Tucker Carlson May Have Finally Reached The End of the Road
By: Manny Otiko
Tags: Media, Media Criticism, Propaganda, Conspiracy Theories, Racism

I remember the days when Glenn Beck ruled the roost at FOX News Channel (FNC.) It was a crazy time. During that period, Beck attacked Democrats daily, carried out stunts, such as pretending to set one of his crew members on fire, and appeared dressed as Yoda from “Star Wars.” He also called President Barack Obama a racist and that turned out to be a bridge too far. That little stunt lost him his advertising and eventually, FOX News CEO Roger Ailes showed him the door. Beck turned out to be too crazy for FNC.

Beck was crazy, but he always came across as more of a buffoon. Essentially, Beck was a shock jock who got in over his head. He probably should have never ended up doing political commentary, but that was where the money was. At the time, we all thought we’d never see anything as bad.

Worse than Glenn Beck

But we should’ve known better; after all this is FOX News. After Beck disappeared from the scene, Tucker Carlson rose to the top at the network. And he’s turned out to be worse than Beck. Beck made racist statements, but he didn’t repeat neo-Nazi conspiracy theories and wasn’t name-checked by actual neo-Nazis. In 2019, Carlson received a letter from Dylann Roof, the killer of nine Black churchgoers. He was also praised by Andrew Anglin, the fugitive founder of the disgustingly racist Daily Stormer, who commended him for mainstreaming white supremacist ideas.

“There’s a reason prominent white nationalist Andrew Anglin, who oversee the hate site Daily Stormer, has described Carlson’s Fox News show as ‘basically ‘Daily Stormer: The Show,’’ and called Carlson ‘literally our greatest ally,’” according to Eric Boehlert’s PRESS RUN.

Considering that Russia shares the same white supremacist ideology and is politically allied with the far-right in America, it’s not unbelievable that a Russian intelligence operative was feeding Carlson false information.

More recently, the increasingly out-of-control Carson has attacked Gen. Mark Milley, chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and accused the FBI of staging the Jan. 6 “White Privilege” terrorist attack. Those last two attacks only prove that Carlson has no filter nor editor and can do whatever he wants. According to CNN’s Brian Stelter, author of “Hoax,” a deep dive into FNC during the Trump years, top-earners at the network are not bound by ethics nor journalistic principles.

FOX News’ cable racket

According to Boehlert’s Carlson hasn’t gone the way of Beck, because he’s protected by FOX News revenue from cable subscriptions.

“The network rakes in nearly $2 billion each year from the hidden subscriber fees, twice as much as CNN and three times as much as MSNBC. Those sky-high fees in turn protect Fox News when advertisers abandon the network,” said Boehlert.

Basically, when you pay your cable bill, a portion of it goes to FOX News Channel, even if you don’t watch it. That’s why they can tolerate Carlson’s dreck which has driven away blue-chip sponsors.

However, as bad as Carlson’s execrable run has been, it seems to be reaching its painful conclusion. More recently, Carlson has been laying on the conspiracy theories pretty thickly. If repeating the Great Replacement conspiracy theory, which suggests that Jews are replacing white Americans with people of color from the Third World, wasn’t bad enough, now he claims the NSA is spying on his communications.

At this stage, it’s becoming increasingly difficult to keep up with his ludicrous conspiracy theories. For example, on Thursday, Carlson went after first lady Jill Biden and accused her of promoting vaccines, which he deemed as cult-like!

Incidentally, none of his coworkers at FOX News have backed him up on the NSA charge. The NSA even put out a statement denying they had him under surveillance. According to the statement, the NSA doesn’t monitor American citizens. However, what’s likely happening is Carlson’s name showed up during the surveillance of a foreign citizen.

Far-right allied with Russia

Considering that Russia shares the same white supremacist ideology and is politically allied with the far-right in America, it’s not unbelievable that a Russian intelligence operative was feeding Carlson false information. They’ve done this before. Sen. Ron Johnson (R- Wis.) frequently repeats Russian propaganda and conspiracy theories.

And Rudy Giuliani, former President Donald Trump’s lawyer, is facing a Department of Justice indictment over the very same issue. Trump also frequently repeated ideas that came directly from his mentor/owner Russian President Vladimir Putin. And while Carlson may not be being directly surveilled by the NSA. However, I wouldn’t be surprised that his anti-government rhetoric is being monitored by some government agencies.

For example, according to Media Matters, his anti-government conspiracy rants lineup with comments made militia such as the Three Percenters, whose fingerprints were all over the Jan. 6 terrorist attack.

“These are the things we’ve been saying for years,” said Eric Parker, an Idaho Three Percenter. Parker also participated in the armed standoff with federal agents at the Bundy ranch in 2014.

However, Carlson seems to be also trying to get ahead of some bad news. When he gets hit with whatever charges are in the works, he’ll try to deflect the blame onto his claim that the NSA was trying to smear him. Carlson has also been implicated in Rep. Matt Gaetz’s (R-Fla.) underage sex scandal, so it was just a matter of time before he got into legal trouble.

When Carlson is finally gone from the airwaves or reduced to doing a podcast from his basement like former FNC star Bill O’Reilly, he’ll go down as one of the worst commentators to ever appear on cable TV.

The conspiracy theories, the neo-Nazi propaganda, and the attacks on enemies put him in an entirely different category. I thought Glenn Beck was the worst thing to ever appear on our TV screens; however Carlson has outdone him. But I dread to think who will replace Carlson. From monitoring FNC, I’ve learned never to say that it can’t get worse.