Huckabee: ‘I will take Donald Trump’s podium’

White House hopeful Mike Huckabee said late Tuesday that he would take Donald Trump’s vacant spot in Fox News’s upcoming GOP presidential debate.

“Let me make an offer tonight that I will take Donald Trump’s podium on that stage Thursday night,” he said on Fox News’s “Hannity.”

{mosads}“Generous as I am, I’ll take that spot,” Huckabee quipped. “There’s an opening — I’ll be happy to take it.

“I will do it on behalf of all the people that I have met in this state who are not on any stage,” the former Arkansas governor said from Iowa. “They’re not on the undercard. They’re not on the big stage. They’re being pummeled by the policies of [the Obama] administration and they’re hurting.”

Huckabee argued that no one could predict the fallout of Trump skipping Thursday evening’s contest in Des Moines, Iowa.

“I think, ordinarily, we would say ‘Well, it’ll be a real deal killer,’” he said.

“But look, nothing has been,” Huckabee said. “He has so amazingly manipulated the media in a way no one ever has. I have to congratulate him for that. Look, even right now, we’re talking about him. We’re not talking about the people of Iowa. We’re not talking about the economy. It’s hard for me to understand.”

Trump revealed late Tuesday that he will boycott the GOP’s seventh presidential debate Thursday night over concerns about Fox News host Megyn Kelly, a moderator with whom he has clashed. 

Huckabee, meanwhile, missed Thursday’s main debate stage because of his low polling numbers and will appear in an undercard encounter instead.