Over the last several weeks, as Bret Baier was preparing to co-moderate tonight’s Republican primary debate on Fox News, he held multiple calls with Donald Trump to gauge whether or not the G.O.P. frontrunner intended to participate. As The New York Times reported, Baier’s overtures were part of a united effort by network executives and talent to persuade the former president to engage in a forum where he increasingly saw little upside. Fox News C.E.O. Suzanne Scott and president Jay Wallace also traveled to Trump’s private golf club in Bedminster to make their case to the candidate over dinner. In the end, Trump concluded that there was no advantage to sharing his spotlight with lesser-known rivals—nor to making himself more legally vulnerable with an errant gaffe—and instead opted to give a pre-recorded interview to Baier’s old colleague, Tucker Carlson.