Trump skips GOP debate for Tucker Carlson, but his presence is still felt – National | 24CA News
While eight Republican presidential candidates tried to make their case in Wednesday night time’s debate that their occasion ought to transfer on from Donald Trump in 2024, the previous president tried to make his case that everybody however him is irrelevant.
Trump, the early front-runner for the nomination, skipped the primary Republican presidential debate in Milwaukee, as an alternative opting to seem in a pre-recorded interview with former Fox News host Tucker Carlson posted Wednesday night time on X, the web site previously referred to as Twitter. The interview was posted on-line 5 minutes earlier than the talk aired.
“Do I sit there for an hour or two hours, whatever it’s going to be, and get harassed by people that shouldn’t even be running for president?” Trump stated within the 46-minute interview. “Should I be doing that at a network that isn’t particularly friendly to me?”
Trump attacked a few of his rivals early, calling former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson “nasty,” and cited him for instance of somebody who shouldn’t be on the talk stage, together with former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie. Both Christie and Hutchinson have been crucial of Trump and stated he shouldn’t be operating for president.
“I’m going to have all these people screaming at me, shouting questions at me, all of which I love answering, I love doing. But it doesn’t make sense to do them so I’m taking a pass,” Trump stated.
Trump, who’s dealing with a barrage of authorized issues — together with in Georgia the place he’s anticipated to show himself in Thursday for reserving on state expenses of conspiring to overthrow the 2020 presidential election — has stated it’s beneath him to seem with the opposite candidates on the Milwaukee debate stage due to his giant lead within the polls.
His ongoing feud with Fox News Channel, which is internet hosting the talk, appeared to cement his choice.
In a submit on his Truth social media community hours earlier than the talk, Trump insulted two Fox hosts and complained concerning the community.
He then touted his ballot numbers and wrote: “FOX NEWS REFUSES TO POST OR DISCUSS.”
His third White House bid has come as he’s continued to align himself with these espousing excessive views and conspiracies whereas wrapping his marketing campaign round bogus claims concerning the final election.
Appearing with Carlson as an alternative of debating leans into that. The former Fox host has promoted the view that white individuals are being “replaced” by individuals of shade and unfold misinformation about points just like the Jan. 6, 2021 riot on the U.S. Capitol and the conflict in Ukraine.
Carlson tried to have interaction Trump in conspiracy theories about disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein after which requested Trump if his political opponents may threaten his life, which Trump didn’t dismiss.
“They are savage animals. They are people that are sick. Really sick. You have great people in the Democrat Party, great people that are Democrats,” Trump stated. “But I’ve seen what they do, I’ve seen the lengths that they go to.”
He additionally advised Carlson: “I think it was a terrible move getting rid of you.”
The night time earlier than the interview, Trump spoke at a fundraiser hosted at his New Jersey golf membership for the Patriot Freedom Project, which helps the defendants charged for his or her roles within the riot.
Trump has remained dominant within the occasion whilst he faces growing authorized jeopardy in 4 separate prison instances associated to his efforts to overturn his 2020 election loss, allegations he mishandled labeled paperwork and hush cash funds made to cover allegations of extramarital affairs.
The day after the talk, he’s set to make his fourth look this 12 months as a prison defendant, when he seems in Georgia to reply expenses in a sprawling racketeering case associated to his efforts to overturn the 2020 election ends in that state.
Poll numbers have proven that regardless of the authorized challenges, his standing amongst Republicans stays robust.
Before Trump on Sunday introduced his choice to skip the talk, a number of Fox News personalities and executives had inspired him to take part. While many hosts on the community boosted Trump through the years, the previous president has been complaining since he left workplace about what he feels is unfair protection.
His choice to as an alternative sit with Carlson additionally appears designed to ship a message to the community, which fired the host earlier this 12 months. The community provided no clarification, however it occurred shortly after Fox agreed to pay $787.5 million to Dominion Voting Systems’ defamation lawsuit for the community’s protection of bogus claims by Trump after the 2020 election.
Trump and his workforce haven’t clarified if he’ll skip each Republican debate, or not less than these introduced so far. He has complained concerning the location for the second debate in September, the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, California, as a result of Fred Ryan, the writer and CEO of the Washington Post, is the chairman of the inspiration’s board of trustees.
Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, who’s in Milwaukee as a surrogate for the Trump marketing campaign, known as it “pointless” for Trump to debate as a result of he’s to date forward within the polls.
“There’s nothing that he has to prove on that stage with them,” she stated in a Wednesday interview. “They have everything to prove against him.”
Many of the candidates on the talk stage have embraced Trump’s insurance policies, together with his closest rival, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who has criticized Trump for not going far sufficient to observe via on his insurance policies. Three different candidates all labored for Trump: Mike Pence, his vice chairman; Nikki Haley, who served as Trump’s U.N. ambassador; and former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, who helped Trump put together for debates in 2016 and 2020 and led his 2016 transition workforce.
“They’re all playing out of the same playbook and they’re all espousing the same unpopular positions that Donald Trump led with and he continues to drag this party to the extreme,” former Democratic Congressman Cedric Richmond, a co-chair of President Joe Biden’s marketing campaign, advised reporters on Tuesday. “And so whether he’s on the stage or not, his extreme agenda will be.”
Associated Press writers Bill Barrow in Atlanta and Sara Burnett in Milwaukee contributed to this report.
