Repub­li­can debate: Dana Peri­no says Trump skip­ping again a ‘missed oppor­tu­ni­ty’

Dana Peri­no, a mod­er­a­tor of the sec­ond Repub­li­can debate, addressed the ele­phant in the room — or, in this case, not in the room.
In an inter­view with the Wash­ing­ton Exam­in­er, Peri­no ques­tioned for­mer Pres­i­dent Don­ald Trump’s deci­sion to speak to for­mer and cur­rent Unit­ed Auto Work­ers union mem­bers in Michi­gan rather than par­tic­i­pate in the debate.
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“If you think back to 2015 and 2016, the debates were such a point of strength for him that I think it’s a missed oppor­tu­ni­ty,” she said.
The debate will also be mod­er­at­ed by Fox Busi­ness’s Stu­art Var­ney and Uni­vi­sion’s Ilia Calderon. The Repub­li­can Nation­al Com­mit­tee event will take place Wednes­day at the Ronald Rea­gan Pres­i­den­tial Library and Muse­um in Simi Val­ley, Cal­i­for­nia.

Dana Peri­no and Don­ald Trump
(Pablo Mar­tinez Monsivais/AP)(AP Photo/Jose Luis Mag­a­na)

“I think every­one would love to have [Trump],” Peri­no added. “I’m sor­ry that he does­n’t feel like he wants to be there.”
In par­tic­u­lar, she said vot­ers might like see­ing him explain­ing his pol­i­cy posi­tions direct­ly against his oppo­nents’.
“I also b …