Trump Rails Against ‘Pretenders to the Throne’ in GOP: ‘We Will Not Let This Happen’

AP Photo/Alex Brandon

Former President Donald Trump railed against his 2024 Republican primary rivals on Friday, describing them as “pretenders to the throne.”

In a post to his alternative social network Truth Social, Trump mocked the first Republican presidential debate held in Milwaukee, Wisconsin on Wednesday:

The Debate on FoxNews had a hard time with the proverbial RATINGS. It was one of the lowest rated EVER, if not THE LOWEST. It showed that many of those participating are “second tier” and merely “pretenders to the throne.” Some of the answers were sooo bad, with delivery even worse. The numbers were less than half what I had in 2016, not a good way to start the fight against Crooked Joe Biden, and his Lunatic Thugs. We will not let this happen. MAGA!

In another post, Trump boasted about the ratings of his interview with former Fox News host Tucker Carlson, which was released on Twitter at the same time as Fox News’ Republican presidential debate — which Trump opted not to attend.

“Wow! My interview with Tucker Carlson has turned out to be the single most watched Video and Interview in HISTORY,” he wrote. “Such a great honor to have participated. 257,000,000 Views, and counting – more than doubling the long time reigning Champ, the Oprah Winfrey interview of Michael Jackson. THANK YOU!”

While the Twitter post containing the interview supposedly received more than 250 million views, that number includes users who merely saw the interview appear in their timeline and does not mean that 250 million people necessarily watched the interview.

According to RealClearPolitics’ polling average, Trump is overwhelmingly the frontrunner in the 2024 Republican primary at 55.4%, followed by Florida Governor Ron DeSantis at 14.6%, and Vivek Ramaswamy at 7.2%.

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