up\_the\_junction](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/up_the_junction)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2016, 8:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-to-skip-debate/744323/49 "2016-01-27T08:10:22Z")
Great call by Trump - he has some outstanding people working his campaigning; constantly shifting the ground, always retaining the spotlight, relentlessly defining the news cycle narrative: Everyone else is lost in the vapour trail. ---
**Author:** ![up\_the\_junction](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/f1d935/32.png) [@up\_the\_junction](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/up_the_junction)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2016, 8:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-to-skip-debate/744323/50 "2016-01-27T08:11:22Z")
Almost zero political content, of course 🙂 But is this actually about politics … ---
**Author:** ![Locrian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/locrian/32/14146_2.png) [@Locrian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Locrian)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2016, 8:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-to-skip-debate/744323/51 "2016-01-27T08:19:14Z")
He heard that politicians will be there, using big words to confuse his supporters. ---
**Author:** ![SlackerInc](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slackerinc/32/275_2.png) [@SlackerInc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SlackerInc)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2016, 12:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-to-skip-debate/744323/52 "2016-01-27T12:41:27Z")
Doing a veterans benefit instead is genius, IMO. ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2016, 12:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-to-skip-debate/744323/53 "2016-01-27T12:53:43Z")
So the guy who’s going to stare down Putin, ISIS, North Korea, and Iran is afraid of Megyn Kelly? She must be tough as nails- let’s nominate her instead! ---
**Author:** ![Fenris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fenris/32/498_2.png) [@Fenris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fenris)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2016, 2:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-to-skip-debate/744323/54 "2016-01-27T14:01:19Z")
This is why Trump is such a sissy-ass wimp. Someone hurts his teeny-tiny feelings and he takes his ball and runs home crying and sucking his thumb. What’s gonna happen when Putin is mean to him. Is he gonna refuse to meet with him too? If this douche can’t handle Megan Kelly asking (actually pretty dumb but) tough questions, how’s he gonna handle a summit meeting? ---
**Author:** ![CandidGamera](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/candidgamera/32/2878_2.png) [@CandidGamera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CandidGamera)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2016, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-to-skip-debate/744323/55 "2016-01-27T14:09:53Z")
This is just the break the McCain campaign has been waiting for! ---
**Author:** ![Folacin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/folacin/32/3195_2.png) [@Folacin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Folacin)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2016, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-to-skip-debate/744323/56 "2016-01-27T14:11:43Z")
> [@Brainiac4](#): > > If he’s not there, they’ll still talk about him. He gets to respond afterwards, **with time to think** about his responses, and _of course_ his response to any trash-talking will be a bigger story than anything in the debate itself. Can I ask for a cite that Trump has ever thought about his responses? ---
**Author:** ![CarnalK](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnalk/32/486_2.png) [@CarnalK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CarnalK)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2016, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-to-skip-debate/744323/57 "2016-01-27T14:26:29Z")
> [@Fenris](#): > > This is why Trump is such a sissy-ass wimp. Someone hurts his teeny-tiny feelings and he takes his ball and runs home crying and sucking his thumb. What’s gonna happen when Putin is mean to him. Is he gonna refuse to meet with him too? If this douche can’t handle Megan Kelly asking (actually pretty dumb but) tough questions, how’s he gonna handle a summit meeting? I know it’s fun to bash Trump, but skipping one of the twelve debates isn’t quite the same as skipping an international summit. ---
**Author:** ![The\_wind\_of\_my\_soul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecc23a/32.png) [@The\_wind\_of\_my\_soul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_wind_of_my_soul)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2016, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-to-skip-debate/744323/58 "2016-01-27T14:44:30Z")
Does anyone know whether Paul’s going to skip the debate again? I think this move by Trump is pretty smart. He became the front-runner before these debates even began, and I don’t think any debate has either helped or hurt him that much. It’s not like he needs the exposure, either – people know who he is. And I really don’t see it as Trump being scared to face Kelly, or having hurt feelings, or anything like that. It’s his way of retaliating: “I didn’t like how you talked to me, so I’m going to make your ratings go down.” (Of course, it remains to be seen whether ratings do go down, but I suspect they will. And as several people have pointed out upthread, he can say they go down either way.) ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2016, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-to-skip-debate/744323/59 "2016-01-27T14:51:26Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > 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. Easy. He can start making sense. ---
**Author:** ![The\_wind\_of\_my\_soul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecc23a/32.png) [@The\_wind\_of\_my\_soul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_wind_of_my_soul)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2016, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-to-skip-debate/744323/60 "2016-01-27T14:55:27Z")
I think the easiest way for Trump to lose supporters is to apologize for the inflammatory things he’s said. I think a lot of people are drawn to the fact that he doesn’t back down when he receives pressure from other people to retract/apologize for his comments. If he begins apologizing, he loses the basis of his appeal. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-to-skip-debate/744323.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-to-skip-debate/744323.md?page=4)