共和党总统候选人一直在犹豫，如果前总统唐纳德·特朗普赢得共和党提名，他们是否会在2024年支持他——但随着第一场初选辩论在两周内举行，他们的手被迫伸出。
为了有资格参加8月23日的辩论，候选人必须满足投票和筹款门槛，但他们还必须签署一份忠诚誓言，宣布他们将支持最终的共和党总统候选人，并放弃自己的任何第三方竞选。
“我申明，如果我没有赢得2024年美国总统共和党提名，我将尊重初选选民的意愿，支持提名人，以拯救我们的国家，击败乔·拜登。我进一步承诺，我不会寻求作为独立或书面候选人竞选，也不会寻求或接受任何其他政党的总统提名，”誓言写道。
特朗普暗示，他计划完全跳过前两场辩论，但周三晚上他更明确地表示，他不会签署忠诚誓言。
“我不会在保证书上签字。如果上面有我不想要的人，我为什么要签誓言。我不会让某些人成为我会支持的人，”特朗普在Newsmax上说，尽管他没有具体说他不会支持谁。
在2015年竞选总统时，特朗普不愿说他会支持2016年共和党候选人名单上的任何人，尽管他最终签署了那个周期的忠诚承诺。
到目前为止，佛罗里达州州长罗恩·德桑蒂斯、科技企业家维韦克·拉马斯瓦米、前南卡罗莱纳州州长妮基·黑利和北达科他州州长道格·伯格姆是迄今为止仅有的四位签署忠诚誓言的候选人。这四个人也符合本月晚些时候在密尔沃基进行辩论的其他标准。
2023年8月6日，在爱荷华州锡达拉皮兹市，共和党总统候选人佛罗里达州州长罗恩·德桑蒂斯在众议员阿什利·辛森的筹款活动中发言。
查理·内伯戈尔/美联社
“密尔沃基见!”德桑蒂斯运动在X上被戏弄，这个平台的前身是Twitter。
共和党全国委员会(Republican National Committee)受到了一些长期反对特朗普的候选人的抨击，这些候选人表示，尽管他们一再批评，但这一承诺将迫使他们支持前总统。
前阿肯色州州长阿萨·哈钦森(Asa Hutchinson)说:“@共和党应该澄清，如果他们被判犯有间谍罪或严重的重罪，他们没有支持被提名人的承诺。”写于X六月。“唐纳德·特朗普是正在进行的刑事调查的目标，他应该下台&把国家的利益放在他的候选人资格之上。"
其他反特朗普的候选人似乎对这一承诺嗤之以鼻，前新泽西州长克里斯·克里斯蒂指出，特朗普本人厌恶在2016年支持另一名候选人。
“我会像唐纳德·特朗普在2016年那样认真对待这个承诺，”克里斯蒂上个月说。
Who's signed the GOP loyalty pledge?
Republican candidates for president have danced around whether or not they'd support former President Donald Trump in 2024 if he wins the GOP nomination -- but with the first primary debate under two weeks away, their hands are being forced.
To qualify for the Aug. 23 debate, candidates will have to have to meet polling and fundraising thresholds, but they'll also have to sign a loyalty pledge declaring that they'd support the eventual Republican presidential nominee and forgo any third-party bid of their own.
"I affirm that if I do not win the 2024 Republican nomination for President of the United States, I will honor the will of the primary voters and support the nominee in order to save our country and beat Joe Biden. I further pledge that I will not seek to run as an independent or write-in candidate nor will I seek or accept the nomination for president of any other party," the pledge reads.
Trump has hinted that he plans on skipping the first two debates altogether, but Wednesday night he said more definitively that he wouldn't sign the loyalty pledge.
"I wouldn't sign the pledge. Why would I sign a pledge if there are people on there that I wouldn't have. I wouldn't have certain people as somebody that I would endorse," Trump said on Newsmax, though he didn't specifically say who he would not endorse.
When running for president in 2015, Trump was reluctant to say he'd back whoever topped the GOP ticket in 2016, though he did ultimately sign that cycle's loyalty pledge.
So far, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, tech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley and North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum have been the only four candidates so far to sign the loyalty pledge. Those four have also met the other criteria to make the debate stage in Milwaukee later this month.
"See you in Milwaukee!" DeSantis' campaignteased on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter.
The Republican National Committee has come under fire from some longshot, anti-Trump candidates who have said the pledge would force them to back the former president despite their repeated criticisms.
"The @GOP should clarify that there is no pledge to support a nominee if they are found guilty of espionage or a serious felony," former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinsonwrote on Xin June. "Donald Trump is the target of an ongoing criminal investigation and he should step aside& put the good of the country above his candidacy."
Other anti-Trump candidates have seemed to pooh-pooh the pledge, with former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie noting Trump's own aversion to support an alternative nominee in 2016.
"I’m going to take the pledge just as seriously as Donald Trump took it in 2016," Christie said last month.
