Scott Walker urges Trump to attend GOP debate: ‘This guy dominates the stage’

Former Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R) says he thinks it would be a mistake for former President Trump not to attend the upcoming Republican presidential primary debates as the former president threatens to skip it.

“[The race] is certainly his to lose right now. He’s an unconventional candidate. When some people talked about him not going to the upcoming debate in August in Milwaukee — I think that would be a mistake,” Walker told CNN’s Dana Bash on “Inside Politics” on Monday.

Trump has not committed to the first GOP presidential primary debate, set to take place next month in Milwaukee.

Jason Miller, a longtime adviser to Trump, said last week on “The Hill,” on NewsNation that the former president was “unlikely” to participate in at least the first two debates, citing polling that shows Trump as the far-and-away front-runner in the race for the Republican nomination.

A recent Morning Consult poll found 56 percent of potential GOP primary voters back the former president.

“Even with the lead, I think right now, the more he’s out there, directly engaged with the other candidates, the better off for him,” Walker said.

Walker ran against Trump in the Republican presidential campaign in 2016, before he dropped out of the race. The former Wisconsin governor said, as he saw in the first or second debate in 2016, “this guy dominates the stage.”

“Even if you got a great record, that only gets you on the stage,” he said. “You got to be equally as bold when you go out and make the case to American voters. And Donald Trump did that eight years ago.”

“And he’s a prize fighter: Prize fighters belong in the ring defending their title, and that’s where you should be today,” Walker said.

The Republican National Committee says candidates must vow to back the eventual GOP presidential nominee to debate, which Trump has refused to do so far, stating it would “depend on who the nominee was.”

Republican lawmakers have expressed mixed opinions on Trump potentially skipping the debate, with some fearing it could be a bad look for the party if the front-runner fails to attend.

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