Will Trump Be the Star of the Democratic Debate?
Policy + Politics

Will Trump Be the Star of the Democratic Debate?

REUTERS/Brian Snyder

Good news Democrats: Donald Trump wants to promote your first presidential debate.

“At the request of many, and even though I expect it to be a very boring two hours, I will be covering the Democrat Debate live on twitter!” the Republican frontrunner tweeted early Tuesday morning.

The real estate tycoon dominated the first rowdy GOP debate in Cleveland in August. Around 24 million people tuned in to watch the event, smashing ratings records at Fox News.

Related: Cruz to Trump: You’ll Lose, and I’ll Take Your Voters

Another 23 million watched last month’s Republican debate in California. But while Trump remained at the center of proceedings, dishing out jabs at his fellow contenders, former Hewlett Packard CEO Carly Fiorina was the night’s breakout star.

CNN is already predicting lower ratings for Tuesday night’s debate, co-hosted by Facebook. Network officials say it’s only right to lower the bar since the Democratic field is so much smaller than the GOP side.

For Trump, though, the first Democratic debate is missing a crucial ingredient: himself.

Related: Debate Night: 5 Critical Issues That Clinton and Sanders Will Clash Over

"I think people are going to turn it on for a couple of minutes and then fall asleep," he said Monday on "Fox and Friends,” referring to the fact that Hillary Clinton and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) have said they want to refrain from the kind of personal attacks the business mogul seems to have a knack for.

Trump, a seemingly inexhaustible Twitter user, has utilized the social media platform to knock other GOP candidates, cable news networks, Democrats and pretty much anyone who disagrees with his stances or voices any kind of criticism.

In a preview of the kind of insight he could provide during the debate, Trump doled out some unsolicited advice to CNN executives:

“Someone should inform @CNN that, despite spending millions of $'s on graphics, it is not the Democratic Debate, rather the Democrat[s] D!” he tweeted.

That said, Trump may be on to something.

“Everybody's talking about my doing twitter during the likely very boring debate tonight. @realDonaldTrump #DemDebate,” he tweeted a few hours after his announcement.

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