OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
Defrocked Fox News star Tucker Carlson’s name has been dropped as someone who could toss his hat into the ring and run for president next year, presumably on the GOP ticket.
And the former host himself has actually fed into that rumor, albeit for just a brief moment, apparently.
Mattathias Schwartz of Insider, who interviewed Carlson via text earlier this week, displayed, more than anything, that liberal writers have little-to-no sense of humor when it comes to conservatives.
“When I asked Tucker Carlson in a text on Tuesday evening if he was planning a run for president, the newly self-employed far-right firebrand had a shocking answer: ‘Yes. Announcing Friday in New Hampshire,’” Schwartz wrote in his article, which was published on Wednesday.
“But my earthshaking scoop was short-lived. After I credulously asked him to confirm that he was serious before I blasted out the news, which would reshape the 2024 presidential race, the former Fox News broadcaster confirmed what millions of Americans have already concluded: He’s just an a**hole,” he added.
After Carlson initially claimed he would be announcing a presidential bid in New Hampshire soon, he then responded to Schwartz’s request for confirmation: “Totally kidding,” adding, “Sorry. I can never control myself. I’m fundamentally a d**k. My apologies.”
Some late-night texts with @TuckerCarlson, wherein he says he is indeed running for president, then says he is just kidding about that, then says he is "fundamentally a dick." Story here… https://t.co/OukLuulbGQ pic.twitter.com/4GiF9R3n6b
— Mattathias Schwartz (@Schwartzesque) May 10, 2023
In July, during a discussion at the Family Leadership Summit in Des Moines Iowa, Carlson was asked if he would consider campaigning for president.
“When you come back to next year’s summit, will you be the Fox News TV host interviewing potential presidential hopefuls, or will you be a presidential hopeful?” an interviewer asked him.
“God knows what the future holds,” Carlson said before getting into what he believes some of the main issues are.
“The people I’m maddest at in the world are the people who don’t do their duty and leave the vulnerable exposed,” Carlson added.
“It’s the dad who leaves his kids — that’s a guy, I’d just like to punch him in the face. I mean it because that’s your duty. Those are your children, and you left. You don’t care about them,” he said.
“That’s the most basic violation there is. It’s not what the enemy does to you; it’s what people charged with ensuring your welfare do to you,” he said.
The host suggested that these are some of the reasons that “that Republican voters chose [former President Donald] Trump.”
“The average Republican voter is not represented in a meaningful way by his or her leaders in Washington, and I cannot stress that enough,” he said.
“I have every intention of staying in the job that I’m blessed to have, but I’m going to keep hammering that, not because I want to weaken the Republican Party, no, because the Republican Party is our only option. That’s it,” the host said.
“We need immediate attention and help. This is an SOS moment,” he added.
Tucker Carlson Asked If He Will Run For President pic.twitter.com/G41BmQgxo8
— The Columbia Bugle 🇺🇸 (@ColumbiaBugle) July 18, 2022
Meanwhile, Carlson is getting the last laugh after he was abruptly ousted by Fox News last month. Since he was taken off the airwaves, the network has suffered a brutal decline in viewership.
“In the first week after Carlson’s ouster on April 24, the channel’s primetime viewership fell 29.6 percent to 1.449 million viewers, coming in third among cable networks, according to figures from Nielsen,” Yahoo News reported.
“Viewership for the network’s 8 p.m. time slot was down 47 percent overall for that week, according to an analysis from former Fox News host Megyn Kelly. The analysis averaged the viewership from the first week of his absence and compared it with the last week he was on the air. Among the key demographic of 25-54-year-olds, ratings were down a whopping 59 percent,” the outlet added.
Earlier this week, a new survey found that Carlson remains more popular with Americans than his former employer.
