While August has been off to a rough start in this early primary season, voters are anxiously awaiting the August 23rd Republican Debate to be held in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The Republican Party and its leadership were certainly careful in choosing Wisconsin (and more specifically Milwaukee) to be the location for the first debate since the state was part of the so-called ‘blue wall’, that carried Jow Biden to victory in 2020. Now, Republicans are hoping to shift the conversation on where it stands on issues, especially in a post-Trump presidency era- though the taboo subject himself is at odds on whether to attend. Most of the many candidates, including former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, along with former Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchison, and long-time Trump ally-turned-opponent, Ron DeSantis are all sure to attend-with Huchison the only of the three candidates with a pending status on donor criterion. Others in the field including Nikki Haley, Trump’s former Vice President Mike Pence, and Billionaire Vivek Ramaswamy, are also likely to take on the party’s more known names, and make themselves an indispensable outcome for primary voters, in the early states. While Democrats do not have a say in the nomination process, they hope someone honourable and formidable gets to face Biden in the general election. And although many are hoping to forget about the former President and make the message more about how to take on Biden in the general election, voters don’t seem to favour the idea of ‘moving on’. According to a national poll conducted by FiveThirtyEight Polling, Trump stands at 53% among Republican voters. That’s a significant rise from 43% in early January, following another loss in the midterms. Other candidates like Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, who is attempting to be an alternative to Trump, and adopt similar policies (minus all the drama) also seem to be playing into Trump’s 2016 strategy. Once a 2024 presumptive nominee, now at the behest of a man, who’s been indicted thrice, with one more likely to arrive from the state of Georgia. And I’m certainly not talking about Ron DeSantis, I’m talking about the twice-impeached, thrice-indicted, world-renown con-man Donald Trump. It’s worth noting that he’s been arrested three times in the past 4 months alone-just goes to show what an ideal persona he reflects, or lack thereof. Trump is not entirely to blame for DeSantis’ almost 36-point fall in the polls. DeSantis’ policies as Governor have taken him to this new low of 14% polling. He, on a regular basis, bans books, defames Democrats, and other Republicans who don’t stand in line with him, defames Ukraine and its officials, Iran and its officials, and other countries who could potentially stand in the way of his ‘Prime Presidency’. Another thing to consider would be the barrage of candidates that have entered the race alongside him, potentially dividing and taking his vote bank away from him. That’s one of the reasons he’s been making shifts in his campaign, including the removal and replacement of his campaign manager, something that’s detrimental this late in the early primary season. With the Iowa caucuses scheduled for 15th January and 40 delegates on the line to sway the Republican nomination a certain way, each candidate must put everything they have on the table in the two early debates. While Democrats do not have a say in the nomination process, they hope someone honourable and formidable gets to face Biden in the general election and not because Biden is feared of losing the election, but because there needs to be a healthy debate between the only 2 parties, instead of a constant criminal indictment drama lurking around every month. The confirmed attendees of next week’s debate are Gov. Burgum, Gov. Christie, Gov. DeSantis, and Amb. Haley, VP Pence, Ramaswamy, and Senator Tim Scott of South Carolina. Trump’s team has rejected the basic requirement for the debate- which is to sign a waiver ensuring the candidate debating would endorse whoever won the primary season for the general election- and so it is unclear if he would attend, even in a last-minute change of plans. America already knows what Trump’s about, and his attendance would be meaningless. Other than the fact that the move is a bit over-confident, there’s not much to be said about his constant disregard for the ‘time and the place’. In terms of Iowa, voters are divided over who they should pick, something they battled back in 2020 during the Democratic Primary and the divisive and frankly, confusing outcome that came from DNC IA HQ. In 2016, Trump lost the state and most of its heavily populated counties too. These Republican voters, mostly in the Sioux and Des Moines area, feel a more diverse and vibrant candidate should represent them. Since 2016, the Des Moines area has seen a significant rise in its population, both from other states and a natural increase. This could be disastrous for Trump if he wants to secure enough to send a message of strength to New Hampshire and South Carolina. Iowa still prefers Trump over other candidates. Tim Scott is at 11%, according to a Fox Business Poll, and as of July, DeSantis is still number 2 at 16%, just below Trump at 47%. Luckily, for Iowa voters, since it’s a caucus, the winner does not take all, and the caucus system proportionately distributes delegates. At this point, if Trump’s not already in jail, and becomes the nominee, almost everyone except him is essentially running for Vice President. Whether or not Trump picks any of his opponents is the real question. It’s important that no one takes these poll numbers for granted. Bernie Sanders, back in 2020, was beating Biden by a point in Iowa, and then in national polls, Biden tanked at 16% and Sanders got to 26%, right as the late debates were taking place before Covid hit. Then Senator, now Vice President Kamala Harris, was also at 12% and eventually stayed in the single digits before dropping out. People change, polls change, but the candidates never change. As much as Iowa and New Hampshire are hoping to forget about Trump, they can’t. He’s still an active part of the campaign and still has fewer supporters than anyone else yet. The GOP had three years, if not four to figure out what to do about Trump, but they kept downplaying the idea of his re-election, and now America is at a point where its minority of 30% of general election voters, get to choose the next President and his loudness that follows. And unless the court recognizes his crimes before election day, we’re looking at a repeat of 2016, with no one to blame but politicians even being against him- paved the path to his victory. The writer is a columnist and a linguistic activist.