In episode 19 of his newest production, “Tucker on Twitter,” former Fox News primetime host Tucker Carlson sat down with former President Donald Trump in Bedminster, New Jersey.
The former president’s interview was aired five minutes before eight of his competitors in the 2024 GOP presidential primary took the stage in Milwaukee for the first RNC debate hosted by Fox News.
Ep. 19 Debate Night with Donald J Trump pic.twitter.com/ayPfII48CO
— Tucker Carlson (@TuckerCarlson) August 24, 2023
Carlson began the interview with Trump by asking him why he decided not to participate in the RNC debate.
Trump said he questioned whether or not it was worth his time doing the debate to get “harassed by people that shouldn’t even be running for president” on a network that, as he said he believes, “isn’t necessarily friendly” to him amid his consistent lead in the polls.
“I just felt it would be more appropriate not to do the debate. I don’t think it’s right to do it if you’re leading by 50-60 – I have one poll I’m leading by 70 points,” the former president told Carlson.
Trump went on to note that he doesn’t feel the need to do televised interviews or debates due to the cable television industry’s “lack of credibility,” saying that the “Fake News” has turned into “corrupt news.”
“We’re doing this interview but we’ll get bigger ratings using this crazy forum that you’re using than probably the debate – our competition,” Trump added.
Pivoting to his thoughts on President Joe Biden, Trump told Carlson that “someone else has to be running the government.”
“I don’t think he’s capable of doing anything,” Trump said, adding that he thinks Biden is the “most corrupt president we’ve ever had.”
Commenting on his four indictments, Trump told Carlson that the American public is “smart,” noting how his poll numbers continue to rise with each indictment and attack thrown at him.
“When somebody gets indicted, your poll numbers go down. When somebody gets indicted, you announce, ‘ladies and gentlemen, I’ll be leaving to spend time with my family and to fight for the rest of my life on this stuff.’ But you’re out of politics,” Trump explained, adding, “I got indicted four times – all trivia, nonsense. Bullshit. It’s all bullshit.”
Towards the end of the interview, Trump told Carlson that the “bottom line top priority” he would address if he’s elected in 2024 would be the nation’s border and “taking hundreds of thousands of criminals that have been allowed into our country and getting them out and bringing them back to their country.”
When asked if he thinks the United States is “moving towards civil war” Trump said, “There’s a level of passion that I’ve never seen and there’s a level of hatred that I’ve never seen – and that’s probably a bad combination.”
As of press time, the latest installment of Carlson’s video podcast, posted at 7:55 p.m. Central Standard Time on Wednesday, had over 80 million views. The 19 episodes posted by @TuckerCarlson have been seen nearly 800 million times on Twitter / X.
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Kaitlin Housler is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network.
Photo “Tucker Carlson and Donald Trump” by Tucker Carlson.
