Well, it looks like Trump will get his way after all.
With Trump not attending the debate, he had sent a considerable force to the debate to defend him from the inevitable attacks that would take place on the debate stage.
Initially, Fox News had stated that no Trump surrogates would be invited to the debate since Trump had turned down the invitation.
Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) now says that the surrogates will have access to the spin room, which I honestly did not believe would be permitted.
According to an Axios report, that will, however, be limited to surrogates that are invited guests of news networks.
Defending Trump
Gaetz was on Newsmax, which was criticizing Fox News as not being pro-free speech for locking out the Trump team.
The spin room issue had not yet been confirmed, but that is no longer the case, according to Gaetz, who says he and his fellow Trump supporters will now be able to get into the spin room to discuss the debate.
Gaetz stated, "The RNC gave control over the spin room to Fox News, we were allowed to go and observe the debate but there was a little bit of confusion I can tell you now that's all been sorted out.
"We are going to have the Trump team in full force at this debate, we are going to have access to the spin room, we're going to be there to observe the debate and I can't wait to be giving my hot takes on Newsmax afterward and share with you my perspective on how it went," reported the Post Millennial.
BREAKING UPDATE: Gaetz says Trump surrogates WILL be in spin room pic.twitter.com/7B2eO4gXn7
— Jack Poso 🇺🇸 (@JackPosobiec) August 22, 2023
I know this may not be a popular opinion here, but I believe Trump should have come to this debate.
All during the 2022 cycle, we were calling out Democrats like Katie Hobbs and John Fetterman for not wanting to debate.
Now Trump is literally using the same excuse that Fetterman used in that he has such a big lead, there is no reason for him to debate.
I don't think he will take enough of a hit to cause concern, but I do think he will take a hit after this debate airs.
And there is just something to be said that after lodging attack after attack against your opponents to facing them in person to confront them.
Former Trump Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany stated that she believes this is a huge "miscalculation" on Trump's part, and I agree.
Why not show up and demolish everyone rather than open the door a crack to let them in?
Trump could have effectively ended the primary by showing up on Wednesday night… just saying.
