No matter how many times #TuckerMustGo trends, Tucker Carlson isn’t going anywhere.
The morally repugnant Fox News host and “terrible, terrible person” brings in big ratings for Fox News, and as one ex-staffer told the Daily Beast, that’s the only thing that matters. “Fox cares nothing about integrity, character, decency,” former-host Juliet Huddy said, while another one-time employee added, “The dirty little secret is that FNC doesn’t care about losing advertisers. They make their money via cable conglomerates that pay them much money so that dumb fucks who worship FNC can continue being told what, in their heart of hearts, they want to believe. And that’s a lot of people.”
In March and April alone, Carlson hosted Matt Gaetz in the midst of a sex trafficking scandal, reported on “the biggest story there is” (it involves sperm and smoking weed), angered military leaders after ridiculing female service members, supported Piers Morgan following his Megan Markle comments, defended the attack on the Capitol on January 6, endorsed a white supremacist theory, asked his viewers to harass people wearing masks in people, and spread “crazy conspiracy lies” about the vaccine. He’s been busy! But even though Carlson is “one of the most prominent vessel[s] in America for white supremacist talking points,” as John Oliver called him, he’s “untouchable.”
“He’s untouchable. He knows it, his staff knows it, everyone knows it,” one Fox News insider said of Carlson’s standing with Fox management. “The Murdochs love him,” another former Fox News personality said. “Like them, he is a rich, prep school kid born with a silver spoon who traffics in populism while living in an expensive ivory tower and never meeting in real life the people he gins up for ratings.”
One person even said that if Donald Trump is the most dangerous person in the country, “Tucker is a close second.” Something tells me Carlson considers that a compliment.
(Via the Daily Beast)