The first Republican primary debate is scheduled for August 23, and it is still not known if former President Donald Trump will participate. Fox News, which is hosting the debate, seems increasingly desperate for Trump’s participation, while the network’s major competitors are mounting lesser efforts to convince the former president to ditch the debate. 

Trump’s participation is seen as a make-or-break factor for the debate, though as the widely presumed nominee with a suffocating grip on the party, the former president arguably has little reason to join. Trump adviser Jason Miller told The Hill that Trump’s participation was “unlikely,” and senior Fox executives recently dined with Trump and “begged him” to attend the debate. He did not commit. 

Fox figures have suggested that Trump could use the debate stage full of opponents to “put them all on record” about his indictments and to “be a lawyer in his own defense” for a jury of the audience, because -- as the anchor saying so stared into the camera -- “it’s a real opportunity to reach out to those independent voters.”

But as Fox jockeys for Trump’s attention, a smattering of its smaller competitors are angling to keep him out of the debate. Newsmax has floated the idea of hosting a Trump town hall to counterprogram the GOP debate, and Vanity Fair recently reported that former Fox host Tucker Carlson is attempting to land a Trump interview for his Twitter show, at the same time as the debate.

On Fox, the calls for Trump to breathe relevance into the Fox debate are numerous. Anchor and debate moderator Martha MacCallum said on Outnumbered that “if he becomes the nominee, President Trump would really have to focus on these independent voters, which is why I think it would be excellent for him to show up at the debate.”

“Yes,” co-host Kayleigh McEnany enthusiastically replied.

Turning to the camera, in an echo of moments during his presidency when people appeared to communicate directly to Trump via Fox appearances, MacCallum advised that the debate is “a real opportunity to reach out to those independent voters in a way that is difficult to do in other environments.”

Fox anchor Dana Perino has used her platform at least twice to call for Trump’s participation. After one of the former president’s recent indictments, Perino said on The Five that if she were Trump, she “would definitely want to be on the debate stage on August 23.” 

“He could be in a position to look at all of the people around him,” Perino said, constructing a scene, “including Chris Christie, a big critic of his, and say, ‘Who here thinks that this indictment of me was fair?’ and see what happens, and be able to put them all on record and try to seal up the commanding lead that he already has.” 

The previous day, Perino made the same point to debate moderator Bret Baier, proposing on America’s Newsroom that Trump seize the moment to ask his primary competitors, “Are you with me or are you not with me?”

Fox guests have also taken up the mantle of goading Trump to participate in Fox’s debate. On Fox & Friends, guest John Burnett said that Trump should attend because “no one is better than Donald Trump to be a lawyer in his own defense in terms of bringing his message to the American people,” and say the charges against him are “a setup, if you will.”

Fox guests have also appealed for Trump to use the debate as a chance to put a bow on his presumptive nomination.

“If Donald Trump is doing as well as the polls seem to indicate,” asked Cassie Smedile, vice president of “the conservative credit card,” “then why not go there and really cement why he is the best candidate to represent Republicans in the general?”

But as another Fox guest, former Senate aide Garrett Ventry put it, although “it would be very smart of him to show up” as “one of the strongest debaters,” it doesn’t matter if he does or not “because Republican voters trust him. He’s leading that far in the polls.”

Despite all the ways that Fox has spelled out that Trump could use the debate to his benefit, he remains noncommittal, and Fox competitors are seeking opportunities to book the man they believe Republican primary voters want to see. 

Carlson, reportedly attempting to launch another right-wing media outlet after unceremoniously leaving Fox, has talked with Trump about doing an interview on his Twitter show that would counterprogram the debate, according to Vanity Fair.

Newsmax personalities have also floated the idea that Trump should go on their network instead of doing the Fox debate. Network hosts and former Fox figures Dick Morris and Eric Bolling floated a town hall, because as Morris said, Fox owner Rupert Murdoch is “determined to defeat” Trump and the debate “is an ambush” waiting to happen.

Weeks later, former Arizona gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake echoed back to Bolling that “maybe he [Trump] should come on Newsmax and you guys should do a debate.” Not only does sharing a stage with people so far behind him “seem to be a waste of time,” Lake complained, but as “a globalist network,” Fox News doesn’t “deserve” the ratings bump it would get from a live Trump appearance. 

“I’m glad you brought that up, Kari,” replied Bolling, before accusing Fox of “donating to the Satanic Temple,” lamenting that “it’s not the same place” he worked at for 11 years before being fired for sexual harassment.