The news that Tucker Carlson, Fox News’ highest-rated primetime host, had been ingloriously fired sent shockwaves throughout the media world on Monday. The ladies of ABC’s The View, of course, were delirious over the development. The left-leaning website The New Republic found it “hilarious” and wrote, “It turns out the Fox News host wasn’t nearly as bulletproof as he thought he was.”
But they weren’t the only ones to hop aboard the schadenfreude train. They were quickly joined by conservative anti-Trumpers and former Fox News contributors Jonah Goldberg and Stephen Hayes.
Goldberg and Hayes abruptly left Fox in November 2021 after Carlson aired a documentary on Fox Nation called Patriot Purge in which he suggested that Ray Epps, a MAGA hat-wearing protester at the Jan. 6 Capitol riot who was recorded urging others to storm the building, was actually an FBI asset. Although Epps appeared to be a ringleader, he was one of the few protesters not to be arrested, a fact that has led to speculation about his role that day.
At any rate, upon hearing of Carlson’s ouster, Goldberg penned an op-ed titled Tucker Carlson, not just Trump, damaged conservatism. Among other grievances, he noted that on Sunday night, the night before Carlson was fired, CBS News’ 60 Minutes had broadcast a segment debunking the claim that Epps was working with the FBI. Implying that the 60 Minutes interview with Epps should have ended all debate over his involvement, Goldberg wondered aloud if Fox Corp. Chairman Rupert Murdoch’s concern that Carlson might address the story on his next show was the reason for his ouster.
After accusing Carlson (and conservatives in general) of being “seduced” by the teachings of the late community organizer, Saul Alinsky, a communist whose 1971 book, Rules for Radicals, essentially a list of tactics the Left can deploy against the Right in order to win, Goldberg concludes: “Fox without Tucker means the worst elements on the Right have lost a megaphone.”
As comforting as that thought might be for him, it’s a very short-sighted view and more wishful thinking than the reality. If anything, the former Fox host will likely have an even bigger megaphone. And minus the content restrictions put in place by Fox management, he’ll be even bolder than before.
In February, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy granted Carlson’s team “unfettered access” to government security footage from the Jan. 6 Capitol riot. Several weeks later, Carlson told viewers he would present five clips from the thousands of hours of video over two nights.
The first episode was spectacular. The expose blew a large hole in the Democrats’ “deadly insurrection” narrative.
The next morning, however, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) took to the Senate floor to express his anger. He told his colleagues the show was “one of the most shameful hours we have ever seen on cable television” and he called on Murdoch to “[t]ell Carlson not to run a second segment of lies.”
Even Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) publicly criticized the program calling it a “mistake.”
Clearly, Murdoch heard the message. The second segment, while it focused on Jan. 6, had been watered down to near insignificance. By succumbing to political pressure, Murdoch had performed a great disservice to Fox viewers.
I don’t ever recall such a massive public reaction to the firing of a media personality. A close second was the uproar over the Left’s attempt to cancel podcast giant Joe Rogan over claims he had lied about the coronavirus and that he’d used a racial slur in the past. But liberals found out the hard way that Rogan was here to stay. The Joe Rogan Experience, the most widely watched podcast in America, averages 11 million viewers per episode.
No one knows what Carlson’s future plans may be, but reportedly, he has already received two offers: one from Blaze TV’s Glenn Beck and another from One America News Network rumored to be worth $25 million.
OANN extended an open invitation on Twitter: “Maybe Fox News’ loss could be @OANN’s gain, Founder and CEO @RobHerring would like to extend an invitation to Carlson to meet for negotiation.”
Asked for a comment by the Times of San Diego, OANN’s CEO Robert Herring Sr. replied via email: “It would be great if we could get Tucker! I might give him around $25 million. And he would be well worth that!”
According to Forbes, Carlson was earning up to $20 million a year at Fox.
My guess is that Carlson will go the independent route. But regardless of his path, he will surely insist on no restraints, and will be more outspoken, and therefore more dangerous (to liberals), than ever before.
Those who have already written his career obituary will be sorely disappointed and their brief delight over his firing may soon turn to abject fear.
A previous version of this article appeared in The Washington Examiner.
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Wow, I think God will keep this warrior available, and stronger than ever 🇺🇸🙏
Perhaps Mr. Epps and Mr. Goldberg have some things in common.
Is Kevin Williamson still writing?
Too many people make the mistake of thinking Fox is a conservative news source when it isn’t. Fox leans left, just not as far left as the rest of them.