Former President Donald Trump revealed Wednesday that he will not sign the Republican National Committee’s pledge to support whoever becomes the GOP nominee for 2024.
Trump, during an interview on Newsmax TV’s “The Balance,” revealed that there are “three or four people” that he would not support if they became the GOP nominee.
Donald Trump on the GOP debate pledge: "I have a problem with the debate for another reason. I wouldn't sign the pledge. Why would I sign a pledge?" pic.twitter.com/EWyH3wBEij
— Republican Accountability (@AccountableGOP) August 10, 2023
“I wouldn’t sign the pledge. Why would I sign a pledge if there are people on there that I wouldn’t have? I wouldn’t have certain people as, you know, somebody that I’d endorse,” Trump said. “So, they want you to sign a pledge, but I can name three or four people that I wouldn’t support for president. So there is a problem right there.”
When asked to name the four individuals he would not support, the former president declined, saying he did not want to insult them.
“There’s no reason to insult them, but there are some people there that a lot of people wouldn’t endorse,” Trump added. “They’re not going to go anywhere, by the way. They’re not going to get it. But I wouldn’t endorse them.”
Signing the pledge is part of the requirements for President Trump and other GOP presidential aspirants to be on the stage for the August 23 GOP primary debate. The former president has, however, shown no interest in being on the stage for the debate.
Trump asks the room whether he should debate the other GOP candidates or not.
"Some people say yes but they hate to say it because it doesn't make sense to do it if you're leading by so much but they like it for entertainment value because they're selfish!" pic.twitter.com/iV6xB2oOd6
— Citizen Free Press (@CitizenFreePres) August 8, 2023
Trump maintained that there was no advantage for him to join the debate. The former president cited his good polling figures compared to his GOP rivals before adding that his presence at the debate would only make him a target for his low-polling rivals.
“Somebody like Asa Hutchinson, who’s polling at zero, will ask me nasty questions, Trump added. “Somebody like Chris Christie, he’s polling at 1% and he’s going to ask me nasty questions, and others too, and then you have some that are very good. I mean, Tim Scott has been very nice, and Ramaswamy has been very, very nice. I mean, these are, you know, very capable people, very good people, but why would you do that when you’re leading by so much? Ronald Reagan didn’t do it, Nixon didn’t do it, many people didn’t do it, but I’m going to look at it very seriously.”
