In the last week Tucker Carlson, Don Lemon, and Dan Bongino were bounced from their respective jobs with a minimum of courtesy from their employers. What gives? A bipartisan media purge?
With Carlson it was the upcoming Dominion trial and his hypocritical private remarks. They were going to make juicy testimony for Dominion until Fox settled for almost $800 million. He cost them.
I’ve met Carlson at events. He’s witty, personable, and articulate. Was so much so that I wondered how he could have broadcast what he did on Trump, election conspiracies, and J6. Then I got the answer.
Privately, in emails to fellow FNC pundits Ingraham and Hannity, he said he “passionately” loathes Trump and calls election conspiracy stuff “insane.”
But FNC honchos and Carlson know their base contains a large number of people devoted to Trump who wanted Carlson to follow the Trump line on the aforementioned issues. Wanting to keep his ratings, Carlson and FNC obliged. But then his real opinions were revealed and ouch. There goes almost $800 million and some of his credibility with Trump devotees.
Carlson, as the premier conservative pundit in America, still has a lot of options. His ratings were sky high last Friday when he told his audience he would see them on Monday. Little did he know then his fate was sealed and his show would never see the new week. Such was the venom that filled the FNC decision regardless of the official statement on his skedaddle.
However, he will land on his feet, come up with another project or gig, and make even more money. With a loyal audience like Carlson has, venue should not be an overwhelming issue.
As per Don Lemon, CNN just had enough of its failing left wing misogynist prima donna. With the new Chris Licht leadership at CNN it was only a matter of time before Lemon was fired. There were myriad reasons to bounce him.
The leftist host went out of his way to insult women. Their age, intellect, looks, and temerity to challenge him all brought out the vicious poodle in Lemon. He went after colleagues, conservatives, and anyone who dared to disagree with him. But his manner was of a mentally unstable junior high school plastic, not of a professional. He won’t be missed.
The least high powered of the trio, Bongino claims it was a contract dispute that led to his departure. But perhaps why Fox balked at his price was Bongino’s bomb throwing tantrums as of late. Ratings were dropping. So he tried to nudge the machine by getting angrier and weirder. It didn’t work.
With the FNC purge, Fox could move towards an attempt at a younger audience. Thus the Carlson replacement may be someone like Ben Shapiro, Charlie Kirk, Michael Knowles, Candace Owens, Dave Rubin, Matt Walsh, even Joe Rogan.
Fox Corporation CEO Lachlan Murdoch, son of Rupert, is more liberal than Dad and would likely prefer to see a Bill Maher type in the Carlson slot. But that wouldn’t be good for the bottom line. Expect to see more of the same publicly populist tone in the FNC 9pm groove long before election season heats up.