A new report from the Daily Wire has revealed that Blaze Media made an announcement this week that Tucker Carlson, former host on Fox News, will be hosting the very first Republican presidential forum for the 2024 primary season this week, however, there was a rather large name that was missing from the list of attendees.
Any guesses as to who it is? I’ll give you three, but honestly, you won’t need two of them. Ready for the answer? It’s former President Donald Trump.
“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 company revealed in a statement. “We’ll be live streaming this event all day Friday, July 14th on BlazeTV and the BlazeTV YouTube channel.”
“The Friday event will feature numerous current and former elected leaders who are running for president — including Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, former Vice President Mike Pence, former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley, and Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC) — as well as some other candidates who are lower in the polls,” the report said, adding, “Bob Vander Plaats — who is an influential evangelical leader in the state of Iowa and the CEO of The FAMiLY Leader, the organization hosting the event — said in a tweet: ‘I learned last night that @realDonaldTrump will NOT attend our Leadership Summit this Friday.'”
A spokesperson representing the former president stated that he would not be attending the event due to a scheduling conflict concerning a speech Trump is due to deliver for a Turning Point Action conference, which will be held close to his Mar-a-Lago residence this weekend. Seems reasonable enough, right? I mean, he made a commitment and is honoring it.
The news about the former president’s absence from the forum comes hot on the heels of his attack on Iowa Republican Governor Kim Reynolds in a post on social media. However, it’s important to point out that Reynolds is a very popular, important figure in the Republican Party who could play a major role in who wins the state come January.
“I opened up the Governor position for Kim Reynolds, & when she fell behind, I ENDORSED her, did big Rallies, & she won,” Trump stated in the post. “Now, she wants to remain ‘NEUTRAL.’ I don’t invite her to events!”
Trump paid a visit to Iowa just last Friday. Reynolds was not in attendance and an aide to the governor allegedly said that she wasn’t extended an invitation to the event. Reynolds has heaped public praise on Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis, the former president’s biggest rival in the current primary race, she has yet to give an official endorsement to any candidate.
According to a report from The New York Times that was published this week, “there is no politician in Iowa with greater sway than Ms. Reynolds, 63, who has overseen her party’s swelling state legislative majorities with an approval rating among Republicans near 90 percent.”
Will Trump’s dig at Reynolds come back to bite him in the butt later in the primary race? It very well could, which goes to show that while Trump did a great job as president, and his policies are amazing, there are times when he makes comments at times when things are better left unsaid. That’s not a dig at him, we all have that problem from time to time, but if he wants to take on Biden in a rematch, he has to keep his level of influence.
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