Cornfields, Candidates, and Carlson

The Unvarnished Recap of Iowa's Family Leadership Summit

This is the first installment of what will be a VERY long series covering the 2024 election. Many future posts will be exclusive to paid subscribers, so if you see what you like and want to keep up with the circus show that is the 2024 election, I recommend becoming a paid subscriber.

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Iowa and New Hampshire are the states that kick off the presidential primaries on February 9. So, where's a better place to have the first big gathering of Republican presidential hopefuls than in Iowa? That is why the first official big event, held this past Friday to start off the season, the Family Leadership Summit, is in the cornfield-filled state of Iowa. And Blaze Media streamed every candidate interview live.

Usually, these kinds of events are friendly, an opportunity to kick back and receive some softball questions from the interviewer. But this year, Tucker Carlson stepped up to the plate and, boy, did he throw some fastballs, hitting a few candidates in the face. He fired off tough questions and didn't hold back - well, except for one candidate, but we'll get to that later.

He mixed things up by customizing his questions for each candidate, which kept things interesting but also made it a little tricky to make apple-to-apple comparisons.

I did my best to point out the most common issues discussed and what I believe are some of the most important. I even provided timestamp links to each point in case you want to evaluate the candidate’s answer for yourself.

So, how about we dive into each candidate's performance - and yep, they sure put on a show - and highlight some key moments? Buckle up!