唐纳德·特朗普可能不会出席其中一场或两场2024年前两场共和党初选辩论中与前总统交谈过的多个消息来源告诉ABC新闻。
一个人想知道，“这有什么意义?”——指出特朗普在多项民调中领先，并暗示与其他候选人决一雌雄只会让他们合法化。特朗普也有跳过辩论的历史，有时是在最后一刻。
最终决定仍在酝酿中。但特朗普2024年的一些主要对手或可能的对手——以及他们的助手——表示，他们看到了在辩论环境中提升自己形象的机会，因为特朗普缺席，他不会主宰聚光灯。
他们还抓住了另一条攻击线。
“我认为，如果他不辩论，问题是，他是否害怕实际上受到挑战?我认为答案是，他可能是。我认为他不是，”共和党初选候选人和政治新人维韦克·拉马斯瓦米在接受美国广播公司采访时表示。
企业家兼作家拉马斯瓦米(Ramaswamy)说，“如果特朗普不出现在辩论舞台上，也许对我来说是政治上的好事，因为我们每个人都有能力有更多的剩余时间来陈述自己的观点……坦率地说，我认为他可能害怕出现在辩论舞台上。”。
前新泽西州长克里斯·克里斯蒂对此表示赞同，他是特朗普的知己，后来成为评论家，也是ABC新闻的撰稿人，正在考虑自己的白宫竞选。
克里斯蒂周三告诉电台主持人休·休伊特:“如果他真的关心这个国家，那么他就要去那里，他不应该害怕。”。“我很抱歉看到唐纳德·特朗普感觉如果他上台，他有失去领先优势的风险。”
“事实上，如果他的想法如此伟大，如果他的领导能力如此杰出，那么如果他登上舞台，他的领先优势只会增加，而不是减少，”克里斯蒂说。“但很明显，他很害怕。”
2023年4月22日，在爱荷华州克莱夫，共和党总统候选人商人维维克·拉马斯瓦米在爱荷华州信仰和自由联盟春季启动仪式上对客人发表讲话。
Scott Olson/Getty Images，文件
川普经常批评他收到的关于福克斯新闻频道的新闻报道，这是8月辩论的主持人，第二场辩论由罗纳德·里根总统基金会主办& Institute，其董事会主席是《华盛顿邮报》的发行人弗雷德·瑞安——特朗普最喜欢的媒体目标之一。
特朗普的盟友表示，他可以提出反方案，在同一时间举行集会或其他活动，可能会让辩论变得更小，因为没有人被视为主要领先者。
他的竞选团队还吹嘘说，他的出现为辩论增加了数百万的眼球，无意中使佛罗里达州州长罗恩·德桑蒂斯、前南卡罗来纳州州长妮基·黑利、南卡罗来纳州参议员蒂姆·斯科特等人等当前和潜在的敌人受益。
竞选发言人张致恒在一份声明中说:“特朗普总统是明显的领先者——正如他在初选和大选中压倒性的民调数字所证明的那样——毫不奇怪，其他所有候选人和潜在候选人都希望借助他的影响力。”。
尽管如此，其他可能在2024年竞选的保守派的顾问认为，即使观众人数减少，也有利于他们的候选人，他们将更有能力在没有特朗普的辩论中大放异彩。
“这给了很多人更多的广播时间来谈论他们想谈论的话题。一名潜在的2024年共和党候选人的一名助手说，“其中一些将与特朗普有关，但很多将与他们自己和他们所相信的问题以及他们之间的分歧有关。”这名助手说，他不希望特朗普出席，他要求不要被指名道姓。
“我认为第一场辩论不会有特朗普会带来的烟火，”另一名共和党人的助手说，他正着眼于2024年的竞选。“但这将是其他候选人——德桑蒂斯、蒂姆·斯科特、妮基·黑利以及其他任何可能加入的人——向选民介绍自己的机会。这将是一个非常干净的介绍。所以，在某些方面，它实际上对这个领域很有帮助。”
然而，即使特朗普的敌人确实有爆发的时刻，其他共和党人认为，任何优势都可能是暂时的。
此外，政治顾问此前告诉美国广播公司新闻，辩论并不总是动摇选民，他们基于许多不同的来源做出决定。
目前，预计这位前总统不会缺席每一场初选辩论。
“我认为这最终会被遗忘，”资深共和党策略师鲍勃·赫克曼(Bob Heckman)在被问及一旦特朗普重返舞台，特朗普缺席的任何影响是否会减弱时表示。
“这就是总统竞选的方式，它们都是由动力驱动的，”赫克曼说。
那些对抗特朗普及其团队的人警告说，他的辩论风格——臭名昭著的个人侮辱——可能很难抵消。
“特朗普很强硬，因为他太不正统了。他不遵循任何传统的辩论规则，可以随便说任何话，”佛罗里达州参议员马尔科·卢比奥2016年总统竞选的高级职员亚历克斯·科南特说。
“他会攻击舞台上的每个人，他会带走观众，他会攻击主持人，”柯南特说。“而这只是他的第一个回答。”
As Trump seems likely to skip primary debate amid polling lead, opponents claim he's 'afra
Donald Trump will likely not attend one or bothof the first two 2024 Republican primary debates, which begin in August, multiple sources who have spoken to the former president told ABC News.
