Donald Trump plans to use his celebrity status to broker his own agreement with television executives over the structure of future Republican primary debates.
Aides to Trump joined nearly a dozen GOP campaigns over the weekend to discuss their grievances against the existing format for the Republican primary debates, reportedly suggesting that all 14 remaining candidates assemble for one debate as opposed to continuing to relegate lower-tier candidates to an earlier forum.
Trump has since chosen to continue to pursue his own negotiations with the individual networks hosting the remaining GOP debates, his campaign confirmed Monday.
“As we have for the previous three debates, the Trump Campaign will continue to negotiate directly with the host network to establish debate criteria that will determine Mr. Trump’s participation,” a spokesperson for the billionaire wrote in a statement to the Washington Examiner. “This is no different than the process that occurred prior to the FOX, CNN and CNBC debates.”
Trump is a top candidate GOP polls, including the Washington Examiner’s power rankings, and is widely regarded as a ratings machine. He will also forego signing a joint letter drafted by his opponents which includes a list of demands and questions concerning the format of the upcoming debates. Details of the letter were released Monday, and it is expected to be sent to the networks later this week.
Prior to the third Republican debate, hosted by CNBC last week, Trump teamed up with retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson to demand that the debate be limited to two hours and include opening and closing statements. The two outsider candidates threatened to skip the event if CNBC refused to meet their demands, and claimed victory after CNBC announced a debate format that adhered to what they wanted.
Trump has received credit for the early debates attracting relatively large audiences, although these exchanges have also helped other candidates like Ben Carson, Carly Fiorina and now Marco Rubio rise in the polls at various points.
