McDaniel: ‘Surprised’ candidates didn’t talk more about Trump at Republican debate

Republican National Committee (RNC) Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel said Thursday she was “surprised” the Republican presidential candidates did not talk more about former President Trump at Wednesday night’s GOP primary debate. 

“I don’t think they talked about President Trump that much, that did surprise me,” McDaniel said in an interview on “Fox and Friends.” “I thought that was going to be more of it.” 

“I just thought if he’s the front-runner, I was surprised … they didn’t talk about that more,” McDaniel continued. 

It was not until halfway through Fox News’ two-hour debate when moderator Bret Baier brought up the former president and his four criminal indictments, which Baier called “the elephant not in the room.” 

The subsequent conversation revolved around whether the Republican candidates would support Trump as their party’s nominee in 2024, even if he were convicted of a crime.

All but former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson raised their hand and said they would stand by their pledge to support Trump if he secures the GOP nomination and is later convicted.

According to tracking from The New York Times, the subject of Trump took up 6 minutes and 50 seconds of the debate time, making it the second-most talked about topic behind abortion, which The New York Times estimated lasted 7 minutes and 54 seconds. 

Trump announced earlier this week he would not attend the debate and instead sat for a taped interview with former Fox News host Tucker Carlson that was released five minutes before the debate started on Fox News. 

Before Trump’s announcement Sunday night, McDaniel said she was “holding out hope” Trump would participate in the debate. When asked about Trump’s ultimate decision to skip the debate, McDaniel said Thursday she “understands” his campaign’s strategy. 

“They’re saying, you know, we’re up so much, why should we risk being on the debate stage?” McDaniel said. “I do want to see him on the debate stage, and I’ve said this a lot. I don’t think it’s just about the primary if he does end up being the nominee.” 

“I think that was part of Trump’s calculus: ‘They would go after each other if I’m not there, not after me.’” McDaniel continued.

McDaniel said she was “very pleased” to see the candidates talk about abortion.

“Democrats used that in 2022, they spent $350 million on abortion,” McDaniel said. “If our candidates aren’t able to find a response and put out a response, we’re not going to win.”

McDaniel pointed to the candidates’ varying stances on a federal abortion ban but argued all of the candidates “had a consensus” that a baby feels pain at 15 weeks.

McDaniel also addressed the upped qualifications candidates will need to meet for the second debate in September, including higher polling and donor thresholds. 

Some candidates did not meet the lower qualifications for Wednesday’s debate, including former Texas Rep. Will Hurd, Miami Mayor Francis Suarez, businessman Perry Johnson, conservative radio host Larry Elder and pastor Ryan Binkley. 

When asked if she would recommend these candidates drop out before next month’s debate, McDaniel said, “I’m not going to recommend any of them drop out, but I will say all of them will be better than Joe Biden.”