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Paul Begala is predicting his former CNN sparring partner and old friend Tucker Carlson will storm the 2028 Republican primary and emerge as the party’s presidential nominee, declaring the conservative firebrand would “kick their asses” in a crowded GOP field.
Speculation over Carlson’s political ambitions intensified in early August after he released a 10-point manifesto that was widely viewed as a preview of a possible 2028 presidential bid.
In a sprawling 90-minute monologue, the former Trump diehard-turned-critic laid out his vision for the country’s future and expanded on previous calls to build a third-party movement but stopped short of announcing his own candidacy.
Begala, who co-hosted CNN’s Crossfire with Carlson in the 2000s and once considered him a close friend, made the striking prediction the influencer would run during a Wednesday appearance on Jessica Tarlov’s Raging Moderates podcast when pressed on the speculation.
“I’ve debated [Carlson] more than anyone in the world and he is a brilliant debater. Here’s one of the things he always says, ‘Third parties are like bees. They sting and they die.’ He never used to express the slightest interest in third parties,” Begala began.
He continued: “So, I believe, this is not having talked to him in years, I believe he’ll run, he’ll run as a Republican, and he’ll win the nomination. He will be the Republican candidate in 2028.”
Instead, the CNN contributor and Democratic strategist argued Carlson would enter the Republican primary and prove a formidable opponent for the names currently being floated as potential successors to President Donald Trump, discounting the names one-by-one.
He said: “Tucker’s looking around that field and he’s saying, JD Vance, let’s be honest, he’s an oaf. I’m sorry, and I know we went to Yale, we’re supposed to be all impressed, he was a hillbilly DEI admission to Yale. OK? He’s a dumb-dumb and an oaf and a charmless no-talent. And Tucker knows that.”
“Everything he says, he’s just Tucker’s sock puppet, OK? And when Tucker pulls his hand out of that puppet, JD’s going to have nothing to say. I’m serious, Tucker will mop the floor with him,” Begala added.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio, another frequently mentioned potential contender, was also waved aside by Begala: “Rubio right now is on a bit of a sugar high because he doesn’t have a partisan job, I saw this with Hillary [Clinton] – as soon as she left Secretary of State and became a politician again, she got hammered.”
“I think he’s a little hollow,” he warned. “I think he’s got a glass jaw. So then what do they have? Trump Jr.?”
Tarlov noted Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth was in Iowa Tuesday “in his personal capacity,” while Begala also raised Arkansas Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders, Trump’s former White House spokesperson, as another possible contender.
“Tucker will whip them all; he will kick their asses,” Begala said.
Begala argued Carlson’s strength could come from combining cultural populism with a more economically populist message.
“I think Tucker is going to come a full Bernie [Sanders] on the economy. He’s going to attack concentrations of wealth. He’s going to support unions,” he said. “Maybe I’m wrong, but there’s a there’s a a holistic argument here, a seamless garment of populism where he’s going to hate the malefactors of great wealth and the immigrants and, you know, to piece that all together. ”
“I think there’s a lot of power in that,” Begala concluded. “I’m terribly worried for my country. I wouldn’t support any of that stuff. But I think I’m telling you, he’s the most talented guy out there. And candidate talent matters.”
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The post ‘He Will Kick Their Asses!’ CNN’s Paul Begala Predicts Old Pal Tucker Carlson Will Win 2028 GOP Nomination first appeared on Mediaite.
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