Why did Fox News give Tucker Carlson the boot? The answer matters
So far, little is known about why, exactly, Tucker Carlson left his hosting gig at Fox News, except that the Monday morning announcement was startlingly abrupt. Not only was no mention made of it Friday, when Carlson hosted his last show at Fox, but the network was still promoting the scheduled guest line-up for this week’s “Tucker Carlson Tonight” right up until the news broke. Most commentators assumed the parting-of-ways is related to the recent settlement of $787 million that Fox News had to pay Dominion Voting Systems in a defamation case where damning texts from Carlson were a central factor. But, to be clear, there’s no confirmation of that, just speculation.
Some theorized that Carlson was a sacrificial lamb to improve Fox’s leverage in a similar lawsuit filed by Smartmatic, which was also falsely accused by multiple Fox guests of stealing the 2020 election from Donald Trump. Some hypothesized that Carlson quit rather than be constrained by Fox lawyers from airing some of his more outlandish lies and bigoted fear-mongering. Some said it’s simply that Fox management is angry over private comments Carlson made that were revealed during the lawsuit. Some say it’s because he called Trump’s coup-era lawyer Sidney Powell the c-word. In the spirit of some of Carlson’s affection for conspiracy theories, I’m hoping to get a rumor started that President Joe Biden did this in order to shut down the boring cable news “debate” about whether he should run again. (Just kidding! Fox would never do what Biden wants them to do.)
Wanting to know why he’s gone isn’t just about the gossip. Carlson wasn’t just the highest-rated host at Fox, but the most aggressive about using his platform to mainstream some of the most odious conspiracy theories and white supremacist ideas pulled out of the fever swamps of right-wing social media. Why Carlson left could give us some serious insight into what he and the management at Fox both think the future of Republican propaganda is going to look like.
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Still, it’s important not to overrate what Carlson’s leaving means for Fox News. Fundamentally, nothing has really changed for the network. As we learned from the Dominion lawsuit, Fox’s profitability depends on pandering to a MAGA audience that’s drunk on the increasingly baroque conspiracy theories they pick up on social media. Carlson is an especially talented purveyor of disinformation, but his commitment to unadulterated nonsense is the norm on the network. With or without Carlson, Fox News will remain a fact-averse propaganda network for the far-right.
Why Tucker Carlson left could give us some serious insight into what he and the management at Fox News both think the future of Republican propaganda is going to look like.
Unfortunately, some people who really should know better got caught up in talking about Carlson’s departure like it could represent a meaningful shift in editorial strategy at Fox. CNN reporter Oliver Darcy, for instance, declared Monday morning that this is “huge in Republican politics as well as media, because Tucker Carlson exerted so much control and so much power and influence over the Republican Party base.”
In reality, the opposite is true: The MAGA base controls Carlson.
If there was one big takeaway from the internal Fox communications that the Dominion lawsuit exposed to the world, it was that Carlson and all the leaders at Fox felt like they had no choice but to kowtow to an audience that demanded flattering lies, and who would stop watching altogether if Fox dared tell them the truth instead of regurgitate their favorite social media-based conspiracy theories.
I have no doubt that Carlson was only too happy to air most of the grotesque lies and ugly bigotries he dredged up from the incels and white supremacists on social media who played the role of unofficial editorial directors. There was nothing fake about the glee in his eyes when Carlson would regurgitate the “great replacement” theory gathered from overt white nationalists, for instance, or when he claimed trans people were conspiring to murder Christians. The only honest facet of Carlson is how much of a straight-up fascist he is, and how excited he was to be the main validator and mainstreamer of the most repugnant ideas of the far-right.
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But the Dominion lawsuit showed clearly that Carlson is the handmaiden of the fascist movement, not its leader. Even when he had some concerns about the strategy of the larger movement, such as championing false claims about a “stolen” election, he would squelch those doubts and play the good soldier on air. Off-air, Carlson called Trump a “demonic force” and complained, “I hate him passionately.” But on-air, Carlson gave audiences exactly what they want: both of his lips firmly planted on Trump’s rumpled pants seat.
With or without Carlson, Fox News will remain a fact-averse propaganda network for the far-right.
Carlson’s fundamentally submissive pose wasn’t just about big ticket items like promoting the Big Lie. Watching “Tucker Carlson Tonight,” one occasionally sensed a weariness in Carlson about some of the stupider culture war flashpoints he pretended to care about. For instance, he broke character briefly during the recent faux outrage about “woke” M&Ms, sighing, “We’re gonna cover that, of course… Because that’s what we do.” I have little doubt that Carlson actually gives a single fig about whether or not cartoon candies wear sensible shoes or high heels. But the Fox business model depends on an endless stream of extremely silly grievance segments.
What MAGA wants, Fox News gives.
As Rep. James Comer, R-Ky, said when justifying his own devotion to conspiracy theories: “You know, the customer’s always right.”
None of those pressures have changed at Fox. As I wrote last week, even the terms of the settlement with Dominion show that Fox is sticking to the conspiracies-and-lies business model, which is likely why they were ready to pay out the nose rather than apologize. Carlson may be a sacrificial lamb to prop up the illusion that they’ve changed. Or maybe his ouster is about something else. Either way, the network won’t actually change. They’re already facing a bleak future, due to an aging audience, without younger people to replace them. They’re not going to run off the audience they still have by suddenly airing real news instead of a constant stream of bullshit.
To be clear, Carlson isn’t just a cipher for the MAGA base. He does have real power — over the Republican party. As Darcy correctly pointed out on CNN, “You often saw lawmakers, like Ted Cruz, go on his show and grovel at his feet.” That’s because GOP politicians recognize that Carlson is channeling the darkest impulses of the MAGA base. In order to please those people, they needed to bow before an emissary of MAGA nation. Carlson was happy to play that (extremely lucrative) role.
So while Carlson may be out, the role he played in the MAGA ecosystem hasn’t changed. The redhats still demand that Fox News reflect their bitterness-driven political impulses. They still need the network to absorb the vile desires of the GOP base, put a shiny network gloss on them, and force Republican politicians to get on board. That’s still where the money is, and Fox is still a business. Other hosts are still doing variations on Carlson’s 8chan-to-cable schtick, even if they are slightly less skilled at it. They will continue to do so. It’s just a matter of time before someone fills Carlson’s place as the most famous face at a network that’s fully devoted to mainstreaming right-wing radicalism. (My money’s on Greg Gutfeld.)