Opinion | Trump Forfeits the Debate Stage

Donald Trump is raring to debate President Biden early and often, “starting now,” as Mr. Trump told a Fox News town hall on Tuesday night. “You really have an obligation to debate,” he insisted, with a typical lack of irony. “When you have the final Republican, the final Democrat, you have the two people, you have to debate, regardless of polls.”

Obligation? How about debating Nikki Haley first, since the GOP primaries are still under way? Republican candidates have held five debates, but Mr. Trump has sat out every one. “Bring it, Donald,” Ms. Haley said last month. “Show me what you got.”

The explanation for his desire to duck Ms. Haley is obvious. The 77-year-old Mr. Trump thinks he’d look like a vigorous young buck next to the 81-year-old Mr. Biden. Yet he’s afraid of drawing the reverse contrast with Ms. Haley, who’s 52.

Mr. Trump also knows that his former ambassador to the United Nations would challenge his record as President. He’d be pushed to explain his fondness for dictators, pressed on whether he’d really abandon Ukraine and withdraw from NATO, and asked to explain why he added trillions to the national debt. He might have to explain why the GOP lost so many elections on his watch with candidates he endorsed. In short, Ms. Haley might outshine him.

But by saying no, Mr. Trump is choosing to avoid trouble in the GOP primary at the expense of weakening his position in the general election. By ducking debates now, he’s giving the Biden campaign an excuse to duck them in final election months.

Never mind Mr. Trump’s line that “the final” Republican and Democratic candidates have an obligation to debate. There’s no law that forces presidential contenders onto the stage. The Democratic and Republican nominees in recent decades have seen it as an obligation, but so did primary candidates until Mr. Trump came along. Political convention is the only enforcement mechanism. Mr. Trump refused to appear remotely for one debate in 2020, so it was canceled.

Mr. Biden may well decline any debate with Mr. Trump in the fall, and Mr. Trump’s lack of nerve to take on Nikki Haley means the former President has given the current President an all too ready excuse.