One person wondered, "What's the point?" -- pointing to Trump's lead in multiple polls and suggesting that duking it out with other candidates would only legitimize them. Trump also has a history of skipping debates, sometimes at the last minute.
A final decision is still in the offing. But some of Trump's 2024 primary opponents or possible rivals -- and their aides -- say they see a chance to raise their profiles in a debate setting in which Trump, because of his absence, wouldn't dominate the spotlight.
They're also seizing on another attack line.
"I think that if he doesn't debate, the question is, is he afraid of actually being challenged? And I think the answer is, he might be. I'd like to think he's not," GOP primary candidate and political newcomer Vivek Ramaswamy told ABC News in an interview.
"Maybe it'll be politically good for me if Trump doesn't show up on the debate stage because we have an ability to each have more remaining time to make our own case … Frankly, I think he might be scared of being on a debate stage," said Ramaswamy, an entrepreneur and author.
Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, a Trump confidante-turned-critic and ABC News contributor who is mulling his own White House bid, echoed that.
"[I]f he really cares about the country, then he's going to get up there and he shouldn't be afraid," Christie told radio host Hugh Hewitt on Wednesday. "I'm sorry to see that Donald Trump feels like if he gets on the stage, he's at risk of losing his lead."
"If, in fact, his ideas are so great, if his leadership is so outstanding, then his lead will only increase if he gets on the stage, not decrease," Christie said. "But obviously, he's afraid."
Trump regularly criticizes the news coverage he receives on Fox News, the host of the August debate, and the second debate is being hosted by the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation& Institute, whose board is chaired by Fred Ryan, the publisher of The Washington Post -- another of Trump's favorite media targets.
Rather than debate, Trump allies say that he could offer counterprogramming, holding a rally or some other event at the same time, possibly making a debate feel smaller without the person seen as the primary front-runner.
His campaign also boasts that his presence adds millions of eyeballs to debates, inadvertently benefiting current and would-be foes like Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott and others.
"President Trump is the clear front-runner -- as evidenced by his dominating poll numbers showing him crushing the competition in the primary and general elections -- and it is no surprise every other candidate and potential candidate wants to ride his coattails to relevancy," campaign spokesperson Steven Cheung said in a statement.
Still, advisers to other conservatives who might run in 2024 argue that even a diminished audience benefits their candidates, who would have more ability to shine in a Trump-less debate.
"It gives a lot of people a lot more air time to talk about what they want to talk about. And some of it'll be about Trump, but a lot of it'll be about themselves and issues that they believe in and differences between themselves," said one aide to a potential 2024 Republican candidate, who said he doesn't want Trump to attend and who asked not to be quoted by name.
"I think the first debate will not have the fireworks that Trump would have brought to it," said an aide to a different Republican eyeing a 2024 campaign. "But it will be an opportunity for other candidates -- DeSantis, Tim Scott, Nikki Haley and whoever else may join -- to introduce themselves to voters. This will be a very clean introduction. So, in some ways, it's actually quite helpful for the field."
However, even if Trump's foes do have a breakout moment, other GOP operatives argued that any edge is likely to be temporary.
What's more, political consultants have previously told ABC News that debates aren't always swaying voters, who make up their minds based on many different sources.
The former president is not anticipated, right now, to skip every primary debate.
"I think it's ultimately forgotten," veteran GOP strategist Bob Heckman said when asked if any impact from Trump's absence would be blunted once he returns to the stage.
"That's the way presidential campaigns go, they're all momentum driven," Heckman said.
And those who have faced off against Trump and his team warn that his debating style -- infamously characterized by personal insults -- can be difficult to counteract.
"Trump is tough because he's so unorthodox. He doesn't follow any of the traditional rules of debating and is liable as to say literally anything," said Alex Conant, a top staffer on Florida Sen. Marco Rubio's 2016 presidential campaign.
"He'll attack everyone on the stage, he'll take the audience, he'll attack the moderator," Conant said. "And that's just his first answer."
