He'll just turn up on one of the even more outlandishly right wing channels like OAN. That's what happened with all the proto-fascist presenters here in the UK, though thankfully over here those channels have about 9 viewers.
I feel like this is going to have the effect of Obi-Wan's quote:
"If you strike me down, I shall become more powerful than you can possibly imagine."
Some are saying, he'll go to OANN or NewsMax. I doubt that - he drew more viewers than any other host. He draws more views than arguably any other right-wing talk show host, or even almost any left-wing talk show host. (Unrelated, but Gutfeld! is more popular than Colbert, Kimmel, or Fallon.) He could set up his own media company with the money he's made and his popularity.
Most likely, as CNBC insinuates, it's tied to the Dominion Voting Defamation Settlement. They settled out of court for a huge sum... but who knows if some other conditions were attached. It's hard for me to believe that it was voluntary considering his commercial success.
If that is the case, this is not a Bill O'Reilly situation. He'll bounce back like nothing happened.
Tucker Carlson's private texts are public record now. They reveal he hates Trump and considers him quote: "a demonic force". Now that we know he really thinks of Trump, he's off Fox's brand. So of course he's out.
I don't think that would be the issue. One reason is that it can easily be explained away: That was a quote from Dominion's own legal motion and retelling of the evidence, and Fox's response to that motion (which supposedly contains context) was sealed. At least according to Fox, but there's no reason their viewers wouldn't buy that.
> One reason is that it can easily be explained away
Only to have that explanation (if it isn’t true and clearly verifiable from evidence) steamrollered as the SmartMatic case rolls on in the wake of Dominion?
The question was less about whether or not SmartMatic and Dominion's case was true, as whether it would damage Tucker Carlson's or other host's reputation and brand. I don't think that the legal case is going to damage their reputation with their fans one ounce.
And this isn't necessary some "right wing delusion" either, both sides protect their own. Blackface didn't end Trudeau's career. French Laundry hasn't ended Newsom.
SmartMatic is likely to have the same evidence (at issue here) that Dominion had and to use it similarly to how Dominion did (and would have at trial). So, explaining stuff away that might be easy to explain away in the wake of the Dominion settlement because the full context did not come out in that case may be more complicated because the same issues and much of the same evidence are being litigated in SmartMatic, and what did not get fully explored in Dominion may well do so in SmartMatic.
Could he be popular because he's on at a time that a lot of people want to watch, on a channel with a predictable audience? The viewers aren't going to vanish, and they're probably not going to change their habits.
I suspect that rather than his popularity following him to another channel, they'll find an equally good entertainer to take over the time slot. It may take some time to find just the combination of personality and tone to connect with the people who are already tuning in to that station at that time, but he's far from unique. Plenty of people can do his job.
His cable audience is relatively unlikely to set up YouTube, Rumble or whatever on their TVs just to follow Carlson. They will probably get angry, and then just keep watching Fox.
His audience is already there. Anyone young and even slightly right-leaning knows he's hugely popular on social media. His clips also drove Fox News's whole YouTube channel, so whatever viewers he might lose by leaving cable, there will be many more to gain.
I dunno. This is not my universe, but I just don't see Tucker outshining younger conservative influencers without the backing of Fox.
I don't even know a liberal counterpart to him either... Rachel Maddow? Bill Maher? But I don't see anyone like that floating to the top of social media either.
Maybe I am just ignorant, as I do not follow partisan influencers at all.
I would love to see a show with him and Maddow. They sit right next to each other and tell the same exact news story. No arguing, just telling the same exact story from their angle. Like 2 ft apart from each other. If they have to make any retractions for lying the retractions must be repeated 10 times throughout the show. End of the week the retractions are tallied up and a winner is declared.
Do "Point/Counterpoint"-style shows still exist? I haven't watched cable news for a long time, but my understanding is that all the debate-style shows are gone because people don't really want the opposing view, people just want the echo chamber.
After the famous Jon Stewart Crossfire takedown, CNN sprinkled paid analysts into all of their programming, where the qualification is generally that they are a partisan with some name recognition.
They still did last I watched any of their programming.
Yes the Stewart encounter marked the end of the left/right debate format on CNN. Crossfire soon ended and Tucker ventured out on his own.
>I would love to see a show with him and Maddow.
To the person who proposed a Maddow/Carlson "tell the same story from different perspectives" show -- that kind of thing doesn't work when both hosts lack a significant amount of intellectual honesty.
