A spokesman for Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) slammed former President Donald Trump for choosing not to appear at the primary debate this week.
Trump confirmed Sunday that he will not be participating in the first GOP debate in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Wednesday. The former president is currently in the lead for the party’s nomination and claimed in a Truth Social post that “the public knows who I am.”
UP FOR DEBATE: TRUMP, DESANTIS, AND 2024 GOP HOPEFULS’ STANCE ON CRIME
No one is entitled to this nomination, including Donald Trump. You have to show up and earn it. Ron DeSantis is looking forward to being in Milwaukee Wednesday to share his vision for what he will do as president to reverse our decline and lead an American revival. https://t.co/02SKtrKlpL
— Andrew Romeo (@andrewromeo33) August 20, 2023
“No one is entitled to this nomination, including Donald Trump,” DeSantis spokesman Andrew Romeo posted on X, formerly known as Twitter, responding to a tweet with a screenshot of Trump’s post. “You have to show up and earn it. Ron DeSantis is looking forward to being in Milwaukee Wednesday to share his vision for what he will do as president to reverse our decline and lead an American revival.”
DeSantis and Trump have qualified for the debate with their polling numbers and individual donations. However, Trump has refused to sign the loyalty pledge, committing not to run as a third-party candidate should he not win the Republican nomination, while DeSantis has signed it.
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Besides DeSantis and Trump, the remaining GOP candidates include former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, former Vice President Mike Pence, former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson, former Texas Rep. Will Hurd, Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC), Gov. Doug Burgum (R-ND), Miami Mayor Francis Suarez, political commentator Larry Elder, businessman Perry Johnson, and entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy. Burgum, Haley, Ramaswamy, and Scott have qualified for the debate and signed the loyalty pledge, while Pence, Hutchinson, and Christie, also having qualified, have said they will sign it as well.
To qualify for the debate, candidates must be polling at a minimum of 1% and have at least 40,000 individual donations to their campaign. Candidates have until Monday to qualify.
