Former President Donald Trump, once again thumbing his nose at the other candidates for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, plans to hold a rally on Nov. 8 to divert attention away from the next debate.

Trump’s campaign said Friday it would hold a rally that evening in Hialeah. His campaign said the former president (who often starts late and talks for a long time — often at least 90 minutes) would start speaking at 7 p.m.

The televised debate, originating from Miami, is scheduled to start at 8 p.m. and last for two hours.

Trump has repeatedly said he wouldn’t stoop to appearing on the same platform as the other candidates for the party’s presidential nomination, all of whom are running far behind him in public opinion polls of primary voters.

He urged the Republican National Committee to cancel the event altogether.

“The Republican National Committee should immediately cancel the upcoming debate in Miami and end all future debates” and instead focus on the general election against President Joe Biden, Trump’s senior campaign advisers, Susie Wiles and Chris LaCivita, said in an Oct. 2 statement. “Anything less, along with other reasons not to cancel, are an admission to the grassroots that their concerns about voter integrity are not taken seriously and national Republicans are more concerned about helping Joe Biden than ensuring a safe and secure election.”

RNC Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel said Monday in a statement about the party’s plans that the debate would provide “an excellent opportunity to meet the moment and contrast their plans and vision with the failures of the Biden White House.”

Unsuccessful in his quest for cancellation, Trump is using the opportunity to get some attention for himself and away from the other candidates. His counter programming for the third debate is much more direct than the previous two — and serves as a challenge to the other Florida candidate in the race, Gov. Ron DeSantis.

During the first debate he appeared in an interview on Twitter (the social media site since rebranded as X) with the fired Fox News host Tucker Carlson. On the day of the second debate, Trump went to Michigan in what was billed as an attempt to court striking members of the United Auto Workers union, where he appeared at a nonunion auto parts factory.

The criteria to participate the third debate are tougher than the previous two. Candidates must show 4% of the vote in multiple polls and 70,000 unique campaign donors.

A New York Times analysis this week reports that Trump (who won’t attend) and three others — DeSantis, former Gov. Nikki Haley of South Carolina, tech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy — have met the Republican Party criteria for the third debate.

The status is uncertain for four others who were in the first and second debates: former Vice President Mike Pence, former Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey, U.S. Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina, and Gov. Doug Burgum of North Dakota.

An Emerson College national poll released Friday showed Trump with support of 59% of Republican primary voters — 41 points ahead of Haley and DeSantis, who were tied at 8%.

Emerson reported Christie was at 4%, with Pence and Ramaswamy at 3% each.

Emerson said since last month DeSantis and Ramaswamy each went down four points and Haley increased five points.

The Republican National Committee picked NBC News to host the debate along with the conservative Salem Radio Network, the Rumble streaming platform and the Republican Jewish Coalition. It will take place at the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts in Miami. It’s a TV and streaming production and isn’t open to the public.

People can get tickets to Trump’s rally at Ted Hendricks Stadium at Henry Milander Park in Hialeah at his campaign website.

Anthony Man can be reached at and can be found @browardpolitics on Facebook, Threads.net and Post.news.