Donald Trump's Tucker Carlson Interview: Here's What Happened

As the rest of the Republican field of 2024 presidential contenders who qualified for Wednesday's first GOP primary debate from battleground state Wisconsin duked it out, former President Donald Trump skipped the event in favor of a pre-recorded interview with Tucker Carlson.

Meant as counterprogramming to the prime-time Fox News debate from the Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee, Trump sat down with the disgraced, fired former host from that very network for an unmitigated grievance session.

On his social media platform, Truth Social, Trump promoted the production.

Trump is leading the GOP field handily despite being indicted four times in state and federal courts.

At the beginning of their 45-minute interview, the former president told Carlson that he skipped the debate because he didn't want to "get harassed by people that shouldn't even be running for president."

He added that part of his motivation for skipping the event was that it was on "a network that isn't particularly friendly to me," adding, "They were backing Ron DeSanctimonious...and now they've given up on him."

Trump claimed that when one is leading by "50, 60" or, according to him, "70 points," he doesn't think it's appropriate to participate. He said that while he enjoys answering questions, "it doesn't make sense" to answer them at a presidential debate.

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Trump, who has thrown nearly every person who has ever worked for him under the bus and who famously said in 2015 that if he were to become president, he'd hire "all the best people," claimed that now that he is more familiar with Washington, he would once again employ exceptional talents.

"I had great people," he said before landing on "We'll have even better people if we do this."

Trump also introduced a new concept. He's seemingly moved on from "fake news," a term he claimed he coined, and instead is insisting that now the press be called the "corrupt news" though he admits that "doesn't play" as well.

Regarding President Joe Biden, Trump said he doubts Biden will make it "to the gate" in 2024. Biden is "not exactly a triathlete or any kind of an athlete," said Trump, whose own health has been questioned before.

Trump also criticized Biden's trips to the beach. Yes, the beach.

"I don't know what they're doing with the beach," he said. "I think he looks terrible on the beach. Plus, the beach doesn't represent what a president is supposed to be doing. He's supposed to be working."

According to the site TrumpGolfCount.com, which tracks the former president's leisure time teeing off, he spent 298 days on the links in the four years he was in office.

The interview was a compilation of misinformation and touched on Trump's greatest hits.

Kim Jong Un, things made in China, the Russian war in Ukraine, and Trump's Big Lie that the election was stolen all appeared during the interview. He also griped about gas stoves and electric cars.

Trump mentioned the "Russian collusion hoax" and impeachment "hoaxes" one and two.

When it got to the topic of former Vice President Mike Pence, who was at the debate while Trump's interview aired, Trump took a page from what seemed to be some lawyerly advice by adding a caveat to his typical false election fraud rant.

"In my opinion," he said before continuing. "Mike Pence had the absolute right to send the votes back to the legislatures." Trump asserted false claims, which he often repeats, obfuscating responsibility for the attempt to overthrow a fair election.

Trump did make some comments that were more alarming than his usual diatribes.

"The district attorney Fani. Fani Willis in Atlanta. She's getting killed," Trump said before claiming that she was prosecuting him for criticizing an election.

On Thursday, nearly exactly 24 hours after the debate, Trump will travel to Georgia to turn himself in at the Fulton County jail for processing. Trump reportedly arranged for his surrender during prime--time television viewing hours.

Concluding his interview, Trump claimed that January 6 was the largest crowd he'd ever spoken to.

"People in that crowd said it was the most beautiful day they've ever experienced," Trump claimed. "There was love and unity" in the crowd, he said. "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 of what they've done to our country."

Asked if he thought armed conflict was on the horizon in the United States, Trump had an ominous warning.

“There’s a level of passion that I’ve never seen. There’s a level of hatred that I’ve never seen, and that’s probably a bad combination,” he said.