Instead of being subjected to the pains of a debate, former President Donald J. Trump loved an hour on Wednesday evening through which he was capable of ship principally stream-of-consciousness commentary on politics and the state of the nation, drifting from subjects such because the loss of life of Jeffrey Epstein and the challenges of low water stress to what President Biden’s legs seem like on the seashore and what he known as the “trivia” of the costs lodged in opposition to him in 4 prison indictments.

His choice to sit down out the talk and as a substitute do a pretaped interview with the previous Fox News host Tucker Carlson was a tactical one by Mr. Trump, who’s main the Republican major polls by huge margins. Rather than showing onstage with folks competing with him however largely refusing to criticize him, Mr. Trump was ready to make use of the main and sympathetic questioning by Mr. Carlson to boast about what he noticed as his accomplishments, belittle his rivals and assault President Biden in an unchallenged format.

Early within the 46-minute episode of Mr. Carlson’s present, posted on X, the platform previously often known as Twitter, Mr. Carlson requested Mr. Trump why he selected to not be a part of the opposite candidates on the first major debate of the election cycle, hosted by Fox News. Mr. Trump replied by attacking Asa Hutchinson, the previous governor of Arkansas, and Chris Christie, the previous governor of New Jersey and Mr. Trump’s onetime pal, whom he known as a “savage maniac.”

Mr. Trump maintained that authoritarians across the globe have been afraid of tangling with him. He once more described the assault on the Capitol by a pro-Trump mob on Jan. 6, 2021, as having a spirit of “love” and “unity.”

Mr. Carlson, who raised the subject of Mr. Epstein, requested greater than as soon as whether or not Mr. Trump is perhaps killed by his opponents — Mr. Trump didn’t reply immediately — and pressed Mr. Trump about whether or not the United States was in peril of falling into civil conflict.

“I don’t know,” Mr. Trump stated. “There’s a level of passion that I’ve never seen. There’s a level of hatred that I’ve never seen and that’s probably a bad combination.”

Asked how he was enduring the 4 indictments he has confronted since March, Mr. Trump responded, “I do get credit for holding up quite well, I must tell you.”