NEW YORK — Tucker Carlson returned to the airwaves from Fox News 15 months after leaving. to be fired without mercyseen Thursday in coverage of a speech at the Republican Party convention that highlighted Trump’s growing influence on Donald Trump’s world.
Carlson called the returning Republican presidential candidate a changed man who effectively became “the leader of this nation” after Saturday’s election. attempted murder.
His 11-minute speech in Milwaukee also underscored changes in the media personality, who had said privately after the 2020 election that he “really can’t wait” to ignore Trump. Before he was given the prime-time role on the convention’s climactic night, he was seen at the convention reportedly lobbying Trump to select Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance as his running mate.
Fox News aired Carlson’s speech on prime time, at a time when he was once the most popular personality on cable news. CNN and MSNBC did not air it.
“That was Tucker Carlson,” said his Fox replacement Jesse Watters. “You might remember him from the 8 o’clock hour here.”
Carlson was fired a week after Fox agreed to a payout of more than $787 million settle a lawsuit with Dominion Voting Systems over false statements the network made about the company after the 2020 election. The network has never explained why it fired Carlson, sparking an industry of theories about why the Rupert Murdoch-founded network pulled the plug.
Since then, Carlson has started his own online network, but he still doesn’t have nearly the clout of hosting five nights a week on the most popular cable network.
He has published a series of online interviews with figures popular in the conservative movement, including one with Trump who posted on counterprogram a debate between his GOP nomination opponents. His most newsworthy outing was a February interview with Russian President Vladimir Putinwho later said he thought Carlson would “act more aggressively and ask so-called pointed questions.”
Carlson has also been cashing in on a speaking tour and recently wrapped up a speaking tour of Australia. He has a September tour of arenas in the United States booked, with a special guest each night, including Donald Trump Jr., Roseanne Barr, Marjorie Taylor Greene, Russell Brand, Kid Rock, Vivek Ramaswamy and a trio of personalities who also left Fox under unpleasant circumstances — Megyn Kelly, Glenn Beck And Dan Bongino.
According to Justin Wells, an adviser to Carlson who spoke to him shortly before his appearance at Thursday’s convention, his speech at the convention was impromptu.
Carlson praised Trump as a leader whose courage and bravery have inspired people — particularly in the days since the former president survived an assassination attempt in western Pennsylvania over the weekend. He also praised Trump for promoting unity at a time when things could easily have gone differently.
“He turned down the most obvious opportunity in politics to galvanize the nation after he was shot,” Carlson said. “In that moment, he was doing his best to bring the country together.”
He said that “people who don’t believe in God are starting to wonder: maybe there’s something to this.”
Carlson kept the divisive political talk to a minimum, though he called the amount of money the U.S. has spent defending Ukraine “a middle finger in the face to every American.”
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David Bauder writes about media for the AP. Follow him on http://twitter.com/dbauder