Republicans are already 'laying the groundwork' for Trump to bow out of debates: analyst

Former President Donald Trump's team was reportedly taken aback when President Joe Biden agreed to a debate schedule — but quickly agreed, knowing that Trump had already demanded this in the first place.

But just hours after everything was agreed to, in various posts on X, Republican allies of the former president are already finding things to complain about with the whole arrangement — leading some to suspect they're already planting the seeds of giving Trump an excuse to bail on the whole thing.

"Call me cynical, but why is Biden suddenly so willing to debate?" wrote Vivek Ramaswamy, a businessman who ran as a far-right GOP candidate in the 2024 primary against Trump. "It could be because he’s desperate, or it could be because it’s a set-up. Keep an eye on the details of how all this comes together. You don’t often see a sudden 180 like this unless there’s more to the story."

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"With CNN moderating, is it even a debate?" wrote Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) from his personal account, @BasedMikeLee. "It seems like it should be called something else. It’d be a far more accurate description of CNN’s intentions to call it something like: 'Live From CNN: Let’s Make Biden Look Presidential While Turning Trump Into A Piñata.'"

The Daily Beast's Justin Baragona has a cynical theory about why these Trump supporters are voicing these objections.

"Looks like we have some Republicans already starting to lay the groundwork for Trump to justify canceling on the June debate," he wrote.

Conservative Army Iraq War Veteran Peter Henlein also highlighted Ramaswamy's comments, saying it looks like Trump allies are "messaging" for the ex-president to ultimately back out of the agreed-upon debates.

"Trump has repeatedly challenged Biden to a debate. Biden accepts, says he will debate. Trump also quickly accepts the terms. Vivek Ramaswamy: 'Whoa whoa whats going on here???' MAGA expects either a Trump loss or a Trump withdrawal. They are already messaging for it."

Even Trump's daughter-in-law, Lara Trump, is already calling the agreed-upon debates "rigged" on Fox News.

@BDeMayo said, "Lol didn't even take a day before they started making up excuses. Sad. Low energy."