First, the actual news: Cucker Tarlson, known to some as Tucker Carlson, has been kicked to the curb by Fox News. Reports say it was actually mutual, as in Mediate quoting from Fox's release, but let's be real. CNN Biz notes that there's no farewell show or nothing. What aired Friday is it.
So why?
Many people bemoaned that Dominion didn't get an actual on-air apology from Fox negotiated as part of settling its lawsuit. That said, Fox had apologized before, and admitted "falsehoods" in its statement related to the settlement.
Was shit-canning Tucker a backdoor deal? I doubt it.
Was this a pre-emptive move with Smartmatic's lawsuit now teed up on the first hole, and for half again as much as Dominion? Possible.
UPDATE: Rupert himself offed Tucker, related to the Abby Grossberg lawsuit.
Was it to head off possible lawsuits by the likes of Ray Epps? Possible, and more, per that UPDATE link. That's the NYT saying that it was due to Cucker going conspiracy theorist on Epps and that the lawsuit, being about coerced testimony allegations as well as harassment ones, "needed" to go.
With Cucker now on voluminous record about hating Trump, even as for 2024, Ron DeSatan's campaign implodes and the GOP seems to be searching for a credible alternative to the racist permatanner, could it be about sweetening up to him? Possible.
Replacement? Well, I speculated on Twitter when I saw the initial news:
You're shitting me on Fox and Tucker dumping each other. If Greenwald (or maybe Taibbi) is his replacement, remember, you heard it here first.
And, there, I'm not joking.
You'll note the "maybe" after Taibbi. Matt still seems to be trying to straddle multiple political stools to some degree, and he knows that Fox would be a bridge too far for many contrarian leftists who hate Democrats (I dislike a fair junk of national ones myself) but hate wingnuts even more.
Glennwald? Different story.
He's never been a leftist, contra some leftists like David Bruce Collins who once claimed he was. He has long been a libertarian or libertarian-conservative, despite him denying the l-tard label. He's been a general rectal irritant worse than Carlson.
And, people would watch him.
That said, given his "don't edit" me fallout with the Intercept, and people before that, in the print world, would Fox want someone who would possibly be an even bigger prima donna? Would Greenwald have other hangups?
And, adding one sector to the header that I didn't originally have?
Newsmax has been struggling for PR, and struggling to continue to get carried by various cable providers. Would it make a play for Tucker? That said, Newsmax has a big old boner for Trump, and given that Carlson's thoughts on that are now out in the open, that would be a tough issue. OTOH, Newsmax loves conspiracy theorists.
UPDATE 2: Newsmax, hell. Vivek Ramaswamy, supposedly running against Trump himself said Cucker should jump in the race! Given that Cucker does indeed have less than fond feelings for Trump IRL, THAT would be interesting.
UPDATE 3: Joy Ann Reid notes Cucker has the trifecta of cable news firings.
UPDATE 4: Rolling Stone reports that Irena Briganti, Fox's head honcho for bullshitting (ie, corporate communications) has a shit file on Cucker in case he trashes it post-exit.
UPDATE 5: Contra Jefferson Morley channeling David Talbot, JFK conspiracy theory mongering had nothing to do with Cucker getting fired. Also via there, contra Counterpunch, no, Cucker was not fired for talking about US troops possibly fighting in Ukraine (he's not the first to make that claim) or related. And, contra Jonathan Cook there channeling Glennwald, Tucker is only on a new path of populist pandering.
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