Tucker Carlson was raised by his journalist father and followed in his footsteps.
Washington, United States:
In the world of Tucker Carlson’s hit TV show, America was under attack — by Democrats, by health officials, by Black Lives Matter protests — and white conservatives were fighting for their survival.
Anti-white racism was on the rise. Modern liberals hated Christianity. Migrants were invading. These were some of the claims made by the host of “Tucker Carlson Tonight” — who left Fox News on Monday after more than a decade as a thorn in the side of the Washington establishment.
In broadcast after broadcast, the 53-year-old would appeal to viewers’ outrage and play on their fears, propelling his show toward the pinnacle of cable TV, earning him millions of dollars, while providing ample fodder for conspiracy theorists and racists. Process.
News of Carlson’s departure comes days after Fox News paid an $800 million settlement to end a defamation case over false allegations that vote-counting company Dominion Voting Systems helped steal the 2020 presidential election from Donald Trump. has helped.
Internal communications released before the scheduled trial suggested that Carlson and senior aides doubted the claims of Trump aides and the networks themselves — but aired them anyway for fear of losing viewers to rivals.
Off-screen, Fox News made no secret of the fact that Carlson was what writers of literary fiction call an unreliable narrator.
The network argued in a 2020 lawsuit that viewers knew to apply a healthy dose of skepticism to the content on its shows, which launched in 2016 and attracted millions of viewers per episode.
But critics accused the program of polarizing Americans and contributing to a climate of paranoia that has fueled politically motivated violence such as racist mass shootings.
‘poison’
For one hour with blue eyes closed on viewers, five nights a week, Carlson discusses current events on the show, which has been called “the enemy of lying” and which promises to “ask the questions you’ll ask — And will demand answers.”
Although the Dominion case showed that Carlson lacked the candor claimed for his dispatch, he publicly praised Donald Trump, privately telling aides that he could not wait until that he “can’t ignore Trump most nights.”
Carlson said of the former president in private messages that surfaced during the controversy, “I hate him so much.”
He also faced sharp criticism from Trump supporters for misrepresenting the riot as a peaceful protest, downplaying the seriousness of the 2021 uprising at the US Capitol.
His Special Report cherry-picking footage to whitewash the rioters’ violent conduct was described as “shameful” by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and even criticized by Republican Minority Leader Mitch McConnell. .
The issues Carlson discussed were “they” versus “you”—”they want to control your ideas,” or “they call you racist.”
During his show’s more than 400 episodes, according to a tally by The New York Times, he embraced a far-right notion of Democratic politicians and other elites trying to convert whites through immigration.
Schumer called the theory “poison that is being spread by one of the largest news organizations in our country.”
‘Strange Childhood’
Carlson’s departure marks a shift at Fox News, which had always supported its star despite criticism.
A believer in the security of his job, the father of four has always appeared impervious to criticism, saying in an appearance on “The Rubin Report” talk show: “You should only care about the opinions of people who care about you.” Are.”
It’s a lesson in what he calls his “strange childhood”, marked by the departure of his artist mother when he was only six. She fled to France and never saw her children again.
Carlson was raised by his journalist father and followed in his footsteps after a failed attempt to join the CIA.
The road to fame was long — Carlson had been with Fox News since 2009 after stints at MSNBC and CNN — but he found himself a conservative thought leader in the Trump era.
In evidence of his influence, Republican Ted Cruz voluntarily subjected himself to dressing down on the host’s show in 2022 after being widely criticized by conservatives for describing the uprising as a “violent terrorist attack”.
Despite his political influence, Carlson – who says he has never owned a television – lives far from the heart of the United States government, in a rural corner of Maine, where he usually recorded his show.
Will politics be the next step? For a while, there were rumors that he might parlay his fame into a 2024 run for president.
Carlson laughed off the idea last year on the conservative podcast “Ruthless.”
“I’m a talk show host; I enjoy it,” he said.
(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and was auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)