While America and especially conservatives would love to see the fireworks and entertainment of former President Donald Trump in a GOP presidential primary debate, Trump told Newsmax there is little to gain from taking arrows from also-rans and never-will-bes.
"I am leading by a lot, and in many ways I would love to, but in other ways it seems foolish – when you're up 40 points, 45 points, maybe more than that," Trump told Monday's "Eric Bolling The Balance" in an exclusive phone interview.
Trump pointed at lowly rated anti-Trump challengers, including former Arkansas GOP Gov. Asa Hutchinson, former New Jersey GOP Gov. Chris Christie, former Vice President Mike Pence, and former South Carolina GOP Gov. Nikki Haley.
"You have guys like Hutchinson that nobody ever heard of; he's down at zero," Trump continued. "And Christie's down at 1.
"And even Mike Pence, I saw a number today that was very discouraging. When you look at a number like that, I sort of feel badly about it. But he was down at 2 and 3. Nikki Haley is down at 2."
Why give them a chance to sling arrows at the runaway polling leader?
"You really say what's to gain by being out there and having everybody shooting at you," Trump told host Eric Bolling.
Also, Fox News is hosting the Aug. 23 debate, and it is a "hostile" network, according to Trump, who pointed back to his interview with debate moderator Brett Baier last week.
"I thought it was fine, but there was nothing friendly about it," Trump noted, denouncing the Fox News Channel as an anti-Trump, pro-Ron DeSantis network that will work to undermine his candidacy.
"It was nasty and I thought I did a good job. I've been given credit for doing a good job, but also people have said, 'why would you do it?'"
Trump laments he cannot get a fair shake with Fox News having gone never-Trump.
"Everything was just unfriendly," Trump said. "No smiling, no let's have fun, let's make America great again, everything was like a hit.
"So you have a hostile network and you have people obviously, they're candidates, they're against you – and they, therefore, are being hostile. When you're leading by 30, 40, or 50 points, what's the purpose of really doing it?"
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