NOT GONNA HAPPEN

Fox’s Chris Wallace: Trump Only Wants More Debates Because He’s Losing

“If Donald Trump were leading, instead of trailing in the polls, my guess is he wouldn’t want it,” the “Fox News Sunday” host said.

Joe Raedle

By Matt Wilstein & Andrew KirellAug 06, 2020

Fox News host Chris Wallace has no illusions about why the Trump campaign is suddenly demanding a fourth debate against former Vice President Joe Biden.

After Fox & Friends co-host Brian Kilmeade echoed the president’s stated concerns about the debates happening after early voting starts in some states, his radio show guest shot down the idea of either moving the schedule up and adding a fourth debate earlier in September.

“If they were to open it up and say, no, let's set another debate, I just think that it would jeopardize a lot of things,” Wallace, who moderated the third and final debate between Trump and Hillary Clinton in 2016. “If Donald Trump were leading, instead of trailing in the polls, my guess is he wouldn’t want it, so they'll have the debates.”

When Kilmeade suggested that Wallace should “get in the face” of the Commission on Presidential Debates and threaten to walk as a potential moderator if they don’t change the schedule, Wallace just laughed and said sarcastically, “Yeah, they’re really dependent on me.”

Earlier in the week, the Trump campaign put out its wishlist of moderators for the debates. There were a number of Fox News personalities on it, but Chris Wallace’s name was conspicuously missing.

That is likely due to Wallace’s tough grilling of the president late last month. Kilmeade tried to get Wallace to criticize Biden’s most recent gaffe, but he wouldn’t take the bait, instead saying, “This is why the debates are going to be must-see TV” and adding, “Donald Trump has some pretty interesting things that he says every once in a while, too.”