Unless you work inside the halls of Fox News, you probably did not wake up Monday morning thinking you had already seen Tucker Carlson’s last show on the network. But that is the case, as we found out shortly before noon that day on the East Coast.
Fox News Media issued a statement saying that Carlson and the network had agreed to part ways. There would be no farewell, no chance to thank the audience. His last show has already happened.
We can speculate as to why all day. Was it fallout from the settlement with Dominion? Was it a result of his true feelings about Donald Trump coming to light? All there is to do is guess until Tucker Carlson is ready to tell his side of all of this.
The opinions on what this means and what happens next vary wildly. That is why we have created this column.
THE CONSERVATIVE POINT OF VIEW by Ryan Hedrick
The political left has repeatedly tried to cancel Tucker Carlson for years, but these attempts have intensified recently. This is due to Carlson’s courage in asking House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) for the 44,000 hours of surveillance tapes from the U.S. Capitol Police, which the mainstream media had neglected to request. The subsequent airing of this footage on Carlson’s show, “Tucker Carlson Tonight,” has furthered the narrative that he is a conspiracy theorist who promotes racist views and communicates with white supremacists who participated in the January 6th insurrection.
To understand the extent of Tucker Carlson’s popularity among conservative Republicans, consider my mother-in-law’s reaction to his departure. When I informed her on Monday afternoon that Carlson had been fired from Fox News, she was playing bingo with 30 friends at a fire hall. She put me on speakerphone and asked me to repeat the news. After I finished speaking, the room fell silent, and people started screaming and crying in disbelief.
If I had to create a conservative pundit Mount Rushmore, Tucker Carlson would be my foundation. He provides the bedrock of honest, original, and thought-provoking insight that is difficult to find elsewhere. Carlson’s monologues have become legendary because he challenges the status quo. While it would be remiss not to acknowledge the late Rush Limbaugh’s impact in this regard, I have been asked to write about Tucker Carlson. Few commentators on his former network challenged the mainstream as Carlson did. He always did what was right, and regardless of which side of the aisle you find yourself on, you would have agreed with him at some point. Those who criticized him likely never watched him and instead consumed what the mainstream media disseminated and repeated slanderous talking points, which eventually became the prevailing opinion of him.
The departure of Tucker Carlson is a significant blow to conservative media. The news of his firing on Monday shook the media landscape, with many national news and talk radio shows devoting hours to the topic. Fox News employee Clay Travis said he did not notice anything unusual when he appeared on Carlson’s show on Friday night. After the news broke, I listened to several radio stations across the country and the consensus was one of shock and disbelief. Carlson addressed important issues, such as challenging the narrative about the effectiveness of COVID vaccines. He frequently challenged the mainstream media to report on the Hunter Biden laptop story. When other networks dismissed the story as “Russian disinformation,” Carlson invited Tony Bobulinski, Hunter Biden’s former business partner, to discuss the Biden family’s ties to foreign adversaries and how they benefited from those relationships.
Without Tucker Carlson, Fox News may struggle to fill the void left by his departure. They may need to find another host who can similarly challenge the mainstream media and provide thought-provoking commentary that appeals to conservative viewers. In the short term, they may experience a dip in ratings as Carlson was one of their most popular hosts. As for Tucker Carlson, he may continue his work independently, possibly starting his own media company or joining a different news network. His loyal fan base and unique perspective on current events may attract viewers and listeners wherever he goes. Alternatively, he may focus on other projects or pursuits, such as writing or public speaking.
THE LIBERAL POINT OF VIEW by Demetri Ravanos
The Republican Party isn’t a political group anymore. It’s a cult, not dedicated to anything, simply hell-bent on making everyone else’s life worse. No one personified that more than Tucker Carlson and nothing hammers that home better than the fact that FOX is now out of the bow-tied dingus business.
