Former NASCAR driver Danica Patrick told Tucker Carlson in an interview released Sunday why people are “very triggered” about presumptive 2024 Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump.
Patrick shared her perspective on Trump with Carlson, prompting the Tucker Carlson Network (TCN) founder to refer to the former female racecar driver as “the smartest professional athlete.”
“Have you been attacked?” Carlson asked. “You said you were attacked online.”
“Yeah. Well, I was super surprised by how it went when I went to the Turning Point event and when I talked about loving my country and posting these pictures. I went with my sister and it was just a fun few days, and I was just really surprised that people could be so angry about — and I didn’t even make a stance. I think everybody thinks it’s basically a Trump rally,” Patrick told Carlson.
Patrick took to Instagram in December 2023 to address comments from social media users who were unhappy with a photograph she posted of herself at a Turning Point USA conference. The former NASCAR driver revealed that she is “not a liberal” and said the United States “should be run by someone who knows business and has integrity.” (RELATED: ‘I Actually Had An AK-47’: Tucker Reflects On Being Shot At In Middle East)
“What is it about Trump that — I mean, I understand what it is about Trump that people don’t like. Yeah, I get it. I know Trump and I like Trump — he’s hilarious and interesting — but I certainly understand why people don’t like him. Yeah, sure, it’s very obvious,” Carlson said. “But what I don’t understand is the hysteria and the brain shutting down, and do the opposite, just for the sake of giving the finger to Trump.”
“People are very triggered,” Patrick remarked.
“But why?” Carlson asked. “What is it about that?”
“There are foundational things to our life: politics, religion. These are foundational to our reality, and what we’ve built our life on. And when you pull one of those out from the foundation — this is my opinion — but I think that what happens is there is an implied subconscious understanding that, when you pull out one of those building blocks, that it’s going to be a snowball effect for the rest of your life. Like, if you pull out one of those foundational elements, what else isn’t true?”
“Oh, it’s true,” Carlson said.
“What else about your life isn’t going to work anymore? And that is a whole— that is a global life change to pull something foundational out,” Patrick said.
“I didn’t expect you to be the smartest professional athlete,” Carlson remarked to the laughter of the former NASCAR driver.
Patrick competed in 191 Cup Series races from 2012 to 2018, according to the NASCAR Hall of Fame website. She was the first female driver to win a pole in a Cup Series race when she qualified No. 1 for the Daytona 500, the biggest race in a NASCAR season. Patrick also posted seven top-10 finishes during her racing career.
Trump is set to attend NASCAR’s Coca-Cola 600 race Sunday in North Carolina, a key battleground state in the 2024 election, according to the Charlotte Observer.