Former President Donald Trump and Tucker Carlson. Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images, Scott Olson/Getty Images
Redeem now
- Former GOP strategist Rick Wilson says Tucker Carlson would pose a real threat to Trump if he runs in 2024.
- Wilson said Carlson will be able to easily launch an “online fundraising initiative.”
- Carlson’s celebrity and money would also come in handy, Wilson added.
Tucker Carlson would pose a credible threat to former President Donald Trump in 2024. GOP presidential primary if he runs, former GOP strategist says.
Carlson has not hinted at presidential ambitions, but former GOP strategist Rick Wilson says Carlson, who until Monday was one of Fox News’ top anchors, has what it takes to do well against Trump for the Republican nomination.
“What if he runs? He is rich enough. He would instantly have an online fundraising juggernaut second only to Trump and possibly surpassing him,” Wilson, who served as a strategist to former President George HW Bush, tweeted on Tuesday. Wilson was in 1988. Bush’s campaign director, later worked as a campaign adviser to former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani in the early 2000s, according to Ballotpedia. Wilson is now a staunch Trump critic and co-founder of the Lincoln Project, an anti-Trump super PAC.
Wilson added that if Carlson were to run, he would be “the only Republican who poses a material threat to Donald Trump in the primary” and ahead of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, currently Trump’s top GOP challenger.
“Celebrity, money, mental acuity, cynicism, pro-Putin isolationism and an open love of authoritarianism make for a pretty potent secret sauce for the MAGA base,” Wilson wrote.
“Celebrity put Trump in the WH,” Wilson added. “It could certainly do the same for Tucker. And spare me your “That can never happen. Even Trump’s GOP would never vote for a former TV host pushing a theory of white supremacy.” That’s what they would vote for.”
Carlson, the Fox News anchor, was ousted from his top spot on Monday. He hired Bryan Freedman, a high-powered lawyer known for multimillion-dollar client payouts, to negotiate his exit from the network.
Trump said he was “shocked” when he heard about the host’s ouster from Fox.
Trump and Carlson text each other frequently and are the closest they’ve ever been, The New York Times reported this week. Carlson has personally criticized Trump in the past, according to text messages released in March as part of a defamation lawsuit filed by Dominion Voting Systems against Fox.
Carlson has not said what his next steps will be after Fox News. Freedman did not immediately respond to Insider’s request for comment sent outside normal business hours.
Donald Trump Tucker Carlson Fox News More…
Redeem now
