Trump rants about Michael Jackson and 'stupid' decision to sell Panama Canal in early morning post

Former President Donald Trump took to his Truth Social account on Wednesday morning to attack The New York Times, and brag about his recent interview with former Fox News host Tucker Carlson, in a long-winded and rambling rant that involved Michael Jackson and the Panama Canal.

"Such dishonesty at The Failing New York Times," wrote Trump. "Recently I did an interview with Tucker Carlson, rather than the debate, which turned out to have more 'views,' at 265,000,000, than any interview ever done (The debate had 11,000,000). Second was the famous Oprah interview of Michael Jackson, which did far less."

"During the interview I talked about the Panama Canal, & how we so stupidly sold it back to Panama for one dollar, very sarcastically mimicking Crooked Joe Biden & how truly lost he is…." Trump added.

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The first GOP debate in August actually had 12.8 million viewers, rather than 11 million, although this is still a steep drop from the first GOP debate of the 2016 presidential cycle, where Trump dominated the stage.

Additionally, the view count on Twitter does not reflect the number of individual users who have seen a tweet, and instead can include the same account viewing it in their feeds multiple times. What's more, to count as being "viewed," a video on Twitter simply has to have been scrolled over for a short time and not watched in its entirety.

Trump declined to participate in the first GOP debate in August, in part because he was already leading the field by more than 30 points, and in part because it would have required he sign a pledge committing to support the eventual nominee, which he has consistently refused to do.

He instead opted for the Carlson interview, during which he mocked the other candidates, reiterated his claim that the 2020 election was "rigged" without providing evidence, and complained that Vice President Kamala Harris speaks in "rhyme."