Fox News aired an exclusive interview between Tucker Carlson and President Donald Trump on Monday. The interview took place in Japan, during the G20 Summit. The two talked about various topics, ranging from trade deals with China to denuclearizing Iran to big tech.
One of the questions Carlson had was about big tech's desire to keep President Trump from being re-elected in 2020. We know this to be true based on recent transcripts and video documentation released by Project Veritas.
"Google, by some measures, is the most powerful company in the role, all information flows through it. They're against you. They don't want you re-elected. Can you get re-elected if Google's against you?" Carlson asked.
"So, you know, I've been hearing that about Google and Facebook and Twitter. I won. They were totally against me. I won," Trump replied.
"They didn't think you were going to reply," Carlson said.
"Well, they fought me very hard. I mean, I heard that. And they're fighting me hard right now, which is incredible because I think the Democrats want to shut them up, and, frankly, so do a lot of the Republicans want to shut them up," Trump said. "If you look at Twitter, I have millions and millions of people on Twitter and it's, you know, it's a very good arm for me. It's social media. But they don't treat me right."
According to Trump, multiple people have come up to him, saying Twitter makes it difficult for people to following the president.
"What they're doing is wrong and possibly illegal," Trump explained. "And a lot of things are being looked at right now, but you're right. Google is very powerful right now. But I won."
Trump said a recent poll showed him 54 to 55 percent "but you can add 10 to whatever poll I have."
"And I never get good press. I haven't had a good story. I used to get the best press in the world. You remember the old days when I was an entrepreneur," Trump said. "I used to get great press."
The president said he gets bad press on 93 percent of stories, especially ones that should be "great."
"I'm talking about stories that should be good, they [the media] make them bad. They should be great, they make them neutral. And yet I won. And I'll win again," Trump concluded. "So when they say it [Google] is the most powerful, it may be but they were against me, Facebook was against me, they were all against me. Twitter was against me."
According to Trump, his tweets have been good for Twitter.
"I've been very good for Twitter. I don't think Twitter would be the same without what I do on Twitter," he said. "But they [big tech companies] have this crazy disposition, this crazy philosophy and yet the Democrats are very much opposed to them in so many ways. It's an amazing thing."
"So you just said what the tech companies are doing may be illegal. Is there a role for the Justice Department?" Carlson asked.
"Maybe," Trump said. "Well they could be. I don't even want to say whether or not they're doing something. But I will tell you, there are a lot of people that want us to and there are a lot of people that all you have to do is pick up a newspaper and read it or watch Fox or another network. There are a lot of people that want us to take action against Facebook, and against Twitter, and, frankly, against Amazon. Amazon also. A lot of people want us to take action."
"Are you going to?" Carlson asked.
"I can't say that, Tucker. I can't say," Trump said.
Big tech has recently come under fire from conservatives for censoring the pro-life movement. 2020 Democrats, like Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), have also called for breaking up the technology monopoly and influence the companies have.