It was a little laughable watching Fox News brag about how 13 million people tuned in to watch the first GOP debate.

I laughed the next day when they released their numbers because Tucker Carlson’s X (formerly Twitter) interview with President Trump began with 75 million views and at last check was up to 265 million views.

Funny how Fox News failed to even mention the staggering difference in numbers, much less pat themselves on the back for coming in last.

I got a little heat from establishment Republicans when I said on social media that Trump was the winner of the first debate, but when you beat the debate by almost 200 million views, I think that speaks for itself.

In fairness, I’m not sure how Elon Musk counts the views. For example, I watched the debate live and went back a few times to catch up with the Trump interview.

But even if views are counted more than once, the explosion of 75 million views within the first few minutes of Trump’s interview smashed any notion that American Conservatives had any interest in what the Republican bench had to say.

Nope, they wanted to see the starting quarterback and could care less about the preseason squad.

So when I say Donald Trump won the debate, that’s exactly what I was talking about and it wasn’t even close.

Those kinds of staggering numbers tell a tale that current polls cannot measure up to. It’s a telling sign of just how fed up Americans are and, in my humble opinion, are ready to give Trump the green light to fix our broken and corrupt system once and for all.

Polls, after all, are just a snapshot of 1,000 random people and are often skewed because polling companies are often hired by candidates to do the poll, and the questions can sometimes be framed to elicit a certain answer.

And they don’t take into account that more and more Americans just don’t want to tell strangers on the phone how they think and feel about politics, which we saw in the 2016 election that had Hillary Clinton winning in a landslide.

So actual viewership in a head-to-head ratings battle like the debate and Trump interview spells out a pretty clear picture of the reality in America right now.

I haven’t seen many pick up on this fact, but I’m used to other “Conservatives” ignoring me. I was waiting with much anticipation to see the difference between the debate and the interview and it tells me that if the election was held today, Biden would be gloriously deposed by the American people.

Based on those very real numbers, it would be a political beatdown not seen since Ronald Reagan smashed Walter Mondale in the 1984 race where Reagan won 49 states.

Mondale won his home state of Minnesota and the Socialist Republic of Washington D.C.

Some will want to skew 265 million views as either views that were counted more than once or out-of-country views. OK, let’s give that the benefit of the doubt and give 100 million views to out-of-country viewership.

How many of the 13 million Fox News is bragging about is out of country? So let’s also give another 25 million views over to people like myself who kept coming back to catch up with the interview.

That still leaves the original 75 million people. I’d have to say 75 million compared to 13 million says a lot.

As far as the actual debate, I was pretty happy with our great Gov. Ron DeSantis with the exception of his vagueness regarding Ukraine. Other than that, DeSantis did great and I love, love and love some more his stance on the border.

DeSantis repeatedly saying he will allow lethal force at the border and use our incredible Special Forces to take down cartels across the border truly makes him stand out from the rest.

I thought Gov. Doug Burgum did a good job as well, though he complained that the forum wasn’t addressing China enough and when the subject came up, I didn’t think he had much clarity on the subject.

Vivek Ramaswamy proved an earlier point I made about his lack of foreign policy awareness. He would make a dangerous president and Nikki Haley did a great job putting the child on the stage back in his crib.

I’ve always been impressed with Haley and hope she stays in the political game long after her nomination ship sinks this time around.

Asa Hutchinson and Chris Christie can just go away and while they are leaving, kiss my ass on the way out.

Tim Scott was solid and I love this guy, but you just can’t stand out in a crowd by playing it low key. It was the right way to handle it on a personal level, but a political mistake.

Mike Pence showed some flair, and I hate quoting Joe Biden, but, “Come on man.”

You have no chance.

Let’s face it, most of these candidates are auditioning to be Trump’s VP, or at the very least a cushy position within the next Trump administration.

The exceptions might be Pence and DeSantis who definitely have their eye on the big prize. Pence has no chance and though DeSantis won’t win the nomination, I think this campaign will set him up nicely for a run in 2028.

That was my only whisper of hope when DeSantis got into this race and I think it will work out for him in the long run as he gets his message out there to red meat Conservatives who don’t yet know a lot about him.

I’m sure he didn’t get into this race with that strategy in mind, but it will work out for him down the road. Maybe not how he hoped, but exactly how I had hoped.

Before the debate even started, I was done with Pence, Christie and Hutchinson. I also was done with Ramaswamy, but to be fair, his foreign policy comments pre-debate lost me forever.

He just came off as a used car salesman and needs to spend some time in the political minor leagues before I would ever be OK with calling him up to the big league.

DeSantis, Haley and Scott all elevated themselves in my thinking, but again, what’s the point unless it’s all in a bid to get some presidential campaign experience for another run in 2028.

So kudos to Trump and basically Elon Musk for winning the first GOP debate. A lot of people criticized Trump for not showing up but only a man like Trump can still win and not even be there.

Stay vigilant my friends. Keep informed and keep sharing our truth.