{"id":5011,"date":"2023-08-17T05:05:29","date_gmt":"2023-08-17T05:05:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/?p=5011"},"modified":"2023-08-17T05:07:19","modified_gmt":"2023-08-17T05:07:19","slug":"wisconsin-republicans-prepare-for-first-gop-presidential-debate-with-or-without-trump","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/?p=5011","title":{"rendered":"Wisconsin Republicans Prepare for First GOP Presidential Debate With or Without Trump"},"content":{"rendered":"

This post originally appeared at https:\/\/wisconsindailystar.com\/politics\/wisconsin-republicans-prepare-for-first-gop-presidential-debate-with-or-without-trump\/mkittle\/2023\/08\/17\/<\/a><\/p>\n

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Brian Schimming is one busy guy these days.<\/p>\n

Schimming, chairman of the Republican Party of Wisconsin, is spending a lot of time fielding calls from media, campaigns and fellow Republicans preparing to descend on Milwaukee next Wednesday for the first debate of the presidential primary season.<\/p>\n

The big question, of course: Will he or won\u2019t he?<\/p>\n

That is, will former President Donald Trump attend the GOP presidential candidate debate,<\/a> broadcast live on Fox News<\/em>.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe truth is, I don\u2019t know,\u201d Schimming told The Wisconsin Daily Star<\/em> <\/strong>this week on the Vicki McKenna Show<\/em><\/a> on NewsTalk 1130 WISN<\/em> in Milwaukee. \u201cEven some of his people are like, \u2018Hey, he may be there, he may not.\u2019 He may say he\u2019s not going to be there now but wake up that morning and say, \u2018Fire up the jet.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Last week, the former president told Newsmax<\/em> that he\u2019s already decided whether he\u2019ll attend but he won\u2019t announce his plans until days before the debate. That announcement could come anytime. Or not at all.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s a lot of speculation.<\/p>\n

The latest theory<\/a> being pushed by NBC News<\/em> is that Trump could time his appearance in Fulton County (GA) Court to coincide with debate day, creating a media feeding frenzy and diverting attention from the Republican presidential primary showdown. Trump, who was indicted Monday on multiple charges of so-called election interference felony violations, could stick it to the Republican National Committee and Fox News<\/em>, both of which he has feuded with, as the theory goes.<\/p>\n

NBC<\/em> reporters described Trump showing up for booking on the day of the debate as the former president\u2019s \u201cO.J. Simpson-in-the-Bronco spectacle\u201d moment.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe potential to embarrass the Republican National Committee, which is hosting the debate, and Fox News<\/em>, which is airing it, could make a jailhouse counter-programming opportunity all the more alluring to Trump at a time when his relationships with those pillars of the conservative establishment are strained,\u201d the news outlet speculated.<\/p>\n

Fox News<\/em> journalists Bret Bair and Martha MacCallum, moderators for the debate, told <\/a>German-owned Politico<\/i> that, Trump or no Trump, they\u2019ll be ready. No matter what, the former president will cast a big shadow on the event.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf he\u2019s not there, he\u2019ll still be there,\u201d Baier said. \u201cIn other words, he\u2019ll be a part of questioning. There may be sound bites, there may be elements where \u2018this is what the leader of the primary says about this issue.\u2019 He\u2019ll be there, even if he\u2019s not there.\u201d<\/p>\n

As Wisconsin GOP chairman, Schimming said he hopes Trump is there.<\/p>\n

\u201cI want him to be on stage,\u201d he said. \u201cLook, he\u2019s a big boy. He can handle himself. But he\u2019s also double digits ahead. So take Trump out of it, the political calculus for most candidates when they\u2019re that far ahead is, \u2018Why would I take the risk of putting myself on the stage with five, six, or seven other people, including my former vice president, who are going to take shots?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cTrump\u2019s gone a long way on his political savvy.\u201d<\/p>\n

After four indictments in what Trump and other critics have described as a political witch-hunt driven by Trump-hating allies of President Joe Biden, the former president is dominating the polls. Trump leads his closest competitor, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, by nearly 55 percentage points, according to the latest\u00a0RealClearPolitics<\/em> average<\/a> of Republican presidential primary polls.<\/p>\n

Regardless of Trump\u2019s decision, Schimming said Milwaukee and the battleground state of Wisconsin will still have an international media event going on next Wednesday.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd we\u2019ll be able to highlight Wisconsin and our Republican reforms in Wisconsin versus what we\u2019ve got now in the governor\u2019s office [Democrat Governor Tony Evers} and what you have in Joe Biden,\u201d the state Republican Party chairman said. \u201cSo, to me, it\u2019s a good night.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2013 \u2013 \u2013<\/p>\n

M.D. Kittle is the National Political Editor for The Star News Network.
\n<\/strong><\/em>Photo \u201cPresidential Debate\u201d by\u00a0Walt Disney Television<\/a>. CC BY-ND 2.0.<\/em><\/p>\n

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The post Wisconsin Republicans Prepare for First GOP Presidential Debate With or Without Trump<\/a> appeared first on The Wisconsin Daily Star<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This post originally appeared at https:\/\/wisconsindailystar.com\/politics\/wisconsin-republicans-prepare-for-first-gop-presidential-debate-with-or-without-trump\/mkittle\/2023\/08\/17\/ Brian Schimming is one busy guy these days. Schimming,…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":77,"featured_media":3495,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5011","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-wi-daily-star"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5011","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/77"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5011"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5011\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5012,"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5011\/revisions\/5012"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3495"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5011"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5011"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5011"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}