Tucker Carlson: The Story You Need to Know

48 year old conservative political commentator for Fox News, that’s right we can only be talking about Tucker Carlson. Hate him or love him, there’s no denying the man’s a sensation. His face is all over your TV screens, meaning you’re never far when he starts to move his lips. (Or maybe you don’t watch Fox News whatsoever so the only thing you know about the man is what you see on other news outlets – and not all of those paint him in a pretty light). After graduating from college, Carlson wrote for the Policy Review and as a columnist, has had many of his articles published in high-end publications, such as Reader’s Digest. And let’s not forget that Tucker Carlson was the youngest ever anchor to join the team over at CNN – so say what you want about the guy, but he’s got some serious skill. Most people haven’t forgotten his fiery debate with Jon Stewart while on Crossfire; this was just the start of Carlson’s heated debates. Once he parted ways with CNN, it didn’t take long for Carlson to join ranks at MSNBC and not long after that, he was a permanent member of the Fox family.

When Tucker Carlson Tonight debuted, it was actually “the network’s most watched telecast of the year in the time slot”. That’s quite a feat to achieve! Since then, his show has gained tons of traction, especially during the 2016 Presidential Election and the days following Donald Trump’s swearing in as President of the United States. Why is Tucker Carlson such a “hated” anchor? Well he doesn’t hold back whatsoever when it comes to his views, such as Russia, gay marriage, the war in Iraq, Democrats and their policies, immigration, racism, Donald Trump and his presidency, and so on. Any hot button issue that exists in American culture, Tucker Carlson is talking about it. And he’s talking about it as loudly as possible. Granted, not everyone agrees with the things that he says but that’s the beauty of America – free speech allows you a platform to say whatever you want to say, which is that’s something Carlson has mastered. And with that being said, there are a few things you should know about the man behind the camera – let’s begin, shall we?

Tucker Carlson’s Roots

Let’s look at Tucker Carlson’s roots first, it only makes sense. Carlson was born in San Francisco, California, he’s the elder son of Richard Warner Carlson, a former L.A. news anchor and U.S. ambassador to the Seychelles – he was also the president of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and director of Voice of America. (Explains where Carlson got his love for media? Maybe.)

Now, Carlson’s mother is the former Lisa McNear Lombardi, and his stepmother is the former Patricia Caroline Swanson, who is an heiress to the Swanson frozen-food fortune. Wow, those are some roots, eh?! Moving along, folks.

College Days

Going back to his school days, Carlson attended St. George’s School, which is a boarding school in Middletown, Rhode Island.

After graduation, he went on to study at Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut and graduated in 1992 with none other than a B.A. in history… Huh, we thought journalism for sure but to each their own!

Cause When You’re 15

Back in 2014, while on a Mother’s Day episode of Fox & Friends, Carlson and his wife Susan revealed that they have actually known each other since they were 15 years old! See, they met during the very first week of the 10th grade at St. George’s.

By 1991, they said “I Do” and have four children together. “We’ve been together 30 years, so it’s a little hard to imagine what it’s not like to be [together],” Carlson said.

The Start

Carlson started his journalism career back when he as a member of the editorial staff of Policy Review…

A national conservative journal which was then published by The Heritage Foundation – moreover, this has since been acquired by the Hoover Institution.

Trust Me, I’m A Writer

As a magazine and newspaper journalist, Tucker Carlson traveled all around the world, reporting on a variety of topics. Additionally, he was also a columnist for New York and Reader’s Digest.

Let’s not forget that he has also written for Esquire, The Weekly Standard, The New Republic, The New York Times Magazine, and The Daily Beast. Phew! That’s quite the list.

Youngest Anchor Ever

Carlson would then join CNN as its youngest anchor ever! Quite the accomplishment. Anyways, he remained at the network until February 2005.

Although by 2001 he had been appointed as the co-host of Crossfire, where Carlson represented the political right. At the same time, he was hosting a weekly public affairs program on PBS, Tucker Carlson: Unfiltered.

Memorable Appearance

While on Crossfire, you probably remember THAT memorable appearances in October 2004 – you know, the one just before the 2004 presidential election. Where Carlson got into quite the heated exchange with Jon Stewart, the host of The Daily Show on Comedy Central.

In fact, after their televised confrontation, Carlson said that Stewart stayed at CNN for many hours after the show in order to discuss the issues that he had raised on air. “It was heartfelt,” Carlson said, “He [Stewart] needed to do this.”

Aftermath

By January 2005, CNN then suddenly announced that they were ending their relationship with Carlson and that Crossfire was soon to be canceled. After which, Carlson was approached by the CNN chief Jonathan Klein who informed him that the network had also decided not to renew his contract. Carlson said that before this talk, he had already resigned from CNN and Crossfire well before Stewart had been booked as a guest, furthermore, Carlson told host Patricia Duff: “I resigned from Crossfire in April, many months before Jon Stewart came on our show, because I didn’t like the partisanship, and I thought in some ways it was kind of a pointless conversation …

Each side coming out, you know, ‘Here’s my argument’, and no one listening to anyone else. [CNN] was a frustrating place to work.”

