Fox News host Tucker Carlson did not explicitly rule out a potential future bid for President during a speech in Iowa at the Family Leadership Summit, and noted that the “average Republican voter is not represented” in Washington, D.C.
When asked about returning to Iowa for another summit, Carlson was asked if he would be “the Fox News TV host interviewing potential presidential hopefuls,” or instead be a presidential hopeful himself.
Carlson replied with a chuckle, “Oh, please! God knows what the future holds.”
Tucker Carlson Asked If He Will Run For President pic.twitter.com/G41BmQgxo8
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Carlson then explained that he takes issue with people, and politicians, who fail to live up to their responsibilities as leaders.
“The people I’m maddest at in the world are people who don’t do their duty and leave the vulnerable exposed,” Carlson said. “That’s the most basic violation there is. It’s not what the enemy does to you. It’s what people charged with ensuring your welfare do to you. And I really feel that way about leaders in the Republican Party.”
“There’s a reason that Republican voters chose Trump,” Carlson said. “The reason was Republican voters understood on a gut level, that they were not always able to articulate, whatever Trump’s problems, he kind of liked them.”
“Over the years of living in Washington I’ve become so defensive about Evangelicals. Anyone criticizing them would make me mad, because it’s so unfair. They provide all the manpower, a lot of the money, all the kind of ingenious, excited, non-cynical political energy,” he said.
Gage Skidmore / Flickr (Edited)
“You go back Washington where I live and people are like ‘those freaks.’ And I mean like, Republican leaders, and just on principle that enraged me. And it’s not just the Evangelicals, but it’s basically that the average Republican voter is not represented in a meaningful way by his or her leaders in Washington,” Carlson said.
“I cannot stress that enough, and I cannot overstate how hostile that makes me. So, you know, I have every intention of staying in the job that I’m blessed to have but I’m going to keep hammering that,” Carlson continued.
“We need immediate attention and help. This is an SOS moment, I really feel that way. And anyone who won’t help, or is secretly working for the other side at a moment of crisis like this, when they’re throwing people in jail for having the wrong opinions? That person is beneath contempt in my view, I mean it.”
