Tucker Carlson and President Donald Trump will air counterprogramming to Fox News’s first GOP 2024 primary debate tonight.
However, the executives at Fox News are reportedly furious with the move.
Carlson is not backing down and put the network on notice.
Chadwick Moore, Carlson’s biographer, said: “Sources inside Fox Corp say executives at both Fox News and the parent company are ‘incandescent’ over Tucker’s Trump interview.
“Tucker’s inner circle tells me: It would be ‘extremely wise to leave Tucker and his longtime producing partner, Justin Wells, alone. Each spent more than 15 years at Fox and did nothing wrong. Let Tucker and Justin do their thing and they won’t bite. But any war will be super ugly. That’s a guarantee.’”
Sources inside Fox Corp say executives at both Fox News and the parent company are “incandescent” over Tucker’s Trump interview. Tucker’s inner circle tells me: it would be “extremely wise to leave Tucker and his longtime producing partner, Justin Wells, alone.” Each spent more…
— Chadwick Moore (@Chadwick_Moore) August 23, 2023
A current Fox News employee tells me everyone on Fox, including guests, are explicitly banned from mentioning tonight’s Tucker/Trump interview, even in the context of the debate.
— Chadwick Moore (@Chadwick_Moore) August 23, 2023
Trump and Carlson are teaming up to ruin Fox News’ big night, according to the New York Times and CNN.
The media outlets are reporting that Trump plans to skip the first Republican debate, hosted by Fox News, on Wednesday in Milwaukee.
Instead, he will sit down for an interview with Carlson.
The NY Times called the plan to sabotage Fox News an “act of open hostility.”
According to The New York Times: “The timing of the interview with Mr. Carlson remains unclear, but if it goes ahead as currently planned, the debate-night counterprogramming would serve as an act of open hostility.
“The chairwoman of the R.N.C., Ronna McDaniel, has privately urged Mr. Trump to attend the debate, even traveling to his private club in Bedminster, N.J., last month to make her pitch in person.
“And Fox News has been drawn into a public battle not only with Mr. Trump but with Mr. Carlson, who is still on contract and being paid by Fox despite having his show taken off the air.
“Fox sent Mr. Carlson a cease-and-desist letter after he aired a series of videos on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter,” the NYT reported.
“The Trump campaign’s conversations with Mr. Carlson — and the possibility of counterprogramming — have previously been reported by multiple news organizations.”
According to CNN:
Trump, meanwhile, has been throwing out different ideas for his own counterprogramming during the debate, the sources say, including sitting down with former Fox News host Tucker Carlson and calling into the different cable news shows.
Conversations regarding a potential interview with Carlson have taken place with Trump’s team, but there is no definitive plan for him to do that as of now, they say.
Trump has privately and publicly floated skipping either one or both of the first two Republican presidential primary debates and has repeatedly pointed to his commanding lead in the polls as one reason he is hesitant to share the stage with his GOP challengers.
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