It is not for nothing that Jason Zengerle came to write the biography of Tucker Carlson, Hated by all the Right People, once he realized that none of Trump’s subordinates – not Ted Cruz, nor Josh Hawley, nor Ron DeSantis – could replace Trump. “The only person who can pull that off is Tucker Carlson,” said Zengerle. Today, Tucker Carlson has gained a mass audience among the disaffected at both ends of the political spectrum. It may be a minority now, but events are driving increasing numbers in his direction. Carlson often speaks in dog whistles; what some hear in his words is very different from what others hear, and Carlson is well aware of this. Also, throughout his career, Carlson has demonstrated a keen sense of how the mood is developing and how to speak to that mood. That is why it’s important to understand him.
Is it true that Tucker Carlson could be the replacement for Trump? And if so, what does Carlson really represent? Part of the answer to that question can be found in his history, and we will start there – with a review/summary of Jason Zengerle’s biography of him. In the second part, which will be a second article, we will discuss Tucker Carlson today and give some analysis and historical context of what he stands for today. Tucker Carlson’s early career The Tucker Carlson of today is not the Tucker Carlson of the 1990s. Back then he was a mainstream young conservative journalist, but one with a keen sense of how to play to the mood that was developing. Understanding his evolution also means understanding the consciousness that developed and – more important – what he is sensing today. Carlson started his career working for a series of mainstream print journals like Policy Review. Early in his career he opposed the ethno-nationalist, racist and isolationist Pat Buchanan, who challenged George Bush for the 1992 presidential nomination. Carlson’s idol was John McCain, who among other things favored the US wars in Afghanistan, Iraq and military involvement in Syria and Libya. Carlson was also one of the first print journalists who recognized the coming trend of cable TV and he put a lot of energy into appearing in that media. As opposed to print journalism, TV ratings immediately showed the popularity of the newscaster and their show, and Carlson was highly sensitive to those ratings and to the response to him in general. For example, he learned from his experience speaking at the 2009 convention of the Conservative Political Action Committee (CPAC), when he praised the “professionalism” of the NY Times and was booed as a result. This was around the time of the rise of the Tea Party, and Carlson had his own online web site called “The Caller”, for which he made a hard right turn. He explained that the Caller would be “a website… less about facts and more about feelings, less about analysis and more about provocations…”i At that time, Carlson saw his main competitor as Breitbart, and he moved to outflank Breitbart to their right. He hired reporters like Scott Greer and Jonah Bennett, both of whom had backgrounds in the racist and fascist movement. read more: https://oaklandsocialist.com/2026/05/02/book-review-biography-of-tucker-carlson-hated-by-all-the-right-people/ -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Groups.io Links: You receive all messages sent to this group. View/Reply Online (#41631): https://groups.io/g/marxmail/message/41631 Mute This Topic: https://groups.io/mt/119120394/21656 -=-=- POSTING RULES & NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly & permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. #4 Do not exceed five posts a day. -=-=- Group Owner: [email protected] Unsubscribe: https://groups.io/g/marxmail/leave/13617172/21656/1316126222/xyzzy [[email protected]] -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
