by helping democrats launder doug burgham's donations directly into his opponent's pocket, doug burghamthe republican debate stage. this is the mad, mad world of republican debate. and yes, it is hard to see any legitimacy in this process, and that is before you even get to the biggest problem of all for this debate, the absence of the party's front-runner. by all accounts the rnc and the host, fox news, have been begging trump to participate in this debate, but not only has trump refused to show up, he's also refused to meet the debate criteria. trump has said firmly he will not sign the party's loyalty pledge to support whoever is the nominee in november. what does it say about the state of this race that trump is thumbing his nose at both his party and the television channel that helped make him president? we're going to have more on that with brian stelter coming up next. with brian stelter coming up next asthma isn't pretty. it's the moment when you realize that a good day... is about to become a bad one. but then, i remembered that the world is so much bigger than that, with trele

they are nikki haley, doug burgham, chris christie, ron desantis, mike pence, vivek ramaswamy, and tim scott. the republican national committee said these candidates met the requirements to participate in the debate in milwaukee. donald trump also met the criteria but he's decided to skip the debate. businessman perry jaunsance and miami mayor francis suarez are not on that list though they do claim to have met the party's requirements. johnson criticized the rnc last night writing, quote, the debate process has been corrupted. while trump himself won't be on the debate stage tomorrow, he does have a plan to make his voice heard. sources tell nbc news the former president has already recorded an interview with tucker carlson which will air tomorrow night as counter programming. carlson was fired from fox news earlier this year and has since been posting interviews on it. it's only clear how his sit down with trump will be published. carlson has not responded to nbc's request for comment, and the trump campaign also declined to comment on any possible counter programming. okay, i think

former arkansas governor asa hutchinson and north dakota governor doug burgham however are feeling themet the voter threshold but hasn't hit the polling threshold just yet. hutchinson meanwhile has yet to meet either of those rierlts. donald trump has met the rnc's criteria but he's refused to sign the pledge to accept the eventual nominee. he's also suggested he plans to skip the primary debates, at least a senior advisor says the first two of them. the next debate set for september 22nd at the reagan library in california. joining us now senior national politics reporter and my friend jonathan allen who i know is just as tired as me after a long week in milwaukee and watching what's happening in fulton county. >> great to be here, ali. >> so talk to me about the republican debate we both watched in milwaukee and if you think there's any movement that's going to come out of this, because to me it just felt like a bunch of people fighting for crumbs while trump has all the cookies. >> ali, i thought it was a clear week and it was you. you're my winner for the week. so i think you're ri

is all the justice department, witch-hunt or do what chris cristi is doing and go after him but doug burghamhis morning and waffl ing and not taking a position and dodging and i think for candidates the worst place to be because it looks like you don't know what you believe and you're scared of the electorate and unwilling to take a position so you know, pick a side and run with it, but i do agree, pence is picking a new side here and that's a fascinating part of this race to watch. howie: his former vice president, so rich, i think part of this is as trump could be on the stage or not all the stuff we do. the media are so fixated on the former president, and he does make a lo is endlessly fascinating. he does have the four indictment s, but i think it kind of puts the other candidates at a huge disadvantage even with the upcoming debate where the guy won't be on the stage. >> there's just trump has this quality we've talked about this before where so it's kind of a win-win proposition. if he shows up at the debate it be a massive story, all of the attention be about him and he be the bigges

doug burgham, chris christie, ron desantis, nikki haley, asa hutchinson, mike pence, vivek ramaswam ramaswamy tim scott. each registered 1% in three polls and signed a pledge to back the eventual winner of the gop primary. so, obviously not there on the list donald trump. he says he's not going to be there. so how do we know -- rather what do we know about how these candidates are preparing for this debate without the clear front-runner? >> reporter: well, if you listen to governor desantis and his campaign, they believe he will be the focal point of this debate tomorrow night. he is the candidate who trump has attacked the most going back all the way to last fall. he is running in second place really since he entered the race. and his campaign believes this will be a chance for the other candidates to attempt to take a shot at him and try to get into his support. and his campaign has put a lot of emphasis on this debate. in conversations i've been having with his people around his campaign, they have said they have made this -- they believe this can be his breakout moment and they have been

then you've got doug burgham, everyone, doesn't like to talk about the indictments at all.mped into the race after one of trump's indictments that happened in his own city, but he suggests he'd pardon trump to heal the country. joining me flow one of trump's presidential rivals, arkansas governor asa hutchinson. i'm excited to hear your particulars of the nomination. one thing that's been suggested voters ought to know the outcome of these cases before the voting begins. the calender might not cooperate with that, but is that the right thing to do, that voters would be able to know what's going to happen? >> sure. the more information to the voters, the better. and so in an ideal world these cases would be concluded and the voters would have all the information they need. but as a practical matter the criminal docket is not going to allow that to happen. voting will take place in iowa and new hampshire before these cases are concluded. and so it puts the voters in a terrible situation. and that's not good for them. more information would be better. we'd like to see them to