Whatever he says now, around 9/20 Trump will flip-flop and demand the participation of Johnson

Donald Trump will pull out all the stops so that third-party candidates Jill Stein and Gary Johnson can participate in the national debate on September 26.

The Donald Trump for President 2016 campaign will pull out of the scheduled September 26th debate between Democratic Presidential nominee Hillary Clinton and Republican nominee Trump, unless third-party candidates Gary Johnson and Jill Stein are also allowed to participate.

This is a tactical move believed by most analysts to help Trump, because the third-party candidates seem to drain more support from Clinton then they do from Trump.

The Commission on Presidential Debates announced its 15 percent threshold last year, and last month it announced the set of five national polls it would use to measure each candidate's support. The barrier is no problem for Democrat Hillary Clinton and Republican Donald Trump, but it presents a potentially insurmountable hurdle for third party presidential candidates like Libertarian Gary Johnson and the Green Party's Jill Stein.

The requirement that presidential candidates average at least 15 percent support in national polls in order to participate in the US Presidential Election debate stage is "probably too high," Sen. Bernie Sanders said Sunday morning.

The move is not entirely unexpected. This from Politico.com on 9/01/16: Still more complications are piling up: Clinton friends say she is leaving open the possibility that Trump agrees to only one debate, increasing the urgency of appealing to as many constituencies as possible in 90 minutes. They also expect him to threaten to pull out of the debate in the weeks leading up to it as a way to heighten the drama, and to agitate for the inclusion of Libertarian candidate Gary Johnson - a fate the Clinton camp is desperate to avoid.

http://www.politico.com/story/2016/09/donald-trump-hillary-clinton-september-debate-227714#ixzz4JOSApT5v

The Washington Post says that Trump already laid the groundwork for declining the debates. He recently tweeted that the dates are all wrong and suggested that Clinton's campaign somehow rigged the dates - just like Sanders's campaign argued in the Democratic primary - to make sure nobody watches.

Why? Because he is not very good at debating in general says the WaPo, and is easily baited, especially by women. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2016/08/09/why-donald-trump-might-not-debate-hillary-clinton/

It is worth noting that Trump skipped one of the Republican Primary debates, purportedly because he was busy attending a veterans event. It's also ironic, because the lead holder in an election is generally the one who withholds participation in debates. Trump has polled behind Mrs. Clinton the entire year, but it is Clinton that is anxious to debate Trump-- not the other way around.

"Keep in mind that it was only a few weeks ago that Trump raised the prospect of skipping these showdowns, and vowed to raise a series of "demands." The bluster apparently didn't amount to much: the schedule is unchanged from the previously announced dates." This from Rachel Maddow on virulently anti-Trump network MSNBC. http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/2016-debate-schedule-comes-focus-clinton-trump

Green Party Presidential Candidate Jill Stein polls around 3% nationally, but that's probably 3% Hillary Clinton would otherwise take.

"This is very consistent with statements made by Trump in 2000 when at a press conference with Jesse Ventura," says Kevin Zeese, a Senior advisor to the Jill Stein-Ajamu Baraka Campaign. "Trump said it was 'disgraceful and amazing' that the 'commission' on presidential debates 'could get away' with keeping candidates out of the debates. He went on to threaten to sue if Pat Buchanan's suit against the commission failed. Here's a link to the video: Donald Trump Says to Include Third Party Candidates in Debates, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=07-CcLofEEQ It is also consistent with Ronald Reagan in 1980 when he wanted to include John Anderson and Carter refused. Reagan debated Anderson without Carter and spent two hours criticizing Carter without him present."

Update 9/10: We are fully aware that Trump told Larry King just yesterday Sept 9th he does not want Gary Johnson on stage. https://youtu.be/9_5MtZ0Wv70 this is a ruse. Watch Trump get religion and change his position on Johnson, around September 20.