'Nobody is entitled to be nominated': DeSantis says Trump should participate in Republican presidential primary debate

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has said that he thinks former President Donald Trump should take part in the upcoming Republican presidential primary debate.

DeSantis said he believes Trump "owes it to people to participate. Nobody is entitled to be nominated. You've gotta earn it. You gotta earn everything in this world," the Sunshine State governor said during an interview with Ainsley Earhardt of Fox News Channel's "Fox & Friends."

Trump has been walloping the rest of the GOP primary field with DeSantis trailing in a distant second place. The first GOP primary debate is scheduled to take place August 23 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Candidates who wish to participate must meet certain polling and fundraising thresholds. In order to make it onto the debate stage, candidates must pledge to support the GOP's eventual nominee.

Trump has repeatedly floated the possibility of skipping the debate. "If you're leading by a lot what's the purpose of doing it?" Trump said during an interview on Newsmax.

TRUMP: Debates are a Fox News 'set-up'youtu.be

Former Vice President Mike Pence, who served alongside of Trump, and former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley, who served in that role during part of Trump's White House tenure, are some of the primary candidates competing to secure the GOP presidential nod.

Incumbent President Joe Biden appears to be on track to clinch the Democratic Party's presidential nomination. If Trump were to nab the Republican nomination for a third time, the 2024 election could be a rematch of the 2020 contest which Trump lost to Biden.

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