GOP DEBATE NIGHT TOMORROW WON’T BE QUITE THE SAME WITHOUT HIM:

The Trump I know would be all over these debates – he'd walk on that stage and remind us all why he's leading. He'd be a lion with those numbers and he'd make the moderator look pathetic anytime they targeted or harassed him.

This SHOULD be his wheelhouse.

I don't get this. https://t.co/evw1q0jyTe

— The🐰FOO (@PolitiBunny) August 21, 2023

I get it… but on the other hand:

Why is Trump debating such a bad idea?

First of all, what’s his upside? What does he get out of debating? He’s at about 50% of the GOP electorate, according to polls five months out of Iowa. That’s not great for a former prezzy, but his current lead dwarfs all his competitors, including his nearest rival and my personal choice, Alligator Ron. The fact is that he has topped out. He’s already at his peak. There’s no advantage to debating. He has nothing to gain. Absolutely no one is going to watch Trump one more time after eight years in the political spotlight, and after all these bogus witch hunt frame jobs, and say, “Well, this is a side I have never seen of Trump. I will reconsider my objections to his mean tweets and qualms about his electability and board the Trump train.”

The calculus for his competitors is different. All the other candidates, from Ron through Nikki! through Soft Tim Scott through rappin’ Vivek Ramaswamy to heavyweight Chris Christie, will be looking for A Moment. A Moment lets you break out. A Moment changes everything.

On the third hand, Trump won’t be there to stomp all over someone else’s campaign-defining moment, assuming one happens.

As usual, I’ll drunkblog the Wednesday night debate over at the mothership.

UPDATE: Fox News restricts Trump team’s access to debate ‘spin room.’ “Fox restricted access to the post-debate ‘spin room’ at Fiserv Forum to aides of candidates who are participating in the debate, according to a network memo obtained by Axios.”

That’s fair.

But: “Even if a candidate has a breakthrough moment Wednesday, Trump will dominate headlines Thursday, when he surrenders to authorities in Georgia to face charges for his efforts to overturn the 2020 election.”

Well, there’s the stomp.