The 45th president will dominate the first GOP debate whether he's there or not.
Set for next week in Milwaukee, the Republican presidential debate will be the first time many of the top candidates appear on the same stage together, though Donald Trump is unlikely to be among them."They're all going to try to break out, have a moment where they demonstrate their strength and their ability to be successful and to beat Biden," Republican strategist David Carney said.
It's a political axiom that incumbent candidates don't debate since doing so risks putting them on equal footing with challengers in the eyes of the electorate. Trump is not an incumbent but is polling like one with a 40-point lead in the latest RealClearPolitics average. The DeSantis campaign estimates Trump has spent $20 million attacking him so far. Whether due to those attacks or not, DeSantis has come back down to earth, losing half of his national support since April 1 and finding himself competing with the likes of Chris Christie, Vivek Ramaswamy, and Sen. Tim Scott in state-level polls.
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