If you haven’t heard yet, Tucker Carlson and Fox News have suddenly parted ways, and while there have been more than a couple theories as to why, no details have yet emerged that give us a solid idea as to what went down to cause the split.
(READ: Tucker Carlson and Fox News ‘Part Ways’ in Big Shakeup)
What can be seen very clearly, however, is the amount of celebration happening over on the left side of the aisle. Type “Tucker Carlson” into the Twitter search feed and you’ll find plenty of tweets like this one.
Effective immediately, I am having a nice scotch to celebrate Tucker Carlson's firing.
— Juan Rivera, P.E. 🇵🇷 (@BoricuaEnMaui) April 24, 2023
The idea is that with Carlson out at Fox News, two things will happen. Carlson will flail in the wind and Fox News will likely descend in the ratings and become far less powerful.
One of those is likely to be true.
Carlson, as anyone with more than two brain cells to rub together knows, will be fine. There are theories that he’ll now try to run for President or that he’ll start his own network of some kind. All of this remains to be seen but whatever he does, Carlson will find further success with it. This is the man who brought in 3.25 million viewers a night. So impactful was Carlson that news of his exit caused Fox News to lose $930 million in market value.
Wherever he goes, millions of people will follow. With that money he’ll continue to deliver the crack reporting and mind-changing commentary he’s known for.
But that’s not why the left should be worried.
The left should be worried because while under Fox News, Carlson was still bound by certain rules. One has to wonder how many fights Carlson had to have with executives to release certain kinds of reports or even say certain kinds of things. In fact, my theory behind the separation is that Carlson was being put under a sort of gag order, and it’s not one that he was going to tolerate.
Leftists should ask themselves what kind of entity Carlson will become when he’s not leashed by any agreements. What kind of reporting will be done without Fox News holding him back in any way?
He could do anything. He could hire James O’Keefe and give him a budget that would allow him to do undercover reporting, the likes of which we haven’t seen yet. He would likely still have the ear of politicians and business leaders who would deliver him insider news to deliver to the people.
Carlson isn’t going to fade into the shadows. He’s now a wildcard and one that could change the game entirely.
The left should be terrified of what Carlson can do now because none of it is going to be good for them. I have a feeling that by the time Carlson gets the ball rolling, he’ll be teaching them to jump at shadows. Media Matters and activist legal teams will be working around the clock to discredit Carlson or try to break his bank, but it probably will only make him far more influential.
Far more worrisome is that without Fox News slapped alongside his name, he’s more apt to pick up people who hitherto never watched him for their hatred of Fox News. He could become a very Joe Rogan-esque figure, connecting with people on both sides of the aisle and issuing reports that truly change hearts and minds.
Not many people have the kind of power Carlson does, and a Carlson without Fox News should be a dark cloud hanging over the heads of the left.
In short, they should brace themselves for what’s coming.
