4 highlights from Trump's interview with Tucker Carlson

By Ryan Foley, Christian Post Reporter Thursday, August 24, 2023

(From L) Former Governor of Arkansas Asa Hutchinson, former Governor of New Jersey Chris Christie, former US Vice President Mike Pence, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, entrepreneur and author Vivek Ramaswamy, former Governor from South Carolina and UN ambassador Nikki Haley, US Senator from South Carolina Tim Scott and North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum arrive onstage for the first Republican Presidential primary debate at the Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on August 23, 2023. (Photo by KAMIL KRZACZYNSKI / AFP) (Photo by KAMIL KRZACZYNSKI/AFP via Getty Images) | Kamil Krzaczynski/AFP via Getty Images

Trump bashes 2024 Republican rivals

At the beginning of the interview, Trump said that Wednesday's Republican debate featured candidates that "shouldn't even be running."

When Carlson asked him to elaborate on people who he said "shouldn't even be running for president," the former president initially responded that he did not "want to really use names" before denouncing former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson as "Ada Hutchinson" for reasons he did not expand upon.

Hutchinson is currently polling at 0.8% support in the RealClearPolitics average. Describing him as "weak and pathetic," Trump characterized Hutchinson as "not a very popular guy" and expressed bewilderment as to how he could get elected governor of the "great state" of Arkansas.

He concluded his remarks on Hutchinson by labeling him "nasty" as Hutchinson has emerged as one of the more vocal critics of the former president in the Republican primary field.

Trump also took a shot at former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, who is currently polling at 3.0% in the RealClearPolitics average. He called his former ally, who has made opposition to the former president a central tenet of his campaign, a "savage maniac" and a "lunatic."

Trump suggested that Christie's animus towards him stems from the fact that he "couldn't give him a job" in his administration because he "just never trusted him very much." According to Trump, "That's one of the reasons he feels so hurt and so betrayed."

Much like he has become accustomed to doing, Trump referred to DeSantis, whom polls suggest is Trump's strongest Republican competitor, as "Ron DeSanctimonious."

While Trump discussed Pence later in the conversation, he did not bring up the other contenders on the debate stage: entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley, Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C. and North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum.