WASHINGTON: All eyes are on Donald Trump as the Republican White House hopefuls prepare to do battle in the first debate of the 2024 race on Wednesday — with the main attraction threatening not to show up.

Five months ahead of the start of primary elections to choose the party’s flagbearer, the runaway frontrunner’s grassroots support is as strong as ever, but numerous criminal cases have cast a pall over his comeback bid.

The 77-year-old former president, who is rarely out of the headlines, has been vocal about possibly skipping the event in the city of Milwaukee, wary of sharing the limelight with lower-polling rivals.

“I am leading the runner up, whoever that may now be, by more than 50 Points. Reagan didn’t do it, and neither did others. People know my Record, one of the BEST EVER, so why would I Debate?” Trump recently posted on social media.

The New York Times reported on Friday that Trump had told aides he was planning to upstage his rivals by skipping the event, organised by Fox News, and instead sitting for an online interview with one of its former hosts, Tucker Carlson. “We haven’t confirmed anything on our end,” a campaign spokesman told AFP.

Whether he shows up or not, Trump will be ripe for broadsides from opponents over the four criminal and three civil trials he faces involving allegations before, during and after his scandal-plagued presidency.

“Obviously, his legal issues are affecting this race,” Fox News host Bret Baier, who will be moderating, told the Milwaukee journal Sentinel.

“All these candidates have been asked non-stop about what’s happening in courtrooms around the country. So he’ll be a part of this debate whether he’s there or not.”

Seven other candidates have qualified, including state governors Ron DeSantis and Doug Burgum, former vice president Mike Pence, Trump’s UN ambassador Nikki Haley and South Carolina Senator Tim Scott. Businessman Vivek Ramaswamy and former New Jersey governor Chris Christie are threatening DeSantis’s runner-up spot in early nominating states Iowa and New Hampshire, and will be looking for openings to attack him.

Published in Dawn, August 20th, 2023