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From the opinion pages of the Wall Street Journal, this is Potomac Watch.

Donald Trump decks out of the first Republican debates scheduled for Wednesday and Milwaukee saying

his lead is so large and he's so well known he doesn't need to debate. He also said he wanted to

attend the second debate which is scheduled for the Reagan Library in California on September 27th.

Will his absence hurt? The former president's standing in his large lead in the polls and how will

his competitors respond? Welcome. I'm Paul Gio with the opinion pages of the Wall Street Journal

here with Kyle Peterson and Kim Strassel. Welcome to both of you. So the debate schedule for 9 p.m.

Eastern Time on Fox News moderated by Brett Baer and Martha McCallum who say they will ask questions

about Donald Trump whether or not he shows up. Now I'll admit that Kim, I thought he would show up.

I didn't think he'd miss a chance to be the center of attention. That would seem to have been

the Trump history. But instead he's going to do an alternative programming of some kind with Tucker

Carlson, the former Fox host wherever Tucker is broadcasting these days. I'm not sure. But were you

surprised? Trump won't show? Yes, I think I'm going to be surprised if not going to show. That is if

he really doesn't show because you just never know with Donald Trump, right? And it's really

noticeable to me that the head of the Republican National Committee, Ronald McDaniel,

is saying that they're still holding out hopes that he might still change his mind, which suggests

that they're willing to throw a final lector up there on stage the last minute if he does decide

to swoop back in. But look, I think this is potentially a mistake for Trump. I understand the

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