Donald Trump’s defiant interview with former Fox News host Tucker Carlson has garnered a significant number of views on X after being aired during the GOP presidential debates, which the former president refused to attend.
As of Aug. 24 at noon ET, the Trump–Tucker interview had obtained nearly 200 million views with over 620,000 likes, 50,000 comments, and 180,000 retweets. Views on X are counted when a person sees a post, regardless if they watched the whole video. The interview was not live and was pre-taped at Trump’s club in Bedminster, New Jersey. In an apparent dig at former employer Fox News, Mr. Carlson’s interview was aired just 5 minutes before the 9:00 p.m. debate launched. President Trump had also denounced the network in recent times.
The interview covered multiple topics including the presidential campaign, competition, civil war, election integrity, and assassination attempts.
“It started with protests against you and then it moved to impeachment twice and now indictment,” Mr. Carlson told President Trump. “Are you worried that they’re going to try and kill you? Why wouldn’t they try and kill you? Honestly.”
“They’re savage animals; they’re people that are sick,” President Trump responded, adding that there were “great people in the Democrat Party” as well. Most of the people in our country are fantastic. And I’m representing everybody. I’m not just Republicans. I represent everybody.”
On May 21, 2023, Ms. Fiorenza is alleged to have emailed the headmaster of an educational institution in Palm Beach County, Southern District of Florida, stating that she would “shoot Donald Trump Sr. AND Barron Trump straight in the face at any opportunity I get.”
On June 5, Mr. Fiorenza once again emailed the headmaster, stating that she was “going to slam a bullet in Baron Trump’s head with his father IN SELF DEFENSE!”
Civil War Coming?
Trump was asked about the possibility of civil war happening in the United States—a topic that has been hotly debated since the polarization of the country began after political parties started veering towards extreme positions in recent years, especially on the left side.“There’s tremendous passion and there’s tremendous love,” President Trump said in response to former Fox News host Mr. Carlson’s question, “Do you think we’re moving towards civil war?”
President Trump went on to address the Jan. 6 Capitol breach, which many pundits call an “insurrection.”
President Trump clarified that only a few of the hundreds of thousands of people gathered for his Jan. 6 “Stop the Steal” speech got violent. Besides, he had asked specifically for everyone to act “peacefully and patriotically” in a video that has since been removed from popular online platforms.
For the majority, he said, there was a sense of “love and unity.”
“I have never seen such spirit and such passion and such love, and I’ve also never seen simultaneously and from the same people such hatred for what they’ve done to our country,” President Trump said.
When pressed by Mr. Carlson, “Do you think it’s possible that there’s open conflict? We seem to be moving toward something,” President Trump replied, “I don’t know, I don’t know.”
Trump Indictments
President Trump and 18 other individuals were indicted Aug. 14 by a grand jury in Georgia for alleged attempts to overturn the results of the 2020 election. This is his fourth indictment.The Georgia indictment charged President Trump with 13 counts, including violation of the state’s RICO act, conspiracy to commit forgery in the first degree, filing false documents, and solicitation of violation of oath by a public office among others.
“Obviously. indictment is not working. Your poll numbers go up when they raided Mar-a-Lago in August of last year. Your numbers went up. They can indict you 20 times, and you’re not going to lose the Republican primary,” Mr. Carlson said.
President Trump replied: “It makes it look even more ridiculous, the four indictments. Maybe there’ll be more; I don’t know. These people are crazy.”
If the three previous indictments in New York, Miami, and Washington D.C. are also taken into consideration, the former president is facing up to 717.5 years in prison. The indictment in Washington D.C. can also come with the death penalty.
“The people of our country don’t get enough credit for how smart they are … 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. Like you’re out of politics. I got indicted four times. All trivia, nonsense,” said President Trump.
Still the Star
President Trump remained the prominent star of the debate night despite his absence.When the candidates were asked whether they would still support President Trump as the GOP’s 2024 presidential candidate if he is convicted, Mr. Ramaswamy raised his hand first in a show of support.
“President Trump, I believe, was the best president of the 21st century. It’s a fact,” he said.
President Trump thanked the emerging contender in a Thursday morning post on Truth Social.
“This answer gave Vivek Ramaswamy a big WIN in the debate because of a thing called TRUTH. Thank you Vivek!” Trump said.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, who was expected to boost his campaign with his debate performance, saw the limelight stolen away from him by the other contenders.
“We saw the death of Ron DeSantis’s campaign tonight as Vivek Ramaswamy leapfrogged him into second place,” Trump adviser Jason Miller said in an NBC interview. “DeSantis, it didn’t do good enough for him to tread water. He had to have a breakout moment, and Ramaswamy completely outshone him.”
