On Monday evening, Tucker Carlson closed out his show with a monologue on the New York Times.
The paper, it appears, has been working on a story about Carlson’s house in Washington D.C. being targeted by activists and vandalized. Things got so intense during that time that he and his family had to move. The Times, it seems, has found out where he moved to and is working on a story about his new home and the drama that led him there.
In this story, Carlson alleges, they are planning to publish his home address. Here’s the monologue.
Tucker responds to intrusive reporting by The New York Times. pic.twitter.com/xj4z69G9cA
— Tucker Carlson (@TuckerCarlson) July 21, 2020
The premise of the story is flimsy enough. Carlson’s private life is no one’s business, and his home — where his family is supposed to be safe from the nastiness of the current political climate — should be out of bounds to anyone with even a drop of ethical sense in their brains. But the reporter, photographer, and even the editors at the Times appear to have none of that. They are simply interested in exposing Carlson’s home to those same activists who harassed his family and vandalized his property not too long ago.
The “Paper of Record” has responded to the allegation, giving a statement to Mediaite on the matter.
In a statement to Mediaite, a Times spox said, “While we do not confirm what may or may publish in future editions, The Times has not and does not plan to expose any residence of Tucker Carlson’s, which Carlson was aware of before tonight’s broadcast.” https://t.co/arpBMHCOl1
— Mediaite (@Mediaite) July 21, 2020
The statement is somewhat lacking in conviction and does little to reassure us of the intent behind the story. Sure, any news outlet covering what they think is a story worth covering naturally won’t reveal what it’s working on (unless the story is big enough to warrant a tease), but I find it difficult to believe that even revisiting the story of the Carlson family’s harassment at the hands of thugs is something the NYT should be covering. It makes no sense.
Unless you are reading some of the signs out there, that is.
It is clear looking at the ratings and the discussion that Carlson is the main driver behind a lot of Fox News’ growth since his show began. He consistently outshines the network’s (former?) star attraction, Sean Hannity, and there are more people on a consistent basis talking about what Carlson said the night before than anyone else on the network. Where the other talking heads spew talking points and interviews with friendly faces, Carlson chases down ideas and, whether you agree with him or not, he does make you think about those issues.
His populist appeal, coupled with his intellectual takes on populist issues, puts him squarely in the crosshairs of progressive activists who don’t want those ideas gaining popularity.
A few weeks back, I was having a discussion with a friend in the radio business who used to work at a major network before coming back home to Louisiana. We discussed Rush Limbaugh and the fact that, cancer or not, there will come a time when he has to step down, and the three hours he fills every day across the country go up for grabs.
We both came to the same conclusion. The ratings at Fox News show that Carlson is a big hit with their audience. You could very easily put him on the air for three hours a day in the middle of the day and he’d still be able to offer original content on his evening show. At that point, he’d be an unstoppable media powerhouse. He’s the perfect replacement for Limbaugh whenever that comes to be.
And I think that folks in the progressive/mainstream media who actively hate Carlson know that. They want to see him either destroyed or forced to back down. That’s why they don’t care if his home is exposed for the world to see and activists to target. They are content to let his family be harassed because it could hurt his career.
But it’s a very poor move on their part, because they clearly don’t know their enemy yet. Carlson seems more the type to fight back. If they do run with this story, even if they water it down enough, it can definitely backfire.
He gave them a warning. Let’s see if they take the hint.
