Former President Trump on Friday took another hit at President Biden, encouraging his fellow Republicans to skip debates and unite against the incumbent.
“The last debate was the lowest rated debate in history,” Trump said in the post on Truth Social. “The next and probably last one, in Miami, will do even worse.”
“Republicans should not debate, they should UNITED in defeating the WORST & MOST INCOMPETENT ADMINISTRATION IN THE HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES,” he added.
His comments come the same day he announced he would skip the third debate — which will be held in Miami on Nov. 8 and moderated by NBC News — and instead, host a rally with supporters just 15 miles away.
It is not the first time the former president has opted to rally his voters instead of debating his 2024 rivals on stage.
Instead of attending the first debate, held in Milwaukee in August, Trump sat for an interview with ex-Fox News host Tucker Carlson. The episode aired during the debate.
In September, he skipped the second debate in California and traveled to Michigan. There he spoke to workers amid the ongoing United Auto Workers (UAW) union strikes.
The other GOP hopefuls — most notably Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie — have criticized Trump for his decision to skip debates.
“Donald Trump is missing in action. He should be on this stage tonight,” DeSantis said during the second debate, saying he “owes it to you to defend his record where they added $7.8 trillion to the debt, that set the stage for the inflation that we have now.”
Christie has also questioned Trump’s hatred of debates, saying he wants to end them for “purely selfish reasons.”
“He wants to end these things for purely selfish reasons because he doesn’t want to give exposure to the candidates who are challenging him out there,” Christie said after the debate.
Despite his absence, Trump remains the GOP frontrunner in state and national polls, with DeSantis and former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley battling it out for second.
According to an Emerson College poll, published Friday, Trump earned more support with younger voters than Biden. Trump earned 47 percent of young voter’s support, while Biden held firm at 45 percent.
No other candidate reached double digits at the national level, according to survey results. DeSantis and Haley each earned 8 percent from young voters.
Trump took aim at both on Friday, calling DeSantis’s campaign “ridiculous,” and noted Haley was fighting it out for second place.
“Wow! Looks like Ron DeSanctimonious has fallen to 3rd place, and heading down, in his ridiculous run to be President,” he wrote. “Destroying Social Security and Medicare hasn’t exactly helped him! In the important Emerson Poll, he’s dropped to 8%, 51 Points behind his favorite President, ME.”
“Birdbrain, who may be even worse, is fighting it out with others for a very distant 2nd place,” Trump added.

thehill