Former President Donald Trump announced on Sunday that he will not participate in the Republican Party presidential primary debates.

Trump cited a CBS News poll that showed him at 62%, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis at 16%, and everyone else in the low single digits to explain why he did not plan to make a showing at the debates.

He added that he believes that voters already know who he is and concluded by stating: “I WILL THEREFORE NOT BE DOING THE DEBATES!”

Trump confirms he won’t be doing any debates. (Plural.) pic.twitter.com/buTDl3fCni

— Kaitlan Collins (@kaitlancollins) August 20, 2023

RNC Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel said earlier in the day that she is “still holding out hope that [former] President Trump will come” because it’s “so important that the American people hear from all the candidates.”

DeSantis slammed Trump last week for refusing to commit to showing up to the debate, noting correctly that the majority of Trump’s attacks have been directed at him, adding: “And then the other candidates, a lot of them don’t really say much about Donald Trump, and they — they focus more on me.”

“So, if you already had it in the bag, you would not worry about any other candidate,” he continued. “I have been in races where I had it in the bag. I was not out there attacking people that I was 40 or 50 points ahead of. So, he owes it to people to go up there and debate.”

DeSantis said that one of the main reasons Trump does not want to debate is because he does not want to have to defend his record in terms of some of the things that he promised to do while campaigning in 2016, but later failed to do.

Former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie hit Trump hard last week over the issue, writing on social media: “Surprise, surprise … the guy who is out on bail from four jurisdictions and can’t defend his reprehensible conduct, is running scared and hiding from the debate stage. Trump — certified loser, verified coward.”

Former President Mike Pence said on Sunday that Trump often makes up his mind at the last moment and he hopes that Trump will show up.

Vivek Ramaswamy continued his pattern of flip-flopping on issues after saying a few months ago that his “expectation” was that Trump shows up.

“It is my expectation Trump will be there because as I’ve known him he’s not a man that I know of to be afraid. He’s not somebody who’s made a habit of himself to be a coward,” Ramaswamy said. “But if he doesn’t show up on that debate stage, that will be the best proof that the Donald Trump of today is not the same Donald Trump as in 2016.”

Ramaswamy has now changed his stance, saying he has “no problem” with Trump “skipping the first” few debates and that it’s “fine” if he does not show up.

The most predictable development of the cycle. pic.twitter.com/JLqGeX254B

— Bonchie (@bonchieredstate) August 19, 2023

Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds generated news waves this weekend over three things that she said during an interview about the Republican Party’s presidential primary.

Reynolds — who is the most powerful and influential Republican in Iowa — was asked by Fox News host Shannon Bream about Trump “skip[ping] a lot of the big stuff” in the state and whether voters in Iowa are “giving him a pass” to skip having to show up and put in the work.

“No,” Reynolds said. “I think they still, they expect him to be here, they want to interact, they want to interact with all of the candidates. We had great turnout at the Fair Side Chats. I had a lot of Iowans, and people outside of the state, come up and just say, ‘thank you for doing that, it was a great opportunity to hear from the candidates.’ And so, Iowans take it very seriously, they’re very knowledgable and they want to interact with the candidates.”

Bream noted that Reynold’s endorsement in the state is viewed as a “game changer” among the Republican presidential candidates and then she highlighted recent attacks that former President Donald Trump has made against Reynolds. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has defended Reynolds from the attacks.

Reynolds said that for now she is “remaining neutral” but she does not want to rule out making an endorsement because right now her focus is trying to  “encourage all of the candidates to come to Iowa.”

Reynolds responded to attacks from the former president during an interview earlier this month after he tried to take credit for her becoming the state’s governor.

“It’s actually Iowans who made the decision to elect me in a really tough year,” she said. “2018 was not a good year for Republicans. I squeaked by.”

Reynolds was later asked about a report that some donors are trying to pressure Georgia Governor Brian Kemp or Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin to get into the race.

“I think we have a great field of candidates right now, and I think we don’t need more candidates in the field,” Reynolds said. “We probably need less.”