As if this election cycle isn’t becoming as weird as we knew it would, there is a story that Team Trump was concerned that Tucker Carlson would support Governor Ron DeSantis over Trump in the GOP primary contest. All is well between the two men now but his aides were worried that Carlson was showing early favoritism toward DeSantis, especially as he brought the governor on his highly-rated Fox show.

Carlson showed favorable reactions to decisions made by DeSantis about border control, education, and his battle with Disney. In March DeSantis aligned with Carlson’s opinion on the war in Ukraine as he criticized the White House for shipments of weapons going to Kyiv. DeSantis botched his initial response on Ukraine and had to finesse it when he began experiencing blowback from those who support continued participation in helping Ukraine in its war against Russian annexation.

Tucker Carlson’s support of Trump is well-known. The relationship ran into a glitch when some text messages were exposed in a lawsuit. They showed that Carlson privately slammed Trump in 2021 while outwardly supporting him. The text that caught everyone’s eye was, “I hate him passionately.” Trump and Carlson repaired their relationship and Trump appeared in an hour-long interview with Tucker earlier this month. Trump isn’t stupid. He knew that Tucker’s show was the highest-rated show on cable.

Trump was as surprised as everyone else when Tucker parted ways with Fox on Monday. The word from both the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times is that Tucker was given only ten minutes notice that he was being let go before the news broke. Wow. I would have thought that someone who brought in such a large audience of viewers for the network night after night would have been given a little more consideration.

Trump and Carlson talk and text frequently now. All is well. Team Trump can rest easy.

The pair have been texting and speaking more often over the last six weeks, and their relationship is closer “than at any time before,” The Times wrote, citing two people close to Trump.

Trump’s team also felt more assured when they discovered that Carlson was upset with DeSantis in late March for calling Russian leader Vladimir Putin a “war criminal,” The Times reported.

This was after DeSantis argued that his earlier comments bashing US aid to Ukraine had been “mischaracterized,” and affirmed his stance that Russia was “wrong” to invade Ukraine.

Trump was surprised by Tucker’s firing from Fox.

“Well, I’m shocked, I’m surprised. He’s a very good person and a very good man,” Trump told Newsmax host Greg Kelly on Monday. “And very talented, as you know. He had very high ratings.”

“That was something. That’s a big one,” Trump added.

Trump told Kelly he was unsure if Carlson left voluntarily, or if Fox News had fired Carlson.

“But I think Tucker’s been terrific,” Trump said. “Especially over the last year or so, he’s been terrific to me.”

Trump reaction minutes after learning of Tucker’s firing: “I’m shocked, I’m surprised .. That was something, that’s a big one .. Over the last year or so he’s been terrific to me.” pic.twitter.com/Vp7gCpXT9O

— Ron Filipkowski (@RonFilipkowski) April 25, 2023

It’s reported that it was Trump who called Tucker to hash things out when the texts were exposed in the Dominion lawsuit.

More recently, Carlson aired an hour-long interview with Trump on April 12. During the interview, the disdain for Trump that Carlson displayed in his texts was nowhere to be seen.

“For a man caricatured as an extremist, we think you’ll find what he has to say moderate, sensible, and wise,” he told viewers of Trump.

On his part, Trump recently posted about his relationship with Carlson on Truth Social. “He doesn’t hate me, or at least not anymore!” the former president wrote on March 13.

No matter where Tucker lands after this career realignment, his audience will follow. Trump will get the exposure from Carlson during the campaign that he will seek.