Donald Trump and Tucker Carlson won the GOP debate on Wednesday night. The former president chose to dip out of the first GOP primary and, in an attempt to suck the oxygen from the news cycle, teamed.
Donald Trump and Tucker Carlson won the GOP debate on Wednesday night. The former president chose to dip out of the first GOP primary and, in an attempt to suck the oxygen from the news cycle, teamed up with the deposed Fox News host to dish up some sweet revenge. Oh, did they?
Trump chose to opt out of the Milwaukee debate featuring the likes of Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, tech mogul Vivek Ramaswamy, former Vice President Mike Pence, former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley, and Senator Tim Scott. According to the RealClearPolitics average, Trump is up by 41.1% over his fellow Republicans nationally, which, at this point, is a meaningless number. However, for PR purposes, it is very eye-catching. His RCP lead in Iowa, a meaningful number even at this early stage, is still a whopping 26%.
Trump opted not to engage with a large group of opponents who would have spent their time attacking him. That wouldn’t help him, obviously. Everything Trump says now is being recorded and filed, and will be used against him in multiple courts of law.
The interview was reportedly conducted two days ago at the Trump National Golf Club Bedminster and timed to air on X, formerly known as Twitter, for exactly five minutes before the GOP debate began.
During the lead-up to the debate, Carlson’s camp released a Trump sizzle reel, suggesting the two would discuss whether Trump fears for his life, political vitriol, election cheating, and even whether Trump thought sex pervert Jeffrey Epstein killed himself.
Donald Trump. Tucker Carlson.
Debate Night in Bedminster
8:55pm ET pic.twitter.com/w8nGhOfEdv
Tucker Carlson (@TuckerCarlson) August 23, 2023
Fox News sidelined cable news’s number one talent in late April, after the inexplicable court settlement with Dominion Voting Systems. The network tried to suffocate Carlson’s remaining influence at the network by removing the people who worked on his show. Now, according to Tucker Carlson biographer Chadwick Moore, whose book “Tucker” I’ll be reviewing in the coming days for PJ Media, Tucker is treated as Voldemort at Fox News. He is the man who shall not be named (although I note that Brit Hume was able to mention Carlson before the debate). But here’s the dumber part: Fox News employees are ordered not to use any news generated by their still-on-the-payroll colleague. Worse, Carlson has scooped his old network multiple times, including the Devon Archer interview and now scoring a sit-down with Trump on the night before he turns himself in in Fulton County, Georgia, where he’s been charged with leading a conspiracy to win an election.
