Trump attacks rivals in online interview with Tucker Carlson while skipping presidential debate

While eight Republican presidential candidates tried to make their case in Wednesday night’s debate that their party should move on from Donald Trump in 2024, the former president tried to make his case that everyone but him is irrelevant.

Trump, the early front-runner for the nomination, skipped the first Republican presidential debate in Milwaukee, instead opting to appear in a pre-recorded interview with former Fox News host Tucker Carlson posted Wednesday night on X, the website formerly known as Twitter. The interview was posted online five minutes before the debate aired.

“Do I sit there for an hour or two hours, whatever it’s going to be, and get harassed by people that shouldn’t even be running for president?” Trump said in the 46-minute interview. “Should I be doing that at a network that isn’t particularly friendly to me?”