We covered the Family Leadership Summit on Friday in Iowa where several of the 2024 Republican candidates were grilled by Tucker Carlson, and we got a good chance to size them up a bit more.
Former Gov. Asa Hutchinson and former Vice President Mike Pence imploded with their answers, Hutchinson on the transgender issue and Pence on Ukraine and Jan. 6. The person who said some things with breakout potential was Vivek Ramaswamy. Former South Carolina governor Nikki Haley sort of stepped in it, too, with the base in her answers about the 2020 election. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis gave generally good policy answers and committed no major mistakes.
All of that is important to help us decide on who we want as our presidential candidate. But to win, we need to be committed to determining how to win. And that’s a lot of what was being discussed at the Turning Point Action Conference this weekend.
People were primed.
WATCH: Thunderous chants of “Let’s Go Brandon” echo overflow line at @TPAction_’s #ACTCON ahead of Tucker Carlson’s and President Trump’s keynote address 🇺🇸🔥 pic.twitter.com/A8E2wRsBct
— Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) July 15, 2023
Perhaps one of the best calls to action came from Rep. Byron Donalds (R-FL). One of the problems that Republicans seem to have is not getting out there and doing all they can to win, while Democrats concentrate on the process of grabbing the votes — any way they can. “We have to go and find every vote!” Donalds said.
FIND EVERY VOTE
Rep. Byron Donalds discusses how Republicans must double down on their grassroots game to win.
Watch LIVE📷 https://t.co/aeKhZCtVbe
Watch our LIVE coverage of #ACTCON2023 here: https://t.co/dW4zchq3Tu pic.twitter.com/p4QecwpYIs
— Real America’s Voice (RAV) (@RealAmVoice) July 15, 2023
If you don’t get into all the nitty-gritty of getting the vote and making sure that it is properly counted, you will get steamrolled by Democrats.
Donalds also spoke about how the Biden administration doesn’t care about weaponizing the government against us—and this is what we must stop.
.@ByronDonalds on Democrats weaponizing the IRS to spy on Americans:
“Aren’t you glad we got rid of Nancy Pelosi.” pic.twitter.com/Xb7epp9Lqw
— The Post Millennial (@TPostMillennial) July 15, 2023
Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) said that we needed to turn Biden out of the White House, and warned about where he could take us, with one heck of a line.
Rep. Matt Gaetz SLAMS the Biden admin sending cluster bombs to Ukraine:
“A President who most days cannot find his pants should not be able to sleepwalk the United States of America into a war with a nuclear power.” pic.twitter.com/msWUNhRpmL
— The Post Millennial (@TPostMillennial) July 15, 2023
“A President who most days cannot find his pants should not be able to sleepwalk the United States of America into a war with a nuclear power.”
Then Tucker Carlson, who was at this event as well, put a cap on it with his remarks. He probably got the most cheers of anyone at the event.
Crowd goes absolutely WILD for @TuckerCarlson:
“I don’t think most unemployed people get a reception like that.” 🔥🔥🔥 pic.twitter.com/yXEyWap2rx
— The Post Millennial (@TPostMillennial) July 15, 2023
He said he didn’t think most “unemployed people” get a reception like that. But then, he went into some of the things that he discovered about the candidates when he was interviewing them on Friday. He just savaged Pence, and the crowd loved it, which tells you a lot about Pence’s chances and how much he probably effectively ended his campaign with what he said.
Carlson said he was going to make some general observations about the interviews, “rather than just savaging Mike Pence.”
Tucker Carlson is refraining from taking a victory lap over Mike Pence because it was like “beating a 5-year-old in ping pong.” pic.twitter.com/aFBoajx4kH
— Citizen Free Press (@CitizenFreePres) July 15, 2023
He just mocked the heck out of Pence. Carlson said that would be “too easy” to savage him, that would be like “beating your 5-year-old in soccer or ping pong.”
You can see a little of what he’s talking about here, with how he probably ended Pence.
But it looks like the event is pretty lit, and still to come is former President Donald Trump, who wasn’t at the Family Leadership Summit but will be here.