Tucker Carlson to host 2024 GOP presidential primary forum

Former Fox News host Tucker Carlson will host a Republican presidential primary forum in Iowa on Friday that will include five candidates, according to Blaze Media. 

The forum will notably not include the 2024 GOP front-runner, former President Donald Trump, who has indicated he is considering skipping debates because of his double-digit lead in the polls.

“Blaze Media is teaming up with THE FAMiLY LEADER to bring you the first presidential forum of the 2024 Republican Primary season, hosted by Tucker Carlson,” the media outlet wrote in a tweet on Monday.  

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC) and former Vice President Mike Pence will participate in the forum, which will be held at the Family Leadership Summit in Des Moines, Iowa, on July 14. 

The event will be livestreamed on BlazeTV and the BlazeTV YouTube channel, the outlet noted. 

The forum will precede the Republican National Committee’s first official debate of the primary season in Milwaukee, Wisc., on Aug. 23. 

Trump is averaging 53% support in GOP primary polls, according to RealClearPolitics, and is ahead of DeSantis, his top opponent, by 32 percentage points. 

In April, Trump declared that he is so far ahead of his rivals that he doesn’t see a reason to participate in the GOP debates. 

“I’m leading by 40 points. A lot of people say, ‘Why would you do a debate when you have people at two and three and fifteen and fourteen [percent]?’” Trump told John Catsimatidis, host of the “Cats & Cosby Show” on WABC 770. 

“People don’t debate when they have these massive leads. They say, ‘Why would we debate?’ I would have a hostile group of anchors — a hostile network — asking questions. Why would I do that?” the former president said. 

Last week, DeSantis confirmed that he will join his fellow candidates onstage in Milwaukee “regardless” of whether Trump shows up.

“I’ll be there regardless. I hope everybody who’s eligible comes,” DeSantis, 44, told Fox News, adding that he thinks debates are “an important part of the process.”