Tucker Carlson was seemingly concerned that Fox News’ coverage of Donald Trump’s post-2020 election behavior would destroy the network, leaving the host trapped and feeling as if he would “die” there, according to newly-released texts obtained by the Daily Beast newsletter, Confider.
In the new texts from December 2020, Carlson griped about Trump’s buffoonery after losing a second term as president to Joe Biden and was worried that such behavior would destroy right-wing causes and, therefore, the network where they were employed.
“It’s so sad,” Carlson texted, Confider reports. “He’s going to break some shit. He already is. Wish I knew where to run. But I’ll die here.”
Carlson’s texts released Monday weren’t the only ones in which the former Fox News golden boy expressed a feeling of being trapped there. On May 4, Confider reported that text messages between Carlson and the network’s then-chief political anchor Bret Baier revealed that they were worried that Fox would be “destroyed” by its early but accurate call of Arizona for Biden.
“I’ve got four more years here. I’m stuck with Fox. Got to do whatever I can to keep our numbers up and our viewers happy,” Carlson texted. Baier agreed.
Word came down on April 24 that Carlson and Fox News had parted ways, effective immediately. “We thank him for his service to the network as a host and prior to that as a contributor,” read a statement from Fox News Media.
According to the Los Angeles Times, the decision to fire Carlson was Fox Corp. chairman Rupert Murdoch’s and was related to a discrimination lawsuit filed by former Fox News producer Abby Grossberg.
A bombshell text sent by ex-Fox News star Tucker Carlson, published by The New York Times on May 2, revealed the beginning of the chain of events that led to him being fired by the right-wing network last month.
The text, written the day after the Jan. 6 insurrection at the Capitol, was filled with racist vitriol, with the host confessing to a desire to support those who “surrounded an Antifa kid and started pounding the living s–t out of him.”
Carlson wrote: “Suddenly I found myself rooting for the mob against the man, hoping they’d hit him harder, kill him. I really wanted them to hurt the kid. I could taste it. Then somewhere deep in my brain, an alarm went off: this isn’t good for me. I’m becoming something I don’t want to be.”
Carlson is now “preparing for war” amid his ongoing Fox News contract dispute that prevents him from taking a job at another media outlet following his abrupt ouster at the cable news network, according to Axios.
Carlson, who is currently under contract with Fox News until early 2025, has reportedly been contacted for gigs across conservative media outlets, including Newsmax and video platform Rumble, since being axed from Fox News nearly two weeks ago, though it is unknown if the network will continue to pay Carlson up to $20 million a year to avoid moving over to a competitor.
