Donald Trump on Thursday night will once again loom large at the final Republican presidential debate before the Iowa caucuses — but this time he’s not even on the stage.
The GOP presidential front-runner threw an unexpected curveball into the 2016 campaign this week when he declared that he would boycott the debate sponsored by Fox News amid an escalating feud with the network. As seven of his rivals stepped onto the debate stage at 9 p.m., hundreds were gathered less than three miles away at Drake University, where Trump was hosting a rivaling event billed as benefiting veterans.
In an interview with CNN’s Brianna Keilar on Thursday, Trump said Fox News “apologized” to him for a mocking statement the television network issued two days before the GOP debate.
Trump said that while the network “could not have been nicer” as it tried to woo him back into attending the debate, he would stick to his plan of holding an event aimed at raising funds for veterans’ organizations.
“I was treated very unfairly by Fox. Since then they’ve been excellent, they’ve been very nice, but it’s too late,” he said in the interview aboard Trump’s private plane.
Trump likened his decision to skip the debate to how he would lead the country as president of the United States.
“I wanted to fight for myself just like I’ll fight for the country,” Trump said. “You have to stick up for yourself, you have to fight for yourself and you have to fight for your country.”
CNN has reached out to Fox News for a comment.
Thursday marks the first time that Trump’s rivals find out what it’s like to debate without his bluster and theatrics dominating the stage. The stakes are highest for Sen. Ted Cruz, Trump’s closest rival and threat here in the Hawkeye State. The interaction between the two men, who have spent the last week slinging a flurry of political attacks at one another, were among the most highly anticipated dynamics in the debate as they are battling to finish first in Iowa on Monday. Trump’s absence could also provide Marco Rubio an opening to attack Cruz.
On the campaign trail Wednesday, Cruz challenged Trump to a one-on-one debate, while mocking his rival for his decision to stay away.
“Apparently, Megyn Kelly is really, really scary,” Cruz joked. “Donald is a fragile soul.”
Flanking Cruz on stage will be six other top candidates: Rubio, Ben Carson, Jeb Bush, Chris Christie, John Kasich and Rand Paul. Trump’s absence in the debate will force each of these candidates to varying degrees to recalibrate their debate night strategies.
Bush has set his sights on a solid performance in New Hampshire on February 9 and has appeared eager to throw punches at the billionaire in the last few debates. He will now be without his favorite antagonist on stage.
“I think it’ll hurt him that he’s not showing up in the Iowa debate four days before the Iowa caucuses,” Bush told CNN’s Gloria Borger, calling Trump a master of manipulation. “I just think it can’t help him.”
Thursday marks a return to the main stage for Paul, who was booted to the undercard earlier this month and decided to skip the event altogether.
Trump was even a presence at an earlier undercard debate featuring four lower-polling candidates — Carly Fiorina, Mike Huckabee, Rick Santorum and Jim Gilmore. Santorum quickly expressed deep frustration with the drama surrounding Trump’s decision to skip the debate.
“The entire lead-up to this debate was about whether Donald Trump was going to show up to the next debate,” Santorum said. “The people of Iowa … care a lot about the issues. They care about who’s going to be the leader of the free world.”
Santorum and Huckabee, two previous winners of the Iowa caucuses, plan to attend Trump’s veterans event after the debate.
Gilmore, who has not qualified for most undercard debates, mocked Trump’s rival event, as he called himself “the only veteran” running for president this cycle.
“I’m not going to any Donald Trump event over across town on some sort of faux veteran sort of issue,” Gilmore said.
He appeared to relish his time in the spotlight, taking issue on several occasions with how many questions he was being asked by the moderators.
“Did you miss me? Did you skip me?” Gilmore blurted out when a question went to Huckabee.