by Sharon Rondeau
(Aug. 23, 2023) — As reported by The Washington Post last week, Tucker Carlson announced early Wednesday evening he will post an interview he conducted with 45th President and 2024 Republican primary frontrunner Donald J. Trump at 8:55 p.m. EDT.
The interview is scheduled to begin five minutes before the commencement of the first 2024 Republican primary in Milwaukee, WI moderated by Fox News.
Formerly of the channel, Carlson now posts interviews on “X,” formerly known as “Twitter,” in an agreement he reached weeks ago with the company’s owner, Elon Musk.
Trump has long shunned Fox News, claiming on TruthSocial the channel has failed to report fairly on his 2024 campaign as well as the fraud he claims deprived him of victory in the 2020 presidential election, although he has granted recent interviews to FNC host Sean Hannity.
For weeks leading up to tonight’s debate, Fox News personalities such as Steve Doocy and Brian Kilmeade have opined that Trump should participate. Trump disagrees, citing his large double-digit lead over the second-place contender who in most polls is Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.
While leaving some room for doubt that he could have a change of plans, on Sunday Trump announced unequivocally he would not be in Milwaukee Wednesday evening, expressing his objection to one of the Republican National Committee’s (RNC) requirements that candidates sign a “loyalty pledge.”
The pledge requires candidates to agree to vote for the eventual Republican nominee, whoever it may be.
As of 8:18 p.m. EDT, “Tucker Carlson” is trending in first place on “X” with approximately 121,000 “posts.”
Carlson included a preview of the interview in his “X” timeline which from Tucker’s first question to Trump, appears to have been done earlier Wednesday at Trump’s summer home in Bedminster, NJ.
A “cheap shot?”
However, as far as the debate itself is concerned, I believe that Ron Desantis gave the best, most consistently conservative, and “doable” answers. He, in fact, has a unique, diverse, and highly successful background. As the chief executive and governor of the state of Florida, he has a reputation of getting things done like nobody else can.