Shooting Blanks posted:

I don't think even Tucker wants actual power. He's making CEO money at Fox and gets to shoot off his mouth with no repercussions at this point - the more outrageous he is, the more his viewers love him. Anything that would get him fired/canceled at Fox will likely also make him unelectable - and he has far less responsibility to actually accomplish anything.

UCS Hellmaker posted:

Carlson also saw how trump has had everything he every scrutinized and is under investigation. No one in their right mind wants to jump into that spotlight that isn't a life long politician, and especially if he could potentially have some massive skeletons in his closet.

Or had a TV series do a whole episode on how he is a massive walking literal cock.

The scrutiny out in place on him now is nothing compared to a run for president, and no grifter will willingly do it unless they believe their own farts.

Sinteres posted:

Even as blatant as Trump was about a ton of poo poo, he's still a free man. I don't know why anyone would view that as a cautionary tale. Even if something does end up happening, I feel like the takeway would just be to be less blatantly criminal and corrupt, not that it's too risky to be powerful in America.

Sinteres posted:

Even as blatant as Trump was about a ton of poo poo, he's still a free man. I don't know why anyone would view that as a cautionary tale. Even if something does end up happening, I feel like the takeway would just be to be less blatantly criminal and corrupt, not that it's too risky to be powerful in America.

OgNar posted:

https://twitter.com/Acyn/status/1499552778158444544

Despera posted:

I called his total 180 on russia

CocoaNuts posted:

It's almost as if when the Russian economy crashes and the dirty money stops flowing, those on the right magically see the light.

CocoaNuts posted:

It's a perspective thing. The most-watched cable news host on the one hand, but 4.2 million viewers represents only 1.3 per cent of Americans.


https://twitter.com/mrddmia/status/1273107159987957761


https://twitter.com/RyanAFournier/status/1272600365360386054


^^^ I mean, for me it's as simple as this guy suggests. I simply don't watch. I'd prefer that Tucker Carlson not even be on the air spewing his antagonistic sophistry, but free speech and stuff.



From 2018: "According to Nielsen Media Research, the top-rated markets for the show are Ft. Myers, Florida; Knoxville, Tennessee; Jacksonville, Florida; West Palm Beach, Florida; Las Vegas, Nevada; Birmingham, Alabama; Orlando, Florida; Atlanta, Georgia; Greenville, South Carolina; and Buffalo, New York. Only half of these cities went for Trump in the 2016 election, but they are (with the exception of Birmingham and Atlanta) overwhelmingly white and middle class, with an average age of 36."

That detail is from a good analytical Columbia Journalism Review article on Carlson's background. The markets are likely still the same, but his audience has grown substantially since then.

https://www.cjr.org/the_profile/tucker-carlson.php



"You oughta let people say what they think and you shouldn’t punish them for that, period. That’s how I feel.”

--Tucker Carlson


Do we have to agree with Tucker on that much, at least?

Milo and POTUS posted:

What

CocoaNuts posted:

It's almost as if when the Russian economy crashes and the dirty money stops flowing, those on the right magically see the light.

CocoaNuts posted:

He cannot hide his loyalties:

https://twitter.com/saletan/status/1502509892548153346

funeral home DJ posted:

Tucker Carlson is pretty much the prime example of “The Paradox of Tolerance” thing where his entire White Power Hour relies on the principle free speech he so desperately wants to destroy.

In short, he’s a loathsome fucker and should be taken off the air.

ANOTHER SCORCHER posted:

The complete destruction and isolation of any meaningful Left in American politics forced it to retreat to the academies and ally with various forms of social dysfunction (fat activism, family abolition, hyper-therapeutic language) that justifiably weird out normal people. In return, the Right was able to capture some of that space and energy by saying what was obviously true but that the Left would never be allowed to say. While Obama won the 2008 primary by critiquing the Iraq War, he had to be circumspect about how he described it and tack right on Afghanistan as the "good war". By 2016 Trump was able to tell Jeb Bush, on stage to his face, that his brother got thousands of people killed on 9/11 and the Iraq War was a disaster resulting from lies about WMDs. If any remotely liberal, let alone Left, person did that they would have been crucified by both the Right and the Establishment Liberals.

Tucker is the same phenomenon. He is able to capture valuable ideological territory around trade, war, and (sometimes) labor because he will catch far less heat for doing so and the Left made a tactical decision to ally with the most off-putting and alienating members of the American body politic: professors, NGO climbers, and professional activists.

BeckySucrose posted:

I haven't gotten the impression that Tucker is opposed to freedom of speech, at least in the legal sense. I've just seen him whine about PBS Kids programming that he doesn't approve of. Is this an inference made based on his support for Trump, or did he say something specific?

mobby_6kl posted:

Oh poo poo, did they find a way to transfer money inspite of the sanctions already?

I AM GRANDO posted:

So I don’t think he can be very supportive of free speech as a principle if he wants people silenced or otherwise punished for what they say.

Pants Donkey posted:

Wild to think that, had O’Reilly not been a sex pest, Tucker would still be toiling in the late-night slot still mostly known as “the guy that got owned by Jon Stewart that one time.”

CocoaNuts posted:

Tesseraction posted:

I wish they would stop comparing modern day Russia dweebs to Soviet era iconography.

CocoaNuts posted:

He's getting defensive about the Russia thing. Too freakin' bad. He has earned it.

Professor Shark posted:

I mean, the Communism angle is wrong, but it’s also pushing for Chuds to turn against fish-sticks for being an agent for Russia, so

mobby_6kl posted:

The Communism angle is wrong, but Soviet imperialism angle is pretty spot on

A Buttery Pastry posted:

It's Russian imperialism, since he has denounced Lenin.

mobby_6kl posted:

Hmm yeah you're right, he did, but weren't they rehabilitating Stalin though?

Anyway,

https://twitter.com/TuckerCarlson/status/1505285653457772552?s=20&t=XvMZjTBzMxScEBeIwxOh3Q

"legendary Kid Rock" lol