The big buzz on X (né Twitter) on the evening of Aug. 18—other than complaints that Elon Musk’s newly appointed CEO is taking the site back to square one in free speech suppression—and elsewhere in the media, for that matter, is that Tucker Carlson will be interviewing Donald Trump at the very time that Fox News is broadcasting the first Republican debate.
This is bad news for Fox and the Republican National Committee. The combination of Mr. Carlson and President Trump, both massive celebrities, could well, to use the now-old expression, “break the internet.”
Beyond the network and the RNC, the big losers in this will be the other candidates, however they’re ultimately configured.
This may be especially disappointing to the surging (compared to the others anyway) Vivek Ramaswamy, who has been counting on his considerable verbal skills to outdistance the field. It’s also ironic since Mr. Carlson’s hour-long interview with Mr. Ramaswamy, promulgated on X earlier the same day, was extremely favorable to the entrepreneur and came close to seeming like an endorsement.
Among those also taking a hit will be Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, whose well-heeled campaign has been under assault for not living up to expectations. This would have been a chance for revival, with or without President Trump present.
Those on the stage will undoubtedly devote a good deal of their time dissing the 45th president, complaining about his absence, calling him a coward for not debating, and so forth, but this may backfire, sending their viewers over to X to see what President Trump and Mr. Carlson are doing.
This will not only pit Trump against the rest of the field, a contest in which he has been ahead by some 40 points for virtually the entire period, but it’ll pit Mr. Carlson against Bret Baier and Martha MacCallum, the Fox team, a competition that was decided in a landslide long ago.
What’s perhaps most interesting, however, about what has transpired is that it was entirely predictable. Where else would President Trump go the evening of the Fox debate than to the man who had been fired by the network, even though he was by far its most popular host? And who would Mr. Carlson rather have as his guest than President Trump?
