Ever since Donald Trump won the 2016 presidential election, the Conservative movement has been on a steep decline. Trump essentially hijacked the movement and turned it into one of misinformation and conspiracies. Trump also had friends in the conservative media, especially Fox News, do his bidding.
Perhaps no single conservative media personality was as effective and powerful as Tucker Carlson, who practically became a spokesman for Trump and the stream of conservatism he represented. In a headline that shook the media industry, Fox News recently fired Tucker Carlson, its star primetime anchor. This is very good news for the conservative movement.
Carlson’s firing comes at the heels of another devastating blow to Fox News, a settlement recently reached between Fox News and Dominion Voting Systems who had sued the media empire for defamation. Dominion argued that Fox News intentionally and actively promoted Trump’s conspiracy theory that their voting machines were faulty. In what was supposed to be a major media defamation court case that would have further tarnished Fox’s reputation, the two parties settled with Fox News agreeing to pay Dominion a whopping $787 million.
More than any other media figure, it was Tucker Carlson who peddled Trump’s lies and conspiracies most efficiently. Carlson certainly had the platform to do so, as Fox News moved him into the primetime spot soon after Trump was sworn in as the 45th U.S. president. Carlson’s show amassed a huge following becoming the top-rated cable news show and quickly gained a reputation as a Trump loyalist. In turn, Mr. Trump saw Carlson as someone he can trust and confide in; the two were known to have corresponded often.
We now know from the trove of text messages and emails revealed in the Dominion lawsuit that Carlson’s friendship with Trump was a facade. He apparently hated Mr. Trump “passionately.” But that hatred failed to stop Carlson from peddling one conspiracy after another to his millions of dedicated viewers.
One conspiracy that Carlson spread obsessively was the great replacement theory promoted by far right-wing groups. It speculated that Democratic leaders and other members of the elite desired to replace white male voters from this country with non-white voters from other countries, people who will most likely align their vote with the Democrat Party. According to these groups, the man behind the great replacement is George Soros, their favorite culprit who happens to be a Jewish billionaire. They believe Soros finances the entire operation. Not surprisingly, the great replacement theory has become very popular among racist, antisemite, and white supremacist factions.
After the 2020 presidential election, when Trump started spreading his stolen election myth, another conspiracy theory took hold that the Dominion voting machines were faulty and rigged against Mr. Trump. Once again, Trump was able to count on Fox News — especially Tucker Carlson — to promote his fabrications. The Dominion lawsuit had also revealed that Carlson, among others in the news network, did not believe Mr. Trump’s lies of a stolen election. It turns out that Carlson is a political show artist who believes one thing in private and pretends to believe in something else entirely on their public platform.
Do we want the likes of Tucker Carlson to be the face and spokesperson for the conservative movement? The conservative movement that Trump has hijacked and Carlson has deceitfully promoted is one that is devoid of integrity and truthfulness. In his time with Fox News, Tucker Carlson did a huge disservice to conservatism and with him gone, it is one huge gain for the movement to find new footing.
Tzvi Haimov has a degree in political science from Queens College. Haimov currently resides in Fresh Meadows, Queens, and can be reached for comment at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
Tucker Carlson Got Axed And Why That’s A Good Thing
Typography
- Smaller Small Medium Big Bigger
- Default Helvetica Segoe Georgia Times
- Reading Mode
