Former President Donald Trump chose to skip the first GOP debate and instead opted for an interview with former Fox News host Tucker Carlson. The pre-taped interview was released on a social media platform five minutes before the debate began. In the interview, Trump explained that he didn’t attend the debate because he believed he was leading by a significant margin in the polls and didn’t want to be harassed by other candidates. During the debate, most of the candidates indicated that they would support Trump as the GOP nominee if he were convicted in any of the four separate cases against him.
Trump’s decision to do an interview instead of attending the debate was seen as a slight to Fox News, the host of the debate, as well as the other candidates. Trump has soured on Fox News and criticized the network in his social media posts. The interview was arranged after Trump approached Carlson, who expressed that voters would be interested in hearing Trump’s thoughts as the frontrunner in the Republican race. During the interview, Trump discussed the 2024 field and criticized his Vice President Mike Pence for not overturning the election results on January 6th. Trump also commented on the passion and hatred shown by his supporters on that day when asked if the nation is heading towards civil war.
Despite his legal troubles, recent polls show that Trump’s lead is growing among likely Republican primary voters. A CBS News/YouGov poll revealed that 62% of voters would choose Trump as their preferred candidate, while his closest rival, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, only received 16%. Other candidates in the field received single-digit support.