A writer for a liberal publication who views Tucker Carlson as a “far-right firebrand” is furious that the former Fox News anchor played a practical joke on him. And journalists question why conservatives lack confidence in them.
Tuesday night, Insider correspondent Mattathias Schwartz conducted a text interview with Carlson.
The headline concisely and accurately summarizes Schwartz’s article and his stance toward the former Fox News host.
“Tucker Carlson told us he’s running for president in 2024. Then he said he was joking. Then he said he’s ‘fundamentally a d***.’”
(Insider didn’t use asterisks.)
“When I asked Tucker Carlson in a text on Tuesday evening if he was planning a run for president, the newly self-employed far-right firebrand had a shocking answer: ‘Yes. Announcing Friday in New Hampshire,’” Schwartz wrote in the article, published Wednesday.
“But my earthshaking scoop was short-lived. After I credulously asked him to confirm that he was serious before I blasted out the news, which would reshape the 2024 presidential race, the former Fox News broadcaster confirmed what millions of Americans have already concluded: He’s just an a**hole.”
Carlson wrote back that he was, “Totally kidding,” adding, “Sorry. I can never control myself. I’m fundamentally a d***. My apologies.”
Schwartz also tweeted about this, accompanied by a screenshot that somehow makes him appear worse:
Some late-night texts with @TuckerCarlson, wherein he says he is indeed running for president, then says he is just kidding about that, then says he is "fundamentally a dick." Story here… https://t.co/OukLuulbGQ pic.twitter.com/4GiF9R3n6b
— Mattathias Schwartz (@Schwartzesque) May 10, 2023
Schwartz apparently made the unfortunate error of believing that Carlson would announce his candidacy for president that very week, in the absence of a fundraising drive or exploratory committee, and Schwartz desired the scoop.
I’ve never exchanged iMessages with Tucker Carlson, but even I wouldn’t be so naive as to believe that he would announce his candidacy for high office within the next few days if he hadn’t made any significant noise about assembling a campaign team.
Schwartz drew the conclusion that Carlson was the “a**hole” in the conversation and tweeted a screenshot that made him appear to be a humorless buffoon.
Schwartz, for whatever reason, retweeted former Daily Caller writer and conservative social media personality Greg Price calling him out for affirming that, yes, Schwartz is a humorless prat:
Journalist posting his Ls https://t.co/mqFybouZLa
— Greg Price (@greg_price11) May 10, 2023
Wow, you really showed them! Mattathias Schwartz.
Further on in his piece, the Insider writer who’d told Carlson he “can appreciate a good troll” decided he didn’t appreciate the joke after all. He finger-wagged Carlson for his “rash messages” and said the joke came “as the incendiary monologist attempts to rebrand himself as a full-time Twitter personality.”
Schwartz went on to say Carlson’s former show was an “ideological North Star for the embittered and racialized nationalism that propelled Donald Trump into the White House and then incubated the Trump movement’s conspiracy theories and insatiable sense of outrage in the wake of his 2020 election loss.”
I have no idea why Carlson would ever play a practical joke on this gentleman.
Schwartz is the most recent journalist to express indignation over the fact that Tucker Carlson appears to enjoy being Tucker Carlson. Matthew Gertz, a hack for Media Matters for America, has been busy being angry over “#FoxLeaks” videos that make Tucker Carlson appear like a human with a functioning sense of humor.
See what passes as horrifying in the humorless MMFA universe:
Tucker Carlson on Fox News: "If you've got pronouns in your Twitter bio, you shouldn't work here because we can't trust you because you're on the other side.” pic.twitter.com/FsE5YEdJ3L
— Matthew Gertz (@MattGertz) May 9, 2023
FOXLEAKS: Tucker Carlson slammed Fox Nation in behind-the-scenes video https://t.co/XhQlKQVHJ1 pic.twitter.com/mKqJBuWzCw
— Matthew Gertz (@MattGertz) May 1, 2023
FOXLEAKS: Tucker Carlson asks makeup artist if “pillow fights ever break out” in the women’s bathroom in new behind-the-scenes video https://t.co/M2d6THLRdq pic.twitter.com/vSRooVlzVH
— Matthew Gertz (@MattGertz) May 4, 2023
Stop the printing presses: Carlson is a human being and not an MMFA-bot reprimand. Possibly this is why they’re so alarmed by his decision to continue his program on Twitter until his Fox News contract expires in January 2025 or he negotiates an exit.
More on this story via The Western Journal:
Check out former CNN host Brian Stelter’s reaction on MSNBC to Carlson’s announcement about his new Twitter project. In case you needed to remember how much of a twit Stelter was in his “Reliable Sources” days, here he is essentially lamenting the fact Carlson has — gasp! — free speech so long as he abides by Twitter’s policies. The horrors! CONTINUE READING…
