"When you look at what happened during that election, unless you're a very stupid person, you see what happens…but most people understand what happened. It was a rigged election and it's a shame that we had to go through it."#Trump said 2020 election was rigged. CNN #TownHallpic.twitter.com/DSV59QY2c3
Note: The CNN Town Hall was a 90 minute broadcast, though the network expected the actual event to go as long as 75 minutes. They stopped less than 70 minutes in. In other words, they could have gone longer if they wanted—which is usually what executives do with big ratings draws
Tucker Carlson was Fox News‘ biggest draw, of that, there is no doubt. While Fox continues to slump in the ratings from Tucker Carlson’s exit, they have announced who will temporarily replace him. Lawrence Jones is considered a rising star at Fox, and I wish him well.
Tucker Carlson’s first video since the split with Fox News garnered over 22 million plays on the first day on Twitter. That’s about half of the total cable news viewership for that day. One man did that.
Naturally, people are wondering where Tucker will land next, if he chooses to land anywhere, or go out on his own. Former Fox News personality Megyn Kelly thinks Tucker Carlson should do that latter.
While The Blaze, OANN, and Daily Wire have publicly said they would love to have Tucker Carlson join them (no kidding), almost no one actually thinks he would do so.
According to TMZ, upstart News Nation is very interested in hiring Tucker Carlson. The issue for News Nation is the money. Can they afford him? Most indicators say they can’t but they are so serious about making a move for Tucker Carlson that their executive team flew to NYC to discuss the move internally.
Disgraced former CNN host Chris Cuomo now works for News Nation making just 1/6 of his CNN salary. Tucker Carlson would demand much more. Former Fox News personality can also be seen on News Nation regularly.
Most Fox News viewers, however, are not watching News Nation. They do watch Newsmax. Many feel that Newsmax would be the natural landing spot for Tucker Carlson. They are a growing network that Tucker Carlson viewers could easily get comfortable with. It’s not outlandish to think former Fox News viewers would permanently adjust their dial to Newsmax if they landed Tucker Carlson. It has happened before.
Newsmax is reportedly ‘beating down Tucker Carlson’s door‘ to get him on their network. They allegedly even floated the idea of Tucker programming the entire channel, not just his show. I’m not sure I can trust that report, but it could be true. It’s more likely they offered Tucker a chance to pick his lead-in show to help drive ratings. Newsmax also likely has the resources to pay Tucker a salary he’d be comfortable with.
Of the traditional networks, Newsmax makes the most sense. I’m just not sure that it makes the most sense for Tucker Carlson. Megyn Kelly has a valid point that he could easily strike out on his own. To do so, he’ll probably need to establish himself on Rumble unless he self-hosts everything. YouTube isn’t going to let a free-range Tucker Carlson say what he wants to say during an election cycle.
One thing is clear … everyone is talking about Tucker Carlson. Not so for Don Lemon.
