Yeah, he can skip the debate and loop like the presumptive nominee. He could go to the debate, and anyone who criticizes him to his face will be branded un-republican. He could go to the debate and everyone ignores him, and the narrative will be that republicans have moved on from caring about the charges against him.
It's probably better for both sides this way, because he doesn't really want to be here, and in the event that he cannot run, then the actual nominee doesn't have this track-record of either being too critical or not critical enough toward him.
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