Former President Donald Trump said Wednesday he might not sign a pledge to support the eventual nominee for the Republican Party’s nomination for president if it ends up being someone other than him.
Presumably, that would disqualify him from the first upcoming 2024 debate, which is scheduled for Aug. 23. Trump has declined to say whether he will participate in the debate, citing his strong lead in numerous primary polls.
He told Newsmax TV host Eric Bolling Wednesday there is another piece of the debate that bothers him.
“I have a problem with the debate for another reason,” he said. “I wouldn’t sign the pledge.”
The Republican National Committee has said that one of the requirements for participating in debates is the pledge to support the party’s eventual nominee.
Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed the pledge earlier in the day.
🚨Just in: Governor DeSantis has officially signed the 2024 GOP loyalty pledge. This means he will support the Republican nominee if he does not win the primary. pic.twitter.com/wXFXEbxwIE
— The Calvin Coolidge Project (@TheCalvinCooli1) August 9, 2023
Trump told Bolling he does not see an upside to vowing to support other candidates.
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“Why would I sign a pledge?” he asked. “There are people on there that I wouldn’t have. I wouldn’t have certain people as, you know, somebody that I’d endorse.”
After he again said there are numerous people he could never support for president who have made the debate cut, he said, “So, right there, there’s a problem, okay? Right there, there’s a problem.”
BREAKING: Donald Trump says he will not sign the RNC pledge to support the 2024 Republican nominee if he loses the GOP presidential primary pic.twitter.com/DS13byrsPW
— ALX 🇺🇸 (@alx) August 10, 2023
Bolling asked the former president if he would be willing to share the names of candidates he could never support, but Trump declined.
“I don’t wanna do that, there’s no reason to insult them, but there are some people there that a lot of people wouldn’t endorse,” he said.
As far as debating people who are not resonating with primary voters, Trump said there is very little upside.
“Somebody like Asa Hutchinson, who’s polling at zero, will ask me nasty questions,” he said. “Somebody like Chris Christie, he’s polling at 1 percent and he’s going to ask me nasty questions, and others too.”
Trump did offer praise for two people who will be on the stage in two weeks in Milwaukee.
“I mean, Tim Scott has been very nice, and Ramaswamy has been very, very nice,” he said. “I mean, these are, you know, very capable people, very good people.”
“But why would you do that when you’re leading by so much?” he asked. “Ronald Reagan didn’t do it, Nixon didn’t do it — many people didn’t do it. But I’m going to look at it seriously.”
He has yet to make a final decision on the matter, he concluded.
