what does he have to gain? i agree with that. there is no political upside for him. he is running from the position as, quote, an incumbent, if you will. he is still the tich lar head of the republican party because the base affirms that, not just in polling but in their ongoing support for him. so when you re looking at going into a debate scenario, the question for any candidate is where do i gain from this? everybody else except for trump, their gain is to show they re presidential, show their ability to take on the front-runner and to carve out a message that s different from the others. for trump, he s got the brand. he s got the message. he already has the carve out. he s sitting at 30 points. why would he give that? what he likely will do is counterprogram. that is offer an event for others to watch and participate in, meaning his base, as opposed