What’s next for Tucker Carlson, Fox News — and the rest of us? “Look what happened when Rush Limbaugh lost his TV show,” Adam Baldwin reminds us in today’s episode. “He became like Obi-Wan Kenobi — ‘if you strike me down, I’ll become more powerful than you can possibly imagine’.” I agree and think Tucker will soon launch his own platform, much like Rush did — so there’s no point in worrying about him. Does this signal a retreat by Fox News in terms of allowing a wide-ranging debate and giving hosts room to be wrong, as a first step toward veering to the center and broader social and advertiser acceptance? And is Elon Musk our only hope if that is the case?
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Welcome back to our VIP video series “The Amiable Skeptics,” featuring my friend Adam Baldwin! Adam is well-known for his long and storied Hollywood career, starting with My Bodyguard, and especially for his roles in Full Metal Jacket, Firefly, its film sequel Serenity, Chuck, and The Last Ship.
I have disagreed with Tucker’s positions in the past, particularly on Ukraine, but I have found his debates useful and valuable as a check on groupthink. His abrupt removal raises questions, I argue, about Fox’s strategy and its message to their core populist viewers. Absent explanations, it seems like the message is “we don’t like Trump voters, we don’t like populists, we don’t like the working class,” I say. “Is Fox going to trend back to the uniparty model? … [It’s possible that] they want to get back to ‘legitimate’, they want to get back to the center.”
Adam finds himself more in agreement with Tucker than me, but we both agree on having his voice in the mix to force answers to questions about US policy. “Where’s the money going? What do we spend,” Adam asks, “[and] what exactly are we spending it on? How much is being lost here and there? The umpteen billion, hundred billion dollars or whatever? Chump change, and Tucker’s questioning where that’s going. He’s questioning the deep state going forward. You’re not allowed to do that apparently.”
We also talk about Don Lemon … briefly … and wonder whether the next step for Tucker could be a partnership with Elon Musk. I’m a little skeptical of the idea, as “I think Tucker is going to want to control his own destiny” after this episode with the Murdochs. Adam thinks Tucker should create Musk TV on Twitter, and that Elon should take another step to push a fully open debate in the US by platforming Tucker.
Be sure to watch it all, and join the conversation in the comments!
