Conservative media personality Tucker Carlson said he would “absolutely” be willing to co-host a Republican presidential primary debate alongside podcast host Joe Rogan and Tesla CEO Elon Musk.
Mr. Carlson made the remarks in a conversation with producer Alex Lorusso that was posted on X, in which the podcast host was asked for his thoughts on the question of co-hosting the GOP debate, an idea first proposed by presidential hopeful Vivek Ramaswamy.
During the third Republican presidential primary debate at the end of November, Mr. Ramaswamy floated the idea that a GOP debate should be hosted by people who younger voters are likely to find more appealing.
“Think about who’s moderating this debate. This should be Tucker Carlson, Joe Rogan, and Elon Musk,” Mr. Ramaswamy said. “We'd have 10 times the viewership, asking questions that GOP primary voters actually care about and bring more people into our party.”
Mr. Ramaswamy later said in a post on social media such a debate should be held on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, rather than on cable television.
‘Of Course I Would’
The issue of Mr. Carlson moderating a January debate resurfaced on Dec. 12 when he was asked by Mr. Lorusso whether he'd be open to co-hosting—along with Mr. Musk and Mr. Rogan.
“Of course I would,” Mr. Carlson replied. “That sounds fun as hell. I absolutely would.”
He added that such a debate would have to be outside the jurisdiction of the Republican National Committee (RNC), with Mr. Carlson taking the opportunity to criticize the organization.
“If anyone present can see a purpose for the RNC to continue to exist, shoot me a text because I'd love to ... the RNC is like NATO, it has no reason for being. It only consumes resources and says annoying things and breaks things, but there’s no reason to have it,” Mr. Carlson said.
Mr. Carlson isn’t the only high-profile individual to criticize the RNC, with former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, a Republican, saying last month that the organization lacked a “cohesive message” and Mr. Ramaswamy saying that “we’ve become a party of losers.”
The RNC did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Mr. Carlson’s remarks.
Future Debates
Meanwhile, the RNC announced on Dec. 8 that it would not host any more GOP presidential primary debates during this election cycle. It would, however, permit candidates to take part in debates held by other organizations.Prior to the announcement, candidates taking part in RNC sanctioned debates were bound by the organization’s pledge which prohibited them from taking part in those that were not officially endorsed by the RNC.
That came as CNN announced it would host two GOP presidential primary debates in January in Iowa and New Hampshire, the first two Republican primary contests in 2024.
The CNN debates are set to take place on Jan. 10 in Iowa and on Jan. 21 in New Hampshire, with no word so far on the identities of the moderators.
Separately, ABC News said it would host a GOP debate in New Hampshire on Jan. 18 at Saint Anselm College.
To qualify for the first CNN debate, which is set to take place at Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa, candidates must, among numerous criteria, be at 10 percent in three separate Hawkeye State or national polls of GOP voters.
For the second CNN debate, which, like the ABC News debate, will be at Saint Anselm College, candidates must poll at 10 percent in three separate Granite State or national polls of GOP voters, in addition to meeting other requirements.
It appears unlikely that former President Donald Trump will take part in any of the debates since he has opted out of all of them thus far. The former president has cited his overwhelming lead over all other GOP nominees as a reason for not taking part.
