Trump Blames Fox News for His Not Participating in GOP Debate

Donald Trump has offered a reason why he won't be participating in Fox News' upcoming GOP presidential debate: It hasn't been covering him enough.

In a Monday post to his Truth Social platform, the former president and onetime darling of the conservative news giant shredded the network ahead of the August 23 debate in Milwaukee it is hosting. Trump cited Fox's falling ratings—and its alleged bias in favor of his leading GOP opponent, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis—among the primary reasons why he will not participate.

In particular, Trump singled out the network for not covering in June his receipt of a Man of the Decade Award from a Michigan county's Republicans at a Lincoln Day dinner (which it did) or his keynote speech at the Faith & Freedom Coalition's conference in Washington, D.C. (which it also did). As a result, he said, the network wasn't giving him what he needed and doesn't deserve the ratings boost he would provide with his presence in August's debate, the GOP's first in the 2024 race.

At a time when Trump is sitting well ahead of the rest of the Republican candidates' field, he evidently thinks he stands little to lose by skipping a debate.

"So FoxNews, which is down 37% in the Ratings, doesn't cover my getting the 'Man of the Decade' Award (because of my great trade policies!) in Michigan, or my Keynote Speech for Faith & Freedom in D.C., and then wants me to show up and get them ratings for their 'Presidential' Debate, where I'm leading the field by 40 points," Trump wrote.

"All they do is promote, against all hope, Ron DeSanctimonious, and he's dropping like a rock. Sorry FoxNews, life doesn't work that way!!!" he said.

Newsweek reached out to a Fox News spokesperson via email for comment.

Trump's remarks come several weeks after a relatively disappointing appearance at a town hall event with Fox News host Sean Hannity, who was a reliable ally and occasional adviser to Trump during his time in the White House.

That Fox town hall drew several hundred thousand fewer viewers than Trump's controversial appearance at a town hall with rival network CNN, according to Nielsen numbers reported by Mediaite. The latter event resulted in a collapse in ratings for the embattled network.

But Trump's comments about Fox also come at a time when the network has largely stopped covering his events in real time, ceding ground to more conservative networks like Real America's Voice, One America News and Newsmax, which have seen ratings boosts. Meanwhile, other 2024 GOP candidates, like DeSantis, have seen increasing coverage on Fox, prompting condemnations from figures like Caitlyn Jenner who said Trump's remarks merit more coverage.

Notably, the decline in Fox's Trump coverage is occurring after a lawsuit that resulted in the network's record-setting legal settlement with voting machine company Dominion Voting Systems. Dominion had sued Fox after personalities on the network perpetuated false claims made by both Trump and his allies about the veracity of the 2020 presidential election.

In the fallout from the settlement, which had the network agreeing to pay Dominion $787.5 million, Fox fired one of its top show hosts, Tucker Carlson. Some speculated that this came as part of the network's efforts to realign to the political center after a sharp veer to the far right during the Trump years.