In lieu of attending the first Republican primary debate, former President Donald Trump released an interview with Tucker Carlson that was watched 90 million times in three hours, according to the view counter displayed on twitter. 

Carlson released the interview five minutes before the GOP primary debate began in Milwaukee at 9:00 p.m. EDT. Within twenty minutes, the video view counter showed 33 million, as Breitbart News reported. 

By 12:00 a.m. EDT, the video received more than 90 million views, according to the social platform now known as X. 

Trump campaign senior adviser Susie Wiles said the interview provided a “a clear contrast between President Trump engaging in a thoughtful policy discussion about what his second term will look like versus 90-second canned sound bites and platitudes from the debate stage.”

“President Trump won this evening’s Republican debate in dominating fashion. More people watched President Trump’s interview with Tucker Carlson than the rest of the field on the debate stage combined,” Wiles said.

“What is clear after the dust settles: none of the other candidates looked ready to take on Crooked Joe Biden. Only one leader can Make America Great Again, and that’s President Donald J. Trump,” Wiles added.

In the interview, Trump called President Joe Biden a “Manchurian candidate” who is compromised by China. 

As Breitbart News reported: 

“And he also has the distinction of being the most incompetent. And I believe both, I mean, he’s both incompetent and corrupt. So I actually believe he’s compromised because China knows so much about him. They know where the money comes from, they know where it is, who paid it, and they probably paid it,” Trump continued.

“He, in many ways, is a Manchurian candidate. We have a Manchurian candidate, and he’s afraid to tell Russia to get out of Cuba. He’s afraid to tell China to get out of Cuba. He’s afraid. China now is building — think of this — China’s building military installations in Cuba. The Cuban population of Miami is not too happy, because they’re never going to be able to go back. And you don’t even hear about it,” Trump said, identifying the media as the worst culprit.

Trump also said the American people are smart and know the various indictments against him are all “bullshit.”

“I got indicted four times. All trivia, nonsense, bullshit. It’s all bullshit. It’s horrible when you look and you look at what they’re doing. The boxes hoax, I’m covered by the Presidential Records Act. I’m allowed to do exactly that,” Trump said.

Jordan Dixon-Hamilton is a reporter for Breitbart News. Write to him at jdixonhamilton@breitbart.com or follow him on Twitter.