Who’s afraid of Tucker Carlson? Just the entire US establishment, that's all

Tucker Carlson has been in the headlines a lot recently, more than might seem acceptable for a news journalist. But is the Fox News host really the menace to the media that his Democratic detractors proclaim him to be?

Perhaps the best way to describe Tucker Carlson’s career at the moment is with a borrowed quote from ‘A Tale of Two Cities’: “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness...” Although the Fox News personality is at the top of his game, never before has his career looked more precarious than right now.

Last month, as the Covid pandemic was sweeping the country, and the streets were exploding amid ‘peaceful’ Black Lives Matter protests, ‘Tucker Carlson Tonight’ was the highest-rated cable news show in the country. That special honor, however, was marred by scandal and, some would argue, the fake outrage and hyper-sensitivities of social justice warriors.

Carlson attracted the wrath of his detractors for daring to say that the rioting and looting that broke out during the BLM protests was “definitely not about black lives.” He went on to argue that it was critical to tell the truth when confronted by “the mob,” otherwise “they will crush you.”

Regardless of what one may think of those comments – and for the record, many black people agreed with him – the point is that Carlson’s remarks deviated 180 degrees from the position of the mainstream media and the establishment. As punishment for merely expressing his constitutionally protected opinion, shared by millions of other Americans, many of Carlson's corporate sponsors resorted to what could be called institutional censorship, pulling their crucial advertising from his show.

Yet who will freeze funding of the establishment and ‘legacy media’ for downplaying the severity of the BLM and Antifa violence to such a degree that the takeover of six blocks in Seattle was described by the Democratic mayor of that once-fair city as just another chapter in the “summer of love?” Funny, that harmless love-in – which has spread like wildfire to Portland, Oregon – has evoked so much illicit passion that it has forced Trump to send in federal forces to quell the orgy of wanton naughtiness. Eat your heart out, Woodstock!

In another rebellious act of dissenting (ie. unacceptable) journalism, Carlson laid out the Democratic Party’s devious plan for getting their feeble-minded presidential nominee, Joe Biden, into the White House: keep the American people in a state of pain and suffering for as long as humanly possible because “unhappy people want change.”

“Every ominous headline about the state of the country makes it more likely that Donald Trump will lose his job,” Carlson told his estimated four million viewers. “The Democrats have a strong incentive, therefore, to inflict as much pain as they can, and that’s what they’re doing.”   

He then went on to explain how Democratic governors ratcheted up the unhappiness by “banning citizens from visiting their own weekend homes,” for example, while in New Jersey people were “arrested for going to the beach.”   

Needless to say, those are not talking points one would ever hear on CNN or MSNBC. Indeed, Tucker Carlson is a one-man information wrecking crew challenging, night after night, the combined efforts of the mainstream media to keep the average American viewer strapped into a form-fitting straitjacket of ‘acceptable opinion’. Billions of dollars have been spent purchasing that outfit, and the owners will not relinquish control without a major fight, which usually happens behind the scenes.

Therefore, was it any coincidence that, smack in the middle of Carlson’s record-smashing ratings, with the US presidential elections quickly approaching (in case it wasn’t clear by now, Carlson is a serious Trump supporter), his top writer Blake Neff was forced to resign after it was revealed he had a habit of posting racist and sexist remarks pseudonymously in online chat rooms? Any guesses as to the name of the outfit that undertook that impressive bit of investigative journalism at such a convenient time to bust Neff? If you guessed CNN, you already understand the situation that Carlson is facing.

While being popular isn’t necessarily a bad thing – especially for the talk show circuit, where ratings are watched like the stock market – it can become extremely problematic in the United States, where the mainstream media is so far left its capital could be San Francisco. In fact, just this week, Carlson told his viewers that the New York Times was planning to reveal his address in an article.

Although the Times denied they had plans to reveal such information, the fact that such accusations are flying between major news organizations speaks to the level of hostility and mistrust now rampant across the country.

Tucker Carlson is caught in a Catch-22 where the public, as well as his myriad competitors and enemies, have become just as interested in his life as the stories he covers night after night. This popularity shines a powerful light on his controversial topics, which, in the most consequential presidential election to come along in many years, explains why he is so loathed. Perhaps it is time for Tucker Carlson to get out of the media business while he still can, and try his hand at politics, as many of his ardent supporters have suggested. Who knows, he might even make an outstanding vice president. 

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The statements, views and opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of RT.