Donald Trump's closest allies and surrogates appear to be questioning the former president's debate strategy.
Trump on Wednesday agreed to debates, as well as the conditions that came with them, that had been proposed by President Joe Biden. Trump also claimed Biden can't "put two sentences together," prompting his former aide to say he's setting Biden up for a win if they ever finally debate.
But even the ex-president's current team of surrogates is expressing concerns.
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Failed presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy is among the first to say Trump may have made a bad call.
"Call me cynical, but why is Biden suddenly so willing to debate?" the former candidate asked. "It could be because he’s desperate, or it could be because it’s a set-up."
He then continued:
"Keep an eye on the details of how all this comes together. You don’t often see a sudden 180 like this unless there’s more to the story."
Ramaswamy was vague, but Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) went even further.
"With CNN moderating, is it even a debate?" the lawmaker asked. "It seems like it should be called something else. It’d be a far more accurate description of CNN’s intentions to call it something like: 'Live From CNN: Let’s Make Biden Look Presidential While Turning Trump Into A Piñata.'"
Conservative Army Iraq War Veteran Peter Henlein also highlighted Ramaswamy's comments, saying it looks like Trump allies are "messaging" for the ex-president to ultimately back out of the agreed-upon debates.
"Trump has repeatedly challenged Biden to a debate. Biden accepts, says he will debate. Trump also quickly accepts the terms. Vivek Ramaswamy: 'Whoa whoa whats going on here???' MAGA expects either a Trump loss or a Trump withdrawal. They are already messaging for it."