It’s no secret that the relationship between Donald Trump and Fox News has been a contentious one, to say the least.
Now, with the first Republican primary debate just a week away, reports are coming in that former President Donald J. Trump has decided to skip the event and instead will be participating in an online interview with former Fox News host Tucker Carlson.
The news of his decision has been confirmed by multiple sources close to him who say he communicated his final decision over the past day.
In response, Trump posted something ambiguous on his Truth Social page: “Many people are asking whether or not I will be doing the DEBATES? ALL AMERICANS have been clamoring for a President of extremely High Intelligence…I’M YOUR MAN.”
The history between Donald Trump and Fox News is both cooperative and contentious, spanning from during his presidency all the way through now post-presidency.
While generally supportive of his agenda, there have still been moments of public disagreement due to certain topics or views they don’t agree on.
So it doesn’t come as too much of a surprise that he would opt out of attending this debate they were hoping to push him into doing.
Trump even asked attendees at an earlier rally this summer if he should participate in upcoming RNC debates, resulting in mixed reactions from the crowd: “They’re all saying is he going to go into the debate?…I don’t know. If you’re leading by 50 and 60 and 70 points do you do that or not?”
After his third indictment was announced however, it was reported that top executives from Fox had met with him privately at Bedminster golf club in order to urge him to take part.
But apparently their efforts weren’t enough as he has officially decided against participating in either primary debates scheduled for Wednesday or September at Reagan Presidential Library in California respectively.
This absence from stage could prove damaging for Fox News who were looking forward to having him appear at their first ever debate while also being bad news for overall impact of Republican primary race itself.
However, despite this setback there may be some good news yet as Tucker Carlson continues landing notable guests such as Vivek Ramaswamy and Devon Archer who have already appeared on ‘Tucker on Twitter’ show.
