Rumors are flying that former President Donald Trump is considering doing an interview with former Fox News host Tucker Carlson rather than attending the Republican National Committee’s first primary debate airing on the network on Wednesday.
Trump has teased in recent days that he might skip the debate to avoid giving exposure to low-polling candidates, and it was widely expected he would hold some kind of competing event if he did not go. Carlson, the wildly popular conservative host, now has a show on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter.
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According to the New York Times, the former president told people close to him that he made his final decision. He told them that he won’t participate in the RNC debate.
While Trump has often suggested he was reluctant to join the debate, he reportedly had been giving aides the impression that he might change his mind at the last minute and attend.
A Wednesday night interview between Trump and Carlson is not finalized, according to the Wall Street Journal.
Trump has said that he shouldn’t need to debate, pointing to his significant lead over competitors in the polls. He also believes his being a former president should grant him the consideration of an incumbent president, who generally doesn’t debate primary challengers. He further took issue with Fox News, which is broadcasting the debate, slamming its coverage and guests as well as the unflattering photo choices it uses of the former president.
Trump’s campaign, Fox News, and the RNC did not provide comment to the Washington Examiner.
“Trump to skip Fox debate and counter program with Tucker,” former Trump White House press secretary Sean Spicer wrote Friday evening.
Trump to skip Fox debate and counter program with Tucker
— Sean Spicer (@seanspicer) August 18, 2023
The former president’s 2024 Republican competitors have expressed their hope that he participates but have signaled they are prepared whether Trump attends or not.
President Joe Biden’s campaign and Trump’s are already sparring over the debate.
“Of course Donald Trump wants to avoid appearing in Wisconsin because he knows Wisconsin is a state that illustrates his failed leadership,” Biden campaign spokesman Kevin Munoz said.
The debate is taking place in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
“Crooked Joe Biden is failing America on every single level. In addition to being the worst president in our country’s history, he is also the most corrupt as the Biden Crime Cartel has sold America out to our enemies for their own financial gain,” said Trump campaign spokesman Steven Cheung. “That is why President Trump is dominating in the polls as his campaign represents everyday Americans who are sick and tired of living in Biden’s America, and want to return to a country with a booming economy, safe communities, a secure border, and respect on the world stage.”
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“Just this week, Foxconn announced another move out of the state. Wisconsinites soundly rejected his ongoing efforts to ban abortion in the state’s Supreme Court election earlier this year. He cannot hide from the fact that Wisconsinites rejected him in 2020, and will reject the MAGA agenda again in 2024,” Munoz added, noting that Trump lost the state to Biden in the 2020 presidential election after having defeated Hillary Clinton in the Badger State in 2016.
This is a continuation of the Biden campaign’s effort to bring attention to the drastic scaling back of a Trump-era manufacturing deal with Taiwan electronics manufacturer Foxconn in the state. The deal, announced in 2017, promised to bring 13,000 jobs to Wisconsin as part of a multimillion-dollar investment. A 20-million-square-foot manufacturing campus was also set to be constructed. However, the deal was scaled back in 2021, with only a fraction of the promised jobs being delivered.
