The announcement on Monday that Fox News was parting methods with its top-rated prime-time host, Tucker Carlson, surprised folks in Donald J. Trump’s orbit. The former president himself was stunned by the news, in line with an individual with direct data, and his eldest son, Donald Trump Jr., who’s an in depth pal of Mr. Carlson’s, described the community’s choice as “mind-blowing.”
“I think it changes things permanently,” Donald Trump Jr. stated on “The Charlie Kirk Show,” including that Mr. Carlson was “an actual thought leader in conservatism” and a “once-in-a-generation type talent.”
The informal news observer could be forgiven for considering that Mr. Trump and his household now not had a relationship with Mr. Carlson, given the latest disclosures of the Fox host’s scathing personal textual content messages, which emerged as a part of the conservative community’s authorized battle in opposition to Dominion Voting Systems.
In early 2021, as Mr. Trump desperately tried to overturn the 2020 election, Mr. Carlson texted a confidant that he hated the president “passionately.” He additionally described Mr. Trump as a “demonic force.”
When the texts have been launched in March, Mr. Trump was wounded and referred to as Mr. Carlson to speak about them, in line with an individual aware of the outreach. But the 2 males patched it up rapidly. Since then, they’ve talked frequently, exchanged textual content messages and appeared to have a better relationship than at any time earlier than, in line with two folks near Mr. Trump who’re aware of their relationship and who didn’t wish to be recognized to debate their personal interactions.
In an interview with Greg Kelly of Newsmax that was recorded shortly after Mr. Carlson’s departure turned public, Mr. Trump provided assist for the previous anchor. “I’m shocked. I’m surprised,” Mr. Trump stated. “I think Tucker’s been terrific. He’s been, especially over the last year or so, he’s been terrific to me.”
Mr. Carlson didn’t reply to a request for remark.
Last yr, a few of Mr. Trump’s advisers had nervous that Mr. Carlson appeared poised to assist the potential presidential candidacy of Mr. Trump’s high rival, Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida. Mr. Carlson had given Mr. DeSantis loads of airtime and praised his insurance policies. But over the previous six weeks, as Mr. Trump and Mr. Carlson spoke extra usually, the Trump group felt more and more assured that Mr. Carlson wouldn’t be weighing in for Mr. DeSantis, who has been closely promoted by Rupert Murdoch’s media properties together with Fox News.
The Trump group appreciated their odds much more after they discovered that Mr. Carlson was disgusted with Mr. DeSantis’s choice, in late March, to name President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia a “war criminal.”
Senator J.D. Vance, an Ohio Republican who’s an in depth ally of each Mr. Trump and Mr. Carlson, described the Fox News host’s ousting as a shock.
“Tucker is a giant, and the most powerful voice against idiotic wars and an economy that placed plutocrats over workers,” Mr. Vance stated in a textual content message. “This is a huge loss for a conservative movement that hopes to be worthy of its own voters. I assume he’ll land on his feet and continue to have a powerful voice. If he doesn’t it will be terrible for the country.”
“The best decision I ever made was leaving Fox. Good for you, @TuckerCarlson. You’re free & uncensored!” Kari Lake, a Republican who misplaced the governor’s race in Arizona final yr, wrote in a tweet. Ms. Lake left her job as an anchor at an area Fox channel in 2021.
Representative Lauren Boebert, Republican of Colorado, struck an upbeat tone in a Monday tweet: “Wherever Tucker Carlson goes, America will follow!”
Joe Kent, a Republican who ran unsuccessfully for Congress in Washington State, tweeted, “Standing by for the launch of the Tucker news network, the people demand it!”
One shut ally of Mr. Trump stated he was comfortable that Mr. Carlson wouldn’t have the ability to give rocket gasoline to another candidate on Fox’s airwaves. Yet for some candidates within the Republican major subject, the lack of Mr. Carlson might imply a minefield they must navigate is now gone from a distinguished platform.
For occasion, Mr. DeSantis’s assertion to Mr. Carlson weeks in the past describing the Russian invasion of Ukraine as a “territorial dispute” set off alarm bells and a wave of criticism amongst Republicans in Washington and a few donors. It represented the start of what has been a interval of concern about Mr. DeSantis’s anticipated candidacy from some who had seen him as the best choice to cease Mr. Trump.
A Trump adviser, who spoke on the situation of anonymity, stated the sense in Mr. Trump’s world was that any pro-Trump host at Fox News had one thing of a goal on their again after the Dominion lawsuit.
Mr. Trump’s longest-serving adviser, Roger J. Stone Jr., who can also be an previous pal of Mr. Carlson’s, stated in an interview that Fox News had “essentially canceled the single most influential conservative commentator in the country, at the same time killing a cash cow for the network.”
He predicted that Mr. Carlson would take his “massive audience” wherever he finally ends up subsequent.
Alyce McFadden contributed reporting.
Source: www.nytimes.com