While there are reasons to watch Fox News less and less these days, Tucker Carlson remains a bright spot each weekday evening. In the highest rated hour in cable news (and often on cable overall), Carlson still comes with a raw, personal energy that is just missing in so many other political personalities.

(For more recent critiques of Fox News, see John Roberts’ On-Air Melt Down Over Trump Is a Bad, Bad Look for Fox News and Chris Wallace Rips the Mask off Completely, Sinks to a New Low)

Last night, it was time for him to react to the absolutely ghoulish behavior of the media in response to Donald Trump contracting the coronavirus. To say it’s been a roller coaster has been an understatement. We went from news outlets feigning outrage because they were supposedly so concerned, to them feigning outrage because Trump was recovering too quickly.

Tucker laid into them for it.

#Tucker is spot on with why the liberal media want you to be mentally crippled (and thus, be in a dangerous headspace),which is that "they need you to be afraid, perpetually. Otherwise, you won't obey them. So of course, they were enraged by what Trump said." (2/) pic.twitter.com/i5mqwqfSfF

— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) October 7, 2020

It’s not an overstatement to say that many media members were at least deeply disappointed that Trump managed to leave the hospital so quickly. No doubt some of them were hoping for the worst given how quickly their hostility level went to eleven the moment it appeared Trump wasn’t on his deathbed. They’ve spent four years trying to get rid of him by any means necessary, so that should not be surprising.

But it was Tucker’s second criticism that really boiled down the media’s authoritarian tendencies to exactly what they are. These people want you scared. That’s why they lost their minds at Trump suggesting the virus should not be allowed to dominate your life. Fear morphs into influence. That enables power over those who watch and listen. Everything is about control. That’s how you get MSNBC’s Chris Hayes suggesting a “Truth and Reconciliation Commission” yesterday to punish Trump supporters (see Insane: Chris Hayes Suggests a ‘Truth and Reconciliation Commission’ to Punish Trump Voters). They want to control you, but they also want to control every bit of the flow of information, including your political opinions. If you don’t give in, then you just need to be re-educated with the “truth.”

It’s good that figures like Tucker are still carrying the torch against this stuff. Fox News’ hard news division can’t be bothered to push back on insanity like this anymore, and it’s a real shame. It’s no longer about partisan politics when it reaches this level.

Living in fear is not healthy. It’s not healthy for the individual, and it’s certainly not healthy for a government to perpetrate it on the individual. This is why Dr. Fauci’s often conflicting, doom and gloom pronouncements that are rarely based in current science are harmful. We don’t need unelected bureaucrats ruling our lives via decrees based in unjustifiable fear. A lot of things can kill you, including the very prescriptions these “experts” are prescribing.

That Trump has pushed back on that stuff so heavily is a great thing, even if some on the right can’t grasp the importance and continue to look for ways to give deference.

(Please follow me on Twitter! @bonchieredstate)