In one of the only counterprogramming options to the first Republican presidential debate of the night, former Fox News host Tucker Carlson interviewed the former President Donald Trump. The interview was full of wild and newsworthy moments that have been grabbing headlines.
In his first question to the former President during the sitdown over 46 minutes, Carlson opened with, “Why aren’t you at the Fox News debate tonight in Milwaukee?” Trump immediately responded with how many were telling him he shouldn’t do the debate, citing in his defense that polls show him having a lead of fifty to sixty points or even some as low as one and two. He then added that he did not wish to sit down for an hour or two hours and “get harassed by people that shouldn’t even be running for president?” He added that Fox had been backing Ron Desanctimonious but had since given up due to Desanctimonious’s lost cause.
As a follow-up to Trump’s comments on the news media’s bias against him, Carlson then asked, “Do you think television is declining?” Trump answered this question with alarm, explaining that a poll had just shown that it was down thirty to thirty-five percent, which he attributes to the network’s lost credibility. He then proceeded to slam both MSNBC and CNN, the former though he calls MSDNC, as producing nothing but “fake news.”
Carlson then made an unexpected statement when he asked if Trump believed it was possible that Epstein had been killed. To this Trump’s answer was, “Sure. It’s possible. He was killed. I think the more the closer you look, I’m not a conspiracy person at all. I believe everything I hear.” He then went on to say that the US Attorney General had “clearly lied” about the Epstein death.
The host continued to press Trump when Carlson asked, “Do you think it’s possible that television is declining?” Trump, however, appeared taken aback, yet he still responded to Carlson’s direct question which he asked last about the potential of being a target and Hitchcock like pursuit of violence from the left: “They’re savage animals. They are people that are sick, really sick. You have great people in the Democrat Party. You have great people that are Democrats. Most of the people in our country are fantastic and I’m representing everybody.”
In the end, Tucker asked how President Trump is capable of maintaining his cheerfulness and intelligence when he constantly is being indicted, to which Trump responded, “I think it, it’s a lot easier. Because I’m, I’m so high in the polls because it means the people get it.” He went on to boast that he has been able to hold up quite well in spite of the barrage of indictments against him.