- Fox News personalities are chomping at the bit for Donald Trump to participate in their GOP debate.
- Fox News and Trump have had a rocky relationship since his 2020 election loss.
- The former president has previously drawn millions of views for the network, a pollster told The Washington Post.
Fox News anchors are trying to entice the former commander in chief to come to their party, but he has yet to RSVP.
Several Fox News anchors are practically begging former President Donald Trump to attend their GOP presidential debate on August 23 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, The Washington Post reported.
Trump, the GOP presidential frontrunner who is now inundated with investigations and legal woes, has not yet said whether or not he’d attend.
“When you have a big lead, you don’t do it,” Trump told Fox News host Maria Bartiromo last week.
Fox News personalities like Steve Doocy, Brian Kilmeade, John Roberts, and Piers Morgan are eager to see Trump show up, the Post reported.
“It would be great to see President Trump and Ron DeSantis and Chris Christie just duke it out,” Doocy said on Monday, per the Post. “That’s why they call it a debate. Show up, debate, and shine. This is his big chance.”
“If he thinks he’s going to get the nomination, the best thing to do is to go into training,” Kilmeade added, per the Post. “So, I would take the reps as much as possible.”
A Trump advisor told the Post that the former president is “highly unlikely to participate” as of now.
Following the Dominion defamation lawsuit that Fox settled for $787.5 million, the company reportedly placed a “soft ban” on putting Trump on air. The former president has also complained that the outlet is trying to make him look bad.
GOP pollster Frank Luntz told the Post that Trump brings in 2 to 4 million viewers typically, so “of course Fox wants him to participate.”
When the network hosted a GOP debate in August 2015 (wherein Trump famously sparred with Megyn Kelly), the network drew in 24 million views, the Post reported. When Trump pulled out of another Fox debate months later, the network logged about half as many views.
A spokesperson from Fox News did not immediately respond to Insider’s request for comment.
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