On Friday, former Fox News prime-time star Tucker Carlson hosted a forum event for five 2024 Republican primary candidates for president in 2024, in which he grilled the candidates on the Ukraine war, COVID-19, border policy and immigration, and “gender-affirming” treatments for minors.
[RELATED: Tucker Carlson Hosts 2024 GOP Presidential Forum, Creating New Media Company: WSJ]
The event, hosted by conservative media outlet the Blaze and called “The Summit”, featured Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, former Vice President Mike Pence, Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina, former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, and former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson.
The forum consisted of a series of one-on-one interviews between Carlson and the candidates.
Carlson pressed the candidates to justify their positions on controversial issues, drawing a stark contrast between himself as anti-war and conservative, and the more moderate and hawkish candidates.
Here are seven clips showing Tucker Carlson grilling the 2024 GOP candidates:
1. Tucker to Sen. Scott on Ukraine War: “Why not force a peace?”
Tucker pressed Sen. Tim Scott to explain why he would not support forcing a peace in the Russia-Ukraine war.
Scott said he did not want to offer a “premature peace.”
“So what’s the point at which we know we have achieved our goal?” Carlson followed up, citing the 20 years the U.S. spent in Afghanistan.
2. Tucker asks Sen. Tim Scott why Russia is a bigger threat than Mexico
Tucker suggests to Sen. Tim Scott that Mexico is a bigger threat to the U.S. than Russia.
“I don’t know anyone who’s been killed by Russia. I know people personally who have been killed by Mexico,” Carlson said.
“The government of Mexico allows fentanyl to come over our border. The Mexican government is party to the murder of hundreds of thousands of Americans. Why is Mexico less of a threat than Russia?”
Scott responded by saying “We can walk and chew gum at the same time.”
3. Asa Hutchinson implies child transition surgeries aren’t an issue
Carlson chose to press former Governor of Arkansas Asa Hutchinson on his 2021 veto of a bill to banning “gender-affirming care” for minors.
Hutchinson responded by framing the use of sex-change hormones for minors as a parents’ rights issue.
Dismissive of the question when the audience sides with Tucker, Hutchinson said “Tucker, I hope we’ll talk about some issues.”
4. Hutchinson describes puberty blockers for children as ‘treatment’
Hutchinson was then pressed by Carlson to defend his use of the term “treatment” to describe the use of puberty blocking hormones by minors.
5. Tucker Carlson reveals he did not take any doses of the COVID vaccine
One of the longest audience applause points occurred when Tucker Carlson revealed he did not take any doses of the COVID-19 vaccine.
The revelation came after Carlson asked Hutchinson about how he felt about government overreach during the pandemic and how many COVID vaccine shots the former governor had taken.
TheBlaze founder and TV host Glenn Beck compared Hutchinson’s forum performance to the Hindenburg airship disaster.
6. Tucker to Pence: “I would think you would have greater concern for religious liberty in Ukraine”
A tense encounter between former Vice President Mike Pence and Tucker Carlson occurred when Carlson asked Pence how he could reconcile his position as a Christian leader while supporting Ukraine, after Zelensky has been accused of raiding churches and arresting priests.
7. Tucker describes American cities crumbling, Pence says “Not my concern”
One of the most talked-about clips from Friday’s forum event was when Carlson described the decline of American infrastructure to Mike Pence.
“Our economy has degraded, the suicide rate has jumped, public filth, and disorder and crime have exponentially increased and yet your concern is that the Ukrainians, a country most people can’t find on a map, don’t have enough tanks? I think it’s a fair question to ask: Where’s the concern for the United States in that?” Carlson asked.
“That’s not my concern,” Pence responded, resulting in a soundbite which appears to show the former Vice President telling Carlson he doesn’t care about America’s issues more than Ukraine.
Correction: An earlier version of this article referred to Glenn Beck as the CEO of Blaze Media. He is the founder of TheBlaze and a BlazeTV host — the CEO of Blaze Media is Tyler Cardon.
<span class="dsq-postid" data-dsqidentifier="20893 https://www.themainewire.com/?p=20893">3 Comments
War Mongering Stooges of the Military Industrial Complex can’t bring peace because it would mean the end of their kickbacks from weapons sales. Eisenhower warned us about the Military Industrial Complex and now their power completely rules over D.C.
Pence is utterly finished – he should be wary of his future local elections too. The others, too, just embarassed themselves. But i don’t think Hutchinson was THAT bad. In the end, he said that the end goal of the war is to allow Ukraine to recover as much territory as possible. He should have been grilled more on how likely that was to happen, and the risks involved in provoking Russia, but by itself that answer is not that slimy.
They all talk around the issues tucker put to them. I was surprised that desantis took as strong a stance as he did, kudos to him. The others are all stooges as far as I’m concerned.