NEW YORK (AP) — Tucker Carlson is returning to the Fox News broadcasts after a 15-month absence. Being rudely firedCoverage of Donald Trump’s speech at the Republican National Convention on Thursday highlighted his growing influence around the world.
Carlson called the returning Republican presidential candidate a changed man who has effectively “become the leader of this country” following last Saturday’s election. Assassination attempt.
The 11-minute speech in Milwaukee also highlighted a shift in the media personality, who privately said after the 2020 election: “I really can’t wait.” To ignore Trump, he made appearances during the convention, reportedly urging Trump to choose Sen. J.D. Vance of Ohio as his running mate, before being given a prime-time role on the convention’s climactic night.
Fox News aired Carlson’s speech in prime time, when he was once cable TV’s most popular news personality. CNN and MSNBC did not air it.
“That was Tucker Carlson,” said his successor at Fox, Jesse Watters, “some of you may remember him from the 8 o’clock show here.”
Carlson’s performance in recent months
Carlson was fired a week after Fox agreed to pay him more than $787 million. Settle the lawsuit and Dominion Voting Systems Inc., alleging he made false statements about the company after the 2020 election.The network never explained why it fired Carlson, sparking speculation about why the network, founded by Rupert Murdoch, was firing him.
Since then, Carlson has launched his own online network, but it has never matched the clout that comes with being on the most popular cable network five nights a week.
He has published a series of online interviews with popular figures in the conservative movement, including one with Trump. Submit to counter program His most talked-about debate with his Republican opponents was in February. Interview with Russian President Putinlater said he thought Carlson “would be more aggressive and ask what I would call sharp questions.”
Carlson makes his money from speaking series and recently finished a speaking tour in Australia, and he’s booked a U.S. arena tour for September, with special guests each night including Donald Trump Jr., Roseanne Barr, Marjorie Taylor Greene, Russell Brand, Kid Rock and Vivek Ramaswamy, as well as three celebrities who also left Fox under unpleasant circumstances. Megyn Kelly, Glenn Beck and Dan Bongino.
Rehearsal? Not tonight
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Justin Wells, a longtime adviser to Carlson who spoke with him just before he took the stage, said his speech at the convention on Thursday was ad-libbed.
Carlson praised Trump as a leader whose courage and bravery have been an inspiration — especially in the days after the former president survived an assassination attempt in western Pennsylvania last weekend — and for inspiring unity at a time when it might not have been easy to do so otherwise.
“After he was shot, he turned down the most obvious opportunity in politics to infuriate the nation,” Carlson said. “In that moment, he did his best to bring the country together.”
“Even people who don’t believe in God are starting to think that maybe there’s something to this,” he said.
Carlson kept divisive political rhetoric to a minimum but said the amount of money the US has dedicated to defending Ukraine was a “middle finger to all Americans”.
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David Bauder writes for The Associated Press. http://twitter.com/dbauder
