In one of the funniest things to happen to Tucker Carlson since Jon Stewart single-handedly shut down the right-wing agitator’s CNN show Crossfire (and also embarrassed him so badly that he stopped wearing bow ties), the raving reactionary has been let go from Fox News. The move came as a shock to many, including it seems Carlson himself, who signed off his Friday show by telling audiences he’d see them on Monday. Not quite, Tucker.
While it’s a positive that Carlson won’t have the platform to melt the minds of millions with his unsubstantiated vitriol, he’ll undoubtedly continue to spread his hate, and plenty of his most avid fans will follow him wherever he goes. Heck, he might even run for president.
For now, Fox is set to run a rotating list of talking heads in Carlson’s coveted spot. But, long term, just who’s in line to take up the mantle of the screeching head in one of Fox’s prime time slots? And can they really be worse than Carlson, or is this the dawn of a new era for Rupert Murdoch’s pet project?
Sean Hannity
Nobody quite knows exactly why Carlson was fired, but the best guess at the moment seems to be that Fox bosses were unhappy that in private messages revealed as part of the now-settled lawsuit Dominion brought against Fox he badmouthed station viewers, his coworkers and bosses, and all-round Fox darling Donald Trump. Many of these messages were to his fellow titan of the conservative media world and fellow Fox talking head Sean Hannity, who for now seems to have escaped any real backlash. Hannity’s private comments were also nowhere near as harsh as Carlson’s, which might be why he’s still safe, and even potentially in line to take Carlson’s coveted spot. Either that or he has some serious dirt on station bosses.
Like most people at Fox, Hannity knew Trump’s election claims were false, yet still repeated them and gave airtime to those who were pushing the narrative. In a normal world, that would mean he’s also on the chopping block, but right now his embracing of lies seems to be in his favor. He’s been a host at Fox for over a decade now, so has the name recognition to step up to a show with a bigger audience, although he doesn’t quite engender the rabid support that Carlson does, nor does he have Tucker’s screen presence.
Laura Ingraham
Another long-time Fox host, Ingraham was also part of the text conversations between Hannity and Carlson that may have led to the latter’s demise but, like Hannity, she was less abrasive than Carlson in these exchanges. And, like Hannity, this is why she seems to be safe from the Fox layoffs for now, although nobody would have guessed Carlson was anywhere near being canned, so who knows?
Her current show, which airs at 10 in the evening, regularly pulls in over two million viewers, so she has the pedigree to carry on Carlson’s legacy. Once an MSNBC and CBS host, she also has the added benefit of being a supposedly “turned” liberal. Additionally, she’s known for being quite forthright (or, as most people would put it, angry to the point of deranged), which we know Fox viewers love. Add in the fact her ideological stances (make as much money as possible, no matter the cost to the country or your soul) are closely aligned with Tucker, and the fact she’s defended white supremacists on her show before, and you have yourself a match made in heaven.
Ben Shapiro
This selection is a little bit of a punt, but it’s not impossible that the nasal debater-in-chief could be a surprise substitution for Carlson. After all, both grew up incredibly privileged and failed to make it in the media world before taking on their right-wing personas, and both seem to have multiple basic misunderstandings when it comes to female biology. Shapiro is also big on talking about “facts and logic,” while denying both of them in his rants, so viewers would barely notice the difference. He’s also a fan of various conspiracy theories, and his time as an editor at Breitbart was one of the driving forces behind the far-right channel’s rise to prominence.
However, Shapiro is Jewish, and Fox audiences tend to be pretty antisemitic, so that might count against him. Plus, he doesn’t really have the on-screen experience that guarantees he’ll be able to slot seamlessly into Carlson’s popular slot.
ChatGPT
Let’s be real: politics (both conservative and liberal) has effectively been reduced to a series of unsubstantial, stylistic talking points, with two angry opponents simply shouting at each other. While there’s no doubt one wing of the political spectrum deals in markedly more violence and disinformation (hint: it’s the one that fomented an insurrection in 2021), it’s pretty conceivable that avid viewers of shows like Carlson’s would be happy to simply hear their conservative affirmations repeated back to them in a slightly angry voice. And, given how much Fox just had to pay Dominion, cost-cutting like this could be a real option. Plus, would anyone really notice the difference?