It works a little better with Sagar and Crystal on Breaking Points because they are at least trying to be honest with themselves and their viewers. (I am not saying I always agree with them or they are always right)
He talked about this style of discourse a couple of days ago and said he doesn't think it applies in today's world. He thinks its more similar to good vs evil and that both parties seem to not want a good outcome anymore. Without that underlying principle, debate can't really occur.
I would imagine political news, especially those with heavily charged content like these, aren't conducive to productive discussions. So some people decided to just flag it first before it spirals.
In spite of that scoop, they are speculating that Carlson is too much of a legal liability in other pending suits.
That makes a lot of sense. Tucker's liability risk is basically a know fact with all the public information out there. I think this is the Occam's Razor explanation.
No definitely wasn't. Tucker never gave much credence to the dominion angle on the election either. And Blackrock owns a decent portion of fox and dominion too so it's all pretty silly in the monetary angle. Dominion was just a fifty million company a while back when it was acquired, now they deserve 1.6 b or half that in damages??? How exactly...
For anyone uninformed, during discovery for the case, many messages were found belonging to Fox News people and Tucker Carlson.
Tucker conveyed his dislike of Trump and also knew he and Fox News were lying about Dominion.
He was fired because you cannot have a person on the payroll that dislikes Trump or disagrees with the Fox News narrative. He is now considered a traitor to the audience Fox News caters to.
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[ 2.9 ms ] story [ 134 ms ] thread"If you strike me down, I shall become more powerful than you can possibly imagine."
Some are saying, he'll go to OANN or NewsMax. I doubt that - he drew more viewers than any other host. He draws more views than arguably any other right-wing talk show host, or even almost any left-wing talk show host. (Unrelated, but Gutfeld! is more popular than Colbert, Kimmel, or Fallon.) He could set up his own media company with the money he's made and his popularity.
If that is the case, this is not a Bill O'Reilly situation. He'll bounce back like nothing happened.
Only to have that explanation (if it isn’t true and clearly verifiable from evidence) steamrollered as the SmartMatic case rolls on in the wake of Dominion?
And this isn't necessary some "right wing delusion" either, both sides protect their own. Blackface didn't end Trudeau's career. French Laundry hasn't ended Newsom.
Fox doesn't want any of their starts drifting close to sane, factual takes on anything, even in private text messages.
But main-stream Republicans tend to like abusive men, so he's likely to only get more popular. At least with republicans.
I suspect that rather than his popularity following him to another channel, they'll find an equally good entertainer to take over the time slot. It may take some time to find just the combination of personality and tone to connect with the people who are already tuning in to that station at that time, but he's far from unique. Plenty of people can do his job.
But maybe thats what they wanted anyway, as it seems like Carlson was drifting away from Murdoch's political zone.
His cable audience is relatively unlikely to set up YouTube, Rumble or whatever on their TVs just to follow Carlson. They will probably get angry, and then just keep watching Fox.
I don't even know a liberal counterpart to him either... Rachel Maddow? Bill Maher? But I don't see anyone like that floating to the top of social media either.
Maybe I am just ignorant, as I do not follow partisan influencers at all.
Russian prime time had Tucker's clips as a fixture.
He's much more useful for the Russians pushing then talking points whilst not being on RT so I doubt he will end up there.
[1]: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S016028962...
They still did last I watched any of their programming.
>I would love to see a show with him and Maddow.
To the person who proposed a Maddow/Carlson "tell the same story from different perspectives" show -- that kind of thing doesn't work when both hosts lack a significant amount of intellectual honesty.
It works a little better with Sagar and Crystal on Breaking Points because they are at least trying to be honest with themselves and their viewers. (I am not saying I always agree with them or they are always right)
[Television shows praising the government are the most boring.]
It will predictably result in a partisan flamewar or one-sided partisan hate-fest, both with much heat but little light.
HN mods will occasionally override flags on request. They can be emailed at hn@ycombinator.com
https://www.axios.com/2023/04/24/tucker-carlson-fox-news-out
In spite of that scoop, they are speculating that Carlson is too much of a legal liability in other pending suits.
That makes a lot of sense. Tucker's liability risk is basically a know fact with all the public information out there. I think this is the Occam's Razor explanation.
Tucker conveyed his dislike of Trump and also knew he and Fox News were lying about Dominion.
He was fired because you cannot have a person on the payroll that dislikes Trump or disagrees with the Fox News narrative. He is now considered a traitor to the audience Fox News caters to.