Remarks Tucker Carlson delivered at The Heritage Foundation’s 50th anniversary gala outside of Washington, D.C., over the weekend proved prophetic after Fox News announced Monday that the network was parting ways with the conservative firebrand.
Carlson said at the Friday night event at National Harbor, Maryland that there is a “heavy price” to be paid for telling the truth, but it is liberating and empowering to do it.
“Tucker Carlson Tonight” was the top-rated program on Fox News, averaging over 3 million viewers per night in March, so the announcement of Carlson’s department came as a shock to the public.
And it was apparently a surprise to Carlson, too, who’d ended his Friday show by saying, “We’ll be back Monday.”
The Los Angeles Times reported Monday, based on unnamed sources, that the decision to fire Carlson came right from Fox Corp. chairman Rupert Murdoch.
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According to the Times’ sources, Murdoch was angry about a recent lawsuit brought by former Fox News producer Abby Grossberg in which she accused Carlson and the network of discriminating against her.
Murdoch was also not pleased with Carlson’s coverage of the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol incursion, specifically when he questioned what role federal law enforcement agencies may have played that day.
Carlson has not shied away from controversy, such as criticizing several policies implemented during the COVID-19 pandemic.
During his Friday night Heritage remarks, Carlson argued that truth is contagious, but added there can be be a heavy price to be paid for telling it.
“Once you say one true thing and stick with it. All kinds of other true things occur to you. The truth is contagious. Lying is, but the truth is, as well,” he said. (7:15).
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“And the second you decide to tell the truth about something, you are filled with this, I don’t want to get supernatural on you, but you are filled with this power from somewhere else,” Carlson continued. “The more you tell the truth, the stronger you become.”
Conversely, he argued, “The more you lie, the weaker and more terrified you become.”
Tucker then delivered the line that has taken on greater significance after the events of Monday.
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“But you look around and you see these people, and some of them really have paid a heavy price for telling the truth. They are cast out of their groups, whatever those groups are, but they do it anyway. And I look on at those people with the deepest possible admiration. I’m paid to do that. I face no penalty,” he said.
“Someone came up and said, ‘You’re so brave.’ Really? I’m a talk show host. It’s like, ‘I can have any opinion I want. That’s my job. That’s why they pay me. It’s not brave to tell the truth on a cable news show. And if you’re not doing that, you’re really an idiot,’” Carlson added.
He was underselling himself.
Carlson’s been willing to say on air what many would not, and it looks like that’s at least part of the reason Fox ended his show.
Near the start of what became a stellar career, Carlson worked as a copy editor for The Heritage Foundation, as a report in The Hill noted Monday.
During an on-stage interview Friday night after Carlson’s speech, Heritage Foundation president Kevin Roberts told Carlson, “If things go south at Fox News, we have a place for you at Heritage.”
“You saved me before,” Carlson said.
So it looks like Carlson has at least one place to land — in fact, according to The Daily Signal, the news site operated by The Heritage Foundation, Roberts publicly renewed the offer on Monday.
“I was stunned to hear the news today but am confident Tucker will find a new platform to challenge the Washington regime, ask tough questions, and hold the ruling elite accountable,” Roberts told The Daily Signal.
“To the man himself, I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, there will always be a home here for you, Tucker.”
Something tells me he’ll have several options that will allow him to freely express the truth.
