Former Fox News host Tucker Carlson is gearing up to bring the pain to Fox News if it doesn’t agree to let him out of his contract, as Axios reported in a Sunday scoop. According to that report, Tucker and his allies are planning on unleashing a massive counteroffensive against Fox News to twist its arm and make it let him out of his contract before it ends in January of 2025 and start working for another media outlet.
According to Axios’ report, Fox News Channel is trying to keep Tucker silent by paying him $20 million a year for the duration of his contract. Tucker, however, doesn’t plan on being kept silent. His high-powered entertainment attorney, speaking on that, said, “The idea that anyone is going to silence Tucker and prevent him from speaking to his audience is beyond preposterous.”
And how does Tucker plan on forcing Fox News to let him do what he wants? Bare-knuckled brawling. “The ousted host ‘knows where a lot of bodies are buried, and is ready to start drawing a map,’ said a Carlson source who wasn’t authorized to speak publicly,” Axios reported. It added that “Carlson allies with big platforms are prepared to attack Fox for trying to keep him on the shelf” and “Bare-knuckle brawlers from Trumpworld are standing by.”
Further, Axios reported that a friend of Tucker’s said, “Now, we’re going from peacetime to Defcon 1. His team is preparing for war. He wants his freedom.”
What Tucker will do next is, as of now, unclear. On the one hand, he could work for somewhere like Newsmax or Rumble, both of which have offered to hire him on very generous terms and would likely give him a wider latitude to speak freely than Fox News did. On the other hand, Axios reports that he is currently looking into starting a direct-to-consumer media empire where his fans can pay to watch him.
Either way, Tucker indicated that what he will do next will be somewhat more serious than a typical cable news host. Such is what he indicated in a video posted to Twitter that racked up millions and millions of views, saying:
“The other thing you notice when you take a little time off is how unbelievably stupid most of the debates you see on television are, they’re completely irrelevant. They mean nothing. In five years, we won’t even remember that we had them, trust me as someone who’s participated, and yet the same time.
“And this is the amazing thing, the undeniably big topics, the ones that will define our future, get virtually no discussion at all war, civil liberties, emerging science, demographic change, corporate power, natural resources. When was the last time you heard a legitimate debate about any of those issues? It’s been a long time.
“Debates like that are not permitted in American media. Both political parties and their donors have reached consensus on what benefits them, and they actively collude to shut down any conversation about it. Suddenly, the United States looks very much like a one-party state.”
“That’s a depressing realization. But it’s not permanent. Our current orthodoxies won’t last. They’re brain dead, nobody actually believes them. Hardly anyone’s life is improved by them. This moment is to inherently ridiculous to continue.
“And so it won’t. The people in charge know this. That’s why they’re hysterical and aggressive. They’re afraid. They’ve given up persuasion, they’re resorting to force, but it won’t work. When honest people say what’s true calmly and without embarrassment, they become powerful.
“At the same time, the liars who’ve been trying to silence them shrink and they become weaker. That’s the iron law of the universe. True things prevail. Where can you still find American saying true things? There are many places left but there are some and that’s enough. As long as you can hear the words there is hope. See you soon.”
Watch him here:
Good evening pic.twitter.com/SPrsYKWKCE
— Tucker Carlson (@TuckerCarlson) April 27, 2023
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