Former President Donald Trump did not participate in Wednesday night’s Republican debate. Instead, he had a lengthy interview with Tucker Carlson that became an instant viral hit and has since been seen more than 100 million times on X.
During the conversation, Trump spoke about many things, including the danger of civil war and why he didn’t attend the debate. The ex-host of Fox News, Carlson, also probed his fears of an assassination attempt.
Newsweek reports that the interview was published on X five minutes before the start of the Republican debate and had over 100 million views by the conclusion of the evening.
Over 180 million people had seen Carlson’s interview with Trump by Thursday morning.
The view count method of the social media site makes it difficult to ascertain how many individuals viewed the discussion precisely. In contrast, Carlson’s interview with Republican candidate Vivek Ramaswamy became viral in only one week, racking 44 million views.
The former president used his significant polling lead to explain why he chose to have a one-on-one interview with Carlson instead of joining the panel discussion with the other Republican contenders.
Trump said he was up by 40 points and going to the debate would be pointless.
When questioned by Carlson if he was worried about the United States descending into bloodshed or civil war, Trump was evasive.
He said there is a passion he’s never seen before, adding that there is undoubtedly a horrible mix, and it is at a level of hostility he has never seen before.
Trump spoke about his pending legal lawsuits and said they are baseless. He cited Hillary Clinton and Stacey Abrams as two such instances of people who had challenged the outcomes of elections they had ultimately lost.
Trump claimed Stacey Abrams, the Democratic candidate for governor of Georgia who claims to have won the election, should also be indicted.
Carlson questioned the former president’s anxiety about possible assassination attempts from his political opponents before the former president is expected to surrender again on Thursday in light of four criminal charges.
They are savage animals, that’s for sure, Trump said of his attackers.
Trump highlighted his foreign policy triumphs, including his attempts to avert a nuclear war with North Korea, while attacking Biden’s handling of the situation between Russia and Ukraine and the supposed influence of China in Cuba. But Trump still sees immigration as his top priority.
The former president has said securing the border and returning the hundreds of thousands of criminals admitted into the nation is a top priority.
