Tucker Carlson is one of the biggest conspiracy theory pushers out there, but boy, is he talented at pushing back when called out. He gets an A+ in the Art of Defensiveness. That was recently the case during one specific nugget of Ben Smith’s The New York Times report about Tucker being secretly “a great source” for unflattering stories about Donald Trump (when Smith had asked Tucker to comment on whether he’d been vaccinated, the Fox News host deflected with a question about Smith’s sex life). Now, Tucker’s rivaled his own push-back abilities with his response to a CNN report that claims he is so angry about his Fox News colleagues and bosses declining to support his claims of being spied on by the NSA, so that (?) he’ll be taken off the air.
In the CNN piece, multiple sources (albeit unnamed) told the outlet that Tucker is secretly venting to fellow Fox News employees about how he’s absolutely “furious” at network executives “for not backing him up.” And the sources insist that Tucker firmly believes that there’s some conspiracy to ruin his show, and he is “extra pissed” over the subject, even though he’s apparently often feeling “tension” with his colleagues, as well as Fox News bosses and their PR team. According to another source quoted by CNN, “Tensions are sky high.”
Well, in keeping with his push-back reputation, CNN notes that Tucker did respond to a request for comment, and he calls this report “absurd.” He added that he’s “not mad” with any people at Fox News, and here’s the icing on the cake: “I’m mad at you for lying relentlessly. What a loathsome person you are. Please print that.”
As CNN’s piece points out, one would think that Fox News would deem it very significant that one of its hosts is allegedly being spied upon by anyone, let alone the U.S. government. And yet, no leadership has spoken up on the subject. That would include Fox Corporation heads Lachlan and Rupert Murdoch, along with Fox News chief exec Suzanne Scott and Fox News President Jay Wallace, all of which have kept their lips zipped and chosen to neither voice support for Tucker or condemn any alleged wrongdoing by the NSA. The same goes for Tucker’s on-air colleagues, including Sean Hannity and the Fox and Friends gang.
To date, Tucker has offered up no evidence on his accusations, only to say that a “whistleblower” informed him of the alleged surveillance. The NSA has steadfastly denied that they’re looking in on Tucker’s communications and so on, but he didn’t buy that denial. Tucker also conveniently forgot to mention that he was in the process of trying to secure an interview with Russian President Vladimir Putin in the midst of making his NSA accusations. To that, Fox News did tell Axios, “We support any of our hosts pursuing interviews and stories free of government interference.”
CNN reports that Tucker feels like this vague statement was “wholly insufficient” to address the matter, and he’s steamed that no leadership will take his side. Still, he’s apparently got one of the more out-there colleagues on his side; that would be Fox Business’ chief conspiracy theorist, Maria Bartiromo, who appeared to sympathize with Tucker during an interview on her show. Oh, and alleged sex-trafficking congressman Matt Gaetz has stumped for Tucker, too, which is interesting, considering that Tucker pedaled away from Gaetz, fast, when the Florida political tried to rope him into a certain ongoing scandal. So… Tucker has some support? Although it’s not from anyone at Fox News who’d possibly make an impact.