Trump skips GOP debate for Tucker Carlson, however his presence continues to be felt – Nationwide
Whereas 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 look in a pre-recorded interview with former Fox Information host Tucker Carlson posted Wednesday night time on X, the web site previously often called Twitter. The interview was posted on-line 5 minutes earlier than the controversy aired.
“Do I sit there for an hour or two hours, no matter it’s going to be, and get harassed by those that shouldn’t even be operating for president?” Trump mentioned within the 46-minute interview. “Ought to I be doing that at a community that isn’t notably pleasant 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 controversy stage, together with former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie. Each Christie and Hutchinson have been crucial of Trump and mentioned he shouldn’t be operating for president.
“I’m going to have all these folks screaming at me, shouting questions at me, all of which I like answering, I like doing. Nevertheless it doesn’t make sense to do them so I’m taking a cross,” Trump mentioned.
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 fees of conspiring to overthrow the 2020 presidential election — has mentioned it’s beneath him to look with the opposite candidates on the Milwaukee debate stage due to his giant lead within the polls.
His ongoing feud with Fox Information Channel, which is internet hosting the controversy, appeared to cement his determination.
In a put up on his Reality social media community hours earlier than the controversy, Trump insulted two Fox hosts and complained in regards to the community.
He then touted his ballot numbers and wrote: “FOX NEWS REFUSES TO POST OR DISCUSS.”
His third White Home 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 in regards to the final election.
Showing with Carlson as an alternative of debating leans into that. The previous Fox host has promoted the view that white individuals are being “changed” by folks of coloration and unfold misinformation about points just like the Jan. 6, 2021 rebellion on the U.S. Capitol and the struggle in Ukraine.
Carlson tried to have interaction Trump in conspiracy theories about disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein after which requested Trump if his political opponents would possibly threaten his life, which Trump didn’t dismiss.
“They’re savage animals. They’re folks which might be sick. Actually sick. You’ve gotten nice folks within the Democrat Get together, nice folks which might be Democrats,” Trump mentioned. “However I’ve seen what they do, I’ve seen the lengths that they go to.”
He additionally instructed Carlson: “I feel it was a horrible transfer eliminating you.”
The night time earlier than the interview, Trump spoke at a fundraiser hosted at his New Jersey golf membership for the Patriot Freedom Challenge, which helps the defendants charged for his or her roles within the rebellion.
Trump has remained dominant within the occasion at the same time as he faces rising authorized jeopardy in 4 separate felony circumstances 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 controversy, he’s set to make his fourth look this 12 months as a felony defendant, when he seems in Georgia to reply fees in a sprawling racketeering case associated to his efforts to overturn the 2020 election ends in that state.
Ballot numbers have proven that regardless of the authorized challenges, his standing amongst Republicans stays robust.
Earlier than Trump on Sunday introduced his determination to skip the controversy, a number of Fox Information personalities and executives had inspired him to take part. Whereas 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 determination 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 supplied no clarification, nevertheless it occurred shortly after Fox agreed to pay $787.5 million to Dominion Voting Programs’ 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 a minimum of these introduced up to now. He has complained in regards to 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 Publish, is the chairman of the muse’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 up to now forward within the polls.
“There’s nothing that he has to show on that stage with them,” she mentioned in a Wednesday interview. “They’ve every little thing to show towards him.”
Most of the candidates on the controversy 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 comply with by 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 taking part in out of the identical playbook and so they’re all espousing the identical unpopular positions that Donald Trump led with and he continues to tug this occasion to the intense,” former Democratic Congressman Cedric Richmond, a co-chair of President Joe Biden’s marketing campaign, instructed reporters on Tuesday. “And so whether or not he’s on the stage or not, his excessive agenda might be.”
Related Press writers Invoice Barrow in Atlanta and Sara Burnett in Milwaukee contributed to this report.
Trump skips GOP debate for Tucker Carlson, however his presence continues to be felt – Nationwide Source link Trump skips GOP debate for Tucker Carlson, however his presence continues to be felt – Nationwide
