Clarice Feldman "If, like me, you find the presidential debate format a rather meaningless exercise, you will be astonished at what one-on-one interviews by a skilled interrogator can accomplish.
"At the Iowa family Leader conference, Tucker Carlson interviewed several leading contenders for president Tim Scott, Asa Hutchinson, Mike Pence, Nikki Haley, Vivek Ramaswamy, and Ron DeSantis.
"If the participants thought this was going to be another tongue bath, they were certainly surprised. He asked hard questions and some of their answers exposed their muddled thinking. At least two of them – Asa Hutchinson and Mike Pence -- were clear losers and can now be safely considered out of the running. If you haven’t had an opportunity to listen to all the interviews on the site, I’ll summarize some of the highlights.
"Tucker chided Pence for being more concerned about defending Ukraine than with dealing with domestic problems.
Tucker: "Where's the concern for the United States?"
Pence: "That's not my concern. Tucker I've heard this routine from you before. That's not my concern."
"Pence tried to duck this gaffe by claiming it was out of context, but the video is undoctored and the response is clear. I believe his campaign is now dead.
"He offered up an extended clip in which he said, "Anybody that says that we can’t be the leader of the free world and solve our problems at home has a pretty small view of the greatest nation on Earth. We can do both.
“ 'And as president of the United States, we will secure our border, we will support our military, we will revive our economy and stand by our values. And we will also lead the world for freedom under my administration. I promise you.”
"I don't think his optimism about our present ability to achieve all these ends is shared by many." . . .