The Strange Afterlife of Tucker Carlson

The New York Times ^ | Sept. 20, 2024, 5:03 a.m. ET | Jason Zengerle

[E. Pluribus Unum]

On Saturday night in Hershey, Pa., JD Vance will participate in one of the more unusual political events of this presidential campaign. Several thousand people — almost all of whom have paid for the privilege, some as much as $1,600 — will pack into a hockey arena to watch the former Fox News host Tucker Carlson interview Mr. Vance, the Republican Party’s vice-presidential nominee.

The money made from the event will not go to the Trump campaign but to Mr. Carlson’s new media company, which made headlines earlier this month when Mr. Carlson aired — and praised — the views of a Nazi apologist historian who has argued that concentration camps were a “humane” solution to widespread hunger. “Didn’t expect Tucker Carlson to become an outlet for Nazi apologetics, but here we are,” the conservative talk radio host Erick Erickson wrote on X.

Even as Democrats and Republicans denounced Mr. Carlson, Mr. Vance refused to join the chorus, declaring that he would still appear with Mr. Carlson in Hershey because “we believe in free speech and debate.”

But Mr. Vance’s decision to stand with Mr. Carlson isn’t about free speech or even loyalty. Instead, it’s a stark reminder of where power resides in the Make America Great Again movement, and where it will likely stay in the years to come. And it’s not with JD Vance.

Mr. Carlson had the highest-rated show in the history of cable news, and when he was abruptly fired from Fox News last year, it was widely assumed he would fade from relevance. He did — for many Americans, especially liberals. After his disappearance from Fox News’s lineup, the army of liberal media monitors devoted to chronicling his every provocation and outrage turned their attention elsewhere...

[E. Pluribus Unum]

The people who are still paying attention to Mr. Carlson are getting an even more extreme version of him than the one they saw on Fox News.

And an audience that dwarfs the viewership of Fox. That's what really frosts their buns.

[glorgau]

It makes them highly uneasy that someone in their field can prosper outside the formerly dominant bubble.

[Fester Chugabrew]

It is beyond juvenile, but not unexpected, for NYT to call someone an apologist just for letting someone speak, however foolishly.

[TornadoAlley3]

NYT is losing so bad. 🤣Bigly

[AndyJackson]

Afterlife? It’s like the student intern who graduates, strikes off on his own, and is wildly successful, leaving his so-called mentors in the dust.

[Wuli]

It is one thing to from the outside champion free speech, but quite another to knowingly use that as a rationale for hosting idiots speech. To say they have a right to speak is something different than you handing them the megaphone.

[Paladin2]

So, which is more anti-Semitic: the Slimes or Tucker?

Provide examples and a statistical analysis going back to 1920.

[Jim W N]

I think Tucker is one-off.

[Presbyterian Reporter]

“”” Several thousand people — almost all of whom have paid for the privilege, some as much as $1,600”””

---

More whining from the NEW YORK TIMES where their reporters or executives could not get people to pay two cents to listen to them.

[alternatives?]

They misreport and make up what the guest says, then use that to relabel him a Nazi, and Tucker is labeled a Nazi sympathizer forever by the NY Times which they repeat, and repeat, and repeat and no one goes back to the source of the slander.

[sauropod]

.

[E. Pluribus Unum]

To say they have a right to speak is something different than you handing them the megaphone.

You are the same as the social media people who want to take the megaphone away from the people they don't like.

Political speech, by anyone, is the very speech the founders intended to protect with the First Amendment.

Are you afraid that you are such a weak-minded person that you would become a Nazi if you listened to one?

[PGR88]

Its ironic, and telling, NY Times calls anything after state-run media an “afterlife.”

As you point out, his audience is vastly larger, and I imagine - he’s making a lot more money too.

sounds like his “best life.”

[zeestephen]

Re: "Tucker Carlson - now has an audience that dwarfs his viewership at Fox."

Do you have hard data on that claim?

Carlson consistently had 3 million viewers at Fox.

Including his rating bonus, Fox paid him at least $20 million a year.

[SharpRightTurn]

Tucker’s living rent free in the head of leftists.

[simpson96]

“Strange”, because they can’t bear to see a Conservative do well.

[1Old Pro]

Jason Zengerle (????WHO) writing about Tucker Carlson’s irrelevance.

[woodbutcher1963]

I respectfully disagree. We are in the finals days of the Main Stream Media(and they know it).

Tucker Carlson
Joe Rogan
Patrick Bet David
Meghan Kelly
Shawn Ryan
Lex Friedman

All the above get huge ratings on their podcats/YouTube channels that exceed almost everything on cable or broadcast TV. The ONLY programming that exceeds the views are the Super Bowl, some World Series games and occasionally the Academy Awards.

No one under the age of 65 watches network news anymore. Hardly anyone under 40 watches cable news. They are dinasaurs.

This is direct UNEDITED information from the news source(interviewed person)direct to the consumer(you).

The NY Times, Washington Post, Fox News, CNN, MSNBC will eventually cease to exist.

[Jim W N]

We are in the finals days...

Leave it at that. The sheep are being separated from the goats and delusion is getting stronger among those who refuse God's Savior Jesus Christ.

The truth of God's Word, the Bible, becomes more and more important in these last days.

[woodbutcher1963]

https://www.youtube.com/user/patrickbetdavid

This is a link to the Patrick Bet David Podcasts. Also know as Valuetainment.

He and his associates do a long form sit down interview lasting 1-3 hours.
If you click the link you can see that the more recent ones are 200-600K views. However, some of the largest views go back five years to interviews with Donnie Broscoe or Coby Bryant well in excess of 5 million views.

I started watching his podcasts a couple years ago. I would recommend him. I have watched all the ones on the list.

Shawn Ryan and Lex Fridman just interview President Trump in the last month. Tucker is actually embedded with the Trump campaign.