Ask presidential hopefuls about ‘things that matter,’ Tucker Carlson advises

DES MOINES — Fox News personality Tucker Carlson implored a crowd of evangelical Christians on Friday to be discerning and advocate for traditional and conservative policies as national Republican figures continue to pour into the state, testing the waters for the 2024 presidential election.

Carlson stuck to his trademark conservative populism when he spoke to a crowd of about 1,800 at The Family Leadership Summit, skewering both Democratic figures and Republicans like congressional leader Mitch McConnell for not focusing on the bread-and-butter issues that he said are central to Americans’ lives.

When choosing politicians to support, “the first thing you should ask for is candidates who talk about things that matter,” he said.

What matters, according to Carlson, is starting a family, preserving tradition and focusing on domestic rather than global issues.

Carlson’s speech capped off the summit, a gathering of evangelical and Republican voters and leaders that often hosts national Republicans seeking the presidential nomination and favor from Iowa Republicans. The event is hosted by The Family Leader, a conservative Christian group that advocates for policies at the state and federal level.

Carlson said he was not at the summit as a potential candidate but said he can give voters advice on candidates based on his experience with them. Rumors around Carlson as a potential Republican contender in 2024 have swirled before, but he’s been quick to shut them down.

He said, despite President Joe Biden’s insistence that he’s running for re-election, the field for the next presidential election is wide-open in 2024.

“It means an opportunity for voters on both sides, and I’m confining my remarks to the Republican side, to really think through what we want,” he said. “Because voters are in that unusual, and not that frequently occurring position, of having all the power.”

Following much of the event’s focus on the fall of the federal right to an abortion and what’s next for the movement opposing abortion rights, Carlson took shots at companies who are paying for employees to travel out of state to legally have an abortion, and said his opponents discourage people from starting families.

“Republican leaders should be focused on this to start,” he said. “ … can your children grow up in a country pretty much like the one you grew up in?”

Carlson has promoted aspects of the far-right “great replacement” theory, the idea that non-white people or non-Americans are being intentionally brought into the United States to displace the existing population. An New York Times analysis in April found that Carlson had discussed the idea in more than 400 episodes of his show.

Carlson said the issues that he advocates for are what voters really care about, contending that social media, legacy media and many politicians are out of touch with the pulse of America.

“Never be embarrassed to ask about issues that matter to you,” he said. “There’s no national council that determines what’s supposed to matter to America.”

Leaders celebrate overturning Roe

The fall of Roe v. Wade was front and center Friday, as speakers, including Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds and U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley, celebrated the Supreme Court’s ruling as a win for conservatives in their long campaign against abortion rights.

Reynolds said she was happy that the Supreme Court’s June decision returned abortion legislation to the states, and vowed to keep pushing to both restrict abortion and provide support for pregnant people.

“The goal of the pro-life movement was never just to overturn Roe, it's to ensure that every unborn child is protected and respected,” she said. “And in Iowa we certainly have never lost sight of that objective.”

Grassley noted his decision to hold up the nomination of then-President Barack Obama’s 2016 nominee for the Supreme Court, Merrick Garland. He said that decision, along with President Donald Trump’s election in 2016, were instrumental to shaping the court that delivered the decision.

“We found this out, just in the last month, several very earthshaking Supreme Court decisions that maybe we weren’t really sure they were going to happen — but judicial confirmations do matter, and the elections matter, and 2016 made a big, big difference.”