What was the last straw? It wasn’t a problem when Carlson aired a special trying to re-write what everyone saw with their own two eyes on January 6, 2021. It wasn’t a problem that he turned his show into the Kyle Rittenhouse Variety Hour or demanded that the governor of Texas pardon a murderer simply because the victim supported the Black Lives Matter movement.
No, his sin was being too loosey-goosey with his feelings about Donald Trump.
Fox could live with some parts of his text thread that were exposed during the discovery phase of Dominion Voting Systems’ lawsuit against the network. He and the network’s other primetime hosts called for the firing of people that made it harder for all of them to lie without consequence. A problem? Hardly. Honestly, even the network’s most ardent fans expect no better. What Fox News couldn’t live with was anyone acknowledging that “hey, maybe this guy that thinks we should all be drinking bleach is a moron.”
The conservative media was not shy about its hope that Ron DeSantis be their excuse to move on and bury Donald Trump in the annals of history. Then Disney exposed how little of a plan there is to anything involving Ron DeSantis and he largely became an afterthought, even in his own state.
When you stand for nothing, anything can be your downfall. Tucker Carlson built a career out of shilling for whatever the opposite of the liberal point of view was. It didn’t matter if it had value. None of this is real and there are no consequences to anything when you grow up with fish stick money!
In the end, the cult that Carlson was shouting to became a cult of personality for someone other than himself, and he made the fatal mistake of letting his true feelings for the cult leader become public.
WHAT ARE FOX’S OPTIONS?
The answer kind of depends on what Fox’s goals are and how it sees its business in the wake of the $787 million settlement with Dominion. Does the network need to spare expenses or does it need a home run?
Owning Outkick gives Fox News some wiggle room. Maybe there is a deal to be done with Clay Travis or Tomi Lahren that doesn’t break the bank because of their respective current relationships with the network.
Could Fox look at an earlier daypart? What if The Five moved into primetime? What if Brian Kilmeade left Fox & Friends to go solo?
Maybe the answer is actually looking at a later daypart. Gutfeld! has thrived in late-night. It isn’t your traditional late-night show though. It could find a much larger audience in primetime and frankly, it may be a better fit.
Fox also has a bench full of weekend talent that could get a shot. Will Cain seems like the most likely candidate in that group.
With ESPN going through layoffs, and Stephen A. Smith making a lot of money and now hosting a podcast that explores issues beyond the sports world, could he be an option? What about the new king of talk media, Joe Rogan?
The options are endless. This is a company with deep enough pockets to go after whoever it wants. If the Murdoch’s want to make a big splash, you would have to think anything and everything is on the table.
WHAT ARE TUCKER’S OPTIONS?
What does Tucker Carlson value? Does he want the biggest possible audience? Is his priority more creative and editorial freedom? He will have no shortage of suitors. Which ones are viable largely depends on what he wants to do next.
No matter what you think of Carlson or what employees at other cable networks think of him, his ratings are strong. That means he has plenty of fans in the C-suites.
Fledgling conservative networks like OAN and Newsmax will have to break the bank, but would likely tell you that it is worth it to land a star like Carlson.
Don’t rule out CNN either. The network is trying to remake its image and boy, would that be a remake. He also worked there before.
NewsNation has also been investing in higher-profile talent, and this could be the move to catapult them to the next level. Think people would tune in to a network featuring Tucker, Chris Cuomo, and Dan Abrams, with frequent appearances from Bill O’Reilly?
If Carlson wants more freedom, he could decide that digital is the way to go. Does that mean turning to Spotify or Apple? Does it mean teaming up with Ben Shapiro at The Daily Wire or with Glenn Beck at The Blaze? One could also make a case for radio with either Westwood One, Premiere Networks, or SiriusXM but that seems less likely.
But why give your content to anyone? Tucker has a track record of success and loyal fans. He wouldn’t have any trouble finding backers if he decided to create a DTC subscription service. The question is, will that be enough for him?
If Carlson’s ultimate goal is to regain the platform and power he had at Fox, and take them on head-to-head, it’ll be interesting to see how it all plays out. Either way, America will be tuning in.
