Trump says he will not sign the pledge to endorse eventual Republican presidential nominee 2024
Former President Donald Trump vowed on Wednesday not to make a commitment to endorse the eventual Republican Party nominee for 2024 — a requirement for attending the GOP’s first presidential debate, which he has still not committed to attending.
“I wouldn’t sign the promise. Why should I sign a promise? There are people there I don’t want. I didn’t have certain people as someone I would support,” Trump, 77, said during an interview with Newsmax host Eric Bolling.
“I can name three or four people that I would not support as president. So there’s a problem right there,” Trump said of the Republican National Committee’s pledge of allegiance.
Signing off on the so-called “Beat Biden Pledge” is a requirement introduced by RNC Chair Ronna McDaniel to prevent factional fighting during the primary and general election.
Candidates who have met the RNC voting and donation requirements to attend the August 23 debate in Milwaukee have up to 48 hours before the debate to sign the pledge.
The pledge asked candidates to “affirm” that if they don’t win the Republican nomination for president in 2024, they will “respect the will of the primary voters and support the candidate to save our country and save Joe Biden.” hit” and won’t try Run a third-party or write-in campaign.
This week, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy submitted their signed pledges to the RNC.
Trump told Bolling that he had “already decided” whether or not to attend the Milwaukee debate and that he would “make an announcement next week.”
However, the frontrunner in the 2024 Republican presidential primary reiterated that he sees no “benefit” in attending.
“When you’re 75%, 78%, 80% [support in the polls] and others are 0%, 1%, 2%, 3%. Wondering what’s the benefit? Am I up a point? But they could go up,” Trump said.
“Someone like Asa Hutchinson, who scores zero on the polls, is going to ask me nasty questions. Someone like Chris Christie who falls at 1% is going to ask me and others nasty questions,” he added.
The former president, who has faced three felony charges since leaving office, denied allegations that he was afraid to debate with his rivals in 2024.
“They’re going to say, ‘Oh, he doesn’t have the guts. He doesn’t have the courage.’ I mean, I did CNN Town Hall. That was as hostile as possible. I heard I did very well because, you know, I did so well that they fired the CNN boss because of it. But no, it’s not a question of courage. “It’s a matter of intelligence,” Trump argued, noting that he had “not totally ruled it out” and that he enjoys debate.
“Actually, I got very good marks in the talent debate, but you want, you know, you want to be a smart president. You want someone smart. So we have to do the wisest thing,” the former president added.
