(Mark Pellin, Headline USA) If Donald Trump’s high hadn’t already hit record levels after his politically-weaponized indictment, with massive fundraising, soaring poll numbers and support even from some of his harshest critics, Tuesday’s interview with Tucker Carlson sent it into the stratosphere.
Carlson set the stage, leaving little doubt that the former president still had his chops and was focused on moving forward — witch hunts, raids and fake news torpedoes be damned.
“For the past seven years, the neo-con media establishment has been telling you that Donald Trump is a dangerous lunatic,” Carlson said. “In two years in office, Joe Biden has brought the world to the brink of nuclear holocaust, who is the dangerous lunatic?”
By comparison, Carlson said of Trump, “For a man who was caricatured as an extremist, we think you’ll find what he has to say moderate, sensible and wise.”
Trump held forth on everything from Soros-funded District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s sham indictment and his experience in court, to the prospects of President Joe Biden seeking reelection and what poses that most dire threat to America.
Excellent Trump/Tucker interview. More foreign policy wisdom than anything out of DC in 2 years. Worth learning from
— Charlie Kirk (@charliekirk11) April 12, 2023
“When I went to the courthouse, which is also a prison in a sense, they signed me in and I’ll tell you, people were crying. “They said, ‘I’m sorry.’ They’d say, ‘2024, sir. 2024,’” Trump said of his experience in Manhattan.
“They had to have me do certain things they said. They said, ‘Sir, I can’t believe I have to ask you. I can’t even believe that I have to ask you to do it.’ You can see, so in one sense, it was beautiful because they get it.”
Carlson dished out high marks for Trump’s handling of foreign policy, and his perceptions on the biggest threat facing America.
JUST IN: Trump tells Tucker Carlson the biggest threat to America is *not* Russia or China, but “from within.”
“Who's the biggest problem? Is it China? Could it be Russia? Could it be North Korea? No. The biggest problem is from within. It's these sick, radical people from… pic.twitter.com/2ERIDiTD4q
— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) April 12, 2023
“His grasp of foreign policy,” Carlson said of the former president, “His understanding of world affairs is so much more nuanced and sophisticated and pro-American than the moronic neocons currently in charge. It was remarkable.”
Trump on Biden Afghanistan withdrawal:
"To see the way we got out like we were surrendering, taking the military out first, leaving $85 billion worth of equipment behind, giving up Bagram. They left everything… They left the dogs… The way they got out was so horrible." pic.twitter.com/6ZBuQ1XpY3
— Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) April 12, 2023
Tucker's face omg pic.twitter.com/RsJMfJk3cH
— Jack Poso 🇺🇸 (@JackPosobiec) April 12, 2023
Dismissing any possible obstacle coming from President Joe Biden for his own 2024 run, Trump said he doubted the incumbent would seek reelection because “there’s something wrong” with him.
“Look, I watch him just like you do, and I think it’s almost inappropriate for me to say it. I don’t see how it’s possible. There’s something wrong. I saw his answer today on television about whether or not he was going to run to a very nice guy named Al Roker,” Trump said. “You can’t get a softer question than that that was a long answer talking about the eggs and this and that. Look, I don’t think he can.”
Q: Are you running in 2024?
BIDEN: “Well, I’ll either, I’ll eith—I’ll either be rolling egg or, uh, being the, the gu—you know, the guy who’s pushing them out” pic.twitter.com/3Jlnni9aD5
— Kyle Martinsen 🐊 (@KyleMartinsen_) April 10, 2023
When asked who Democrats would pick if Biden doesn’t run, Trump predicted it would likely be Vice President Kamala Harris.
“That would be the one that they talk about, but I don’t think she’s performed well on the big stage,” Trump said. “Maybe I’m wrong, but there are a certain group of people that will go crazy if it’s not her. They’re going to be very angry if it’s not her, and that’s a problem.”
Trump dismissed California Gov. Gavin Newsom as “a very ambitious guy” who has “done a “done a terrible job with the state.”
On the GOP side of the ticket, Trump left no doubt his campaign was moving forward and he had no intention of dropping out of the race.
“So they’re trying to prevent you from making to it the general election,” Carlson noted, to which Trump agreed, calling the endless string of witch-hunt lawsuits, “the old Soviet process,” before shredding the bogus Bragg indictment.
“It’s so off the statute of limitations, years off, it’s hard to believe. You know, usually when you have something like this, the Democrats say he’s terribly guilty. The Democrats have even said, I’m innocent,” Trump said.
When asked, “Is there anything they could throw at you legally that would convince you to drop out the race? If you get convicted in this case in New York, would you drop out?”
Trump responded, “No, I’d never drop — it’s not my thing. I wouldn’t do it.”
We need Trump.
Great interview tonight.
Already getting texts from people who weren’t going to vote for him again telling me they changed their mind after watching that interview!
Great job, @realDonaldTrump and @TuckerCarlson.
(I still don’t like Fox News though).
— Laura Loomer (@LauraLoomer) April 12, 2023