MSNBC’s Tucker

A few months after Carlson left CNN behind, his new early evening show premiered on MSNBC, Tucker. However, the show was only on air for about three seasons when it was canceled due to poor ratings. The New York Times reporter Brian Stelter said that “during Mr.

Carlson’s tenure, MSNBC’s evening programming moved gradually to the left. His former time slots, 6 and 9 p.m., were then occupied by two liberals, Ed Schultz and Rachel Maddow.”

My Thoughts

While Brian Stelter may have thought that, Tucker Carlson felt differently.

On his feelings toward MSNBC, Tucker reported that the network had changed way too much and “they didn’t have a role for me.”

Fox News

In May 2009, Tucker Carlson was then brought on as a Fox News contributor. Ever then, he has been a frequent guest panelist on a couple late-night satire shows such as Red Eye w/ Greg Gutfeld and Special Report with Bret Baier.

Furthermore, he was a substitute host for Hannity in Sean Hannity’s absence, and he even went on to produce a Fox News special titled “Fighting for Our Children’s Minds”.

Fox & Friends

In March 2013, Carlson became a co-host for the weekend editions of Fox & Friends.

By April, Tucker Carlson, who is a Fox News contributor and frequent guest host, officially joined the team of co-hosts Alisyn Camerota and Clayton Morris on Saturday and Sunday mornings.

Tucker Carlson Tonight

Shortly after on November 14, 2016, Carlson starts hosting a new show on Fox News, Tucker Carlson Tonight. Oh, and the show debuted as “the network’s most watched telecast of the year in the time slot”.

Actually, his show debuted to some 3.7 million viewers in September, which makes it the “Most-Watched Fox News Broadcast of 2016”.

Ratings Soaring

As of March 2017, Tucker Carlson Tonight is actually the most watched cable program in the 9PM time slot!

Just keeps getting better, eh? Looks that way!

8PM Gig

Recently on April 19, 2017, it was officially announced that Tucker Carlson Tonight would take over the Fox News’ 8PM time slot after

8PM Gig

The O’Reilly Factor was canceled following sexual harassment allegations.

Viewership

Fox News published a press release gloating about how Tucker Carlson Tonight is averaging some 2.8 million viewers in just its first two months – that’s up 23 percent in total viewership for the 7PM time slot.

Moreover, according to Nielsen Media Research, Carlson is even snapping more viewers than MSNBC and CNN combined.

No Chance Of Failure

While Fox News had a number of candidates to take over for The O’Reilly Factor, they decided to go with someone familiar, someone in-house. Besides, they don’t let their “talent” fail. Just by selecting insiders over some high-profile outsiders, Fox News instantly reduces any chances that a star won’t “take” with their loyal audience.

That same audience, together with the rather consistent Fox formula and promotion, helps to minimize the sense of change for viewers tuning in all the time.

Tucker Carlson: Net Worth $8 Million

Ahem, it has been reported that Tucker Carlson has an estimated net worth of $8 million

Which is much less than other Fox News hosts who are currently sandwiching him on the network’s schedule.

Horton’s Kids

Tucker Carlson is a longtime supporter of Horton’s Kids, a charity which helps at-risk children. Carlson said that it was CNN’s Jake Tapper who told him about the charity: “I remember being on the road with Jake in ’99 when we were both reporters covering the presidential race and him telling me about [Horton’s Kids],” Carlson told U.S. News.

“I had three kids by that point, weirdly, so our support has been from afar, limited to financial support, but I’ve always been a fan since the beginning.”

The Daily Caller

Back in 2010, Carlson and former vice president Dick Cheney aide Neil Patel launched The Daily Caller, a political news website.

As a result, Carlson was editor in chief, and he occasionally wrote a few opinion pieces with Patel. Also, Foster Freiss is just one of the site’s backers.

No Ads Needed

Get this, Carlson’s The Daily Caller became very profitable in 2012 without having ever bought an ad for itself.

Since July, their traffic has shot up and currently it ranks at 2,364 in the world. – with the rank of 711 in the United States. In the site’s first two years, it experienced a quadrupling in page views and total audience. Nice!

Bow Ties

You may not know this but Tucker Carlson used to be known for wearing bow ties!

Nevertheless, he eventually left bow ties behind because, “If you wear a bow tie, it’s like [wearing] a middle finger around your neck; you’re just inviting scorn and ridicule … the number of people screaming the F-word at me … it wore me down after a while so I gave in and became conventional.”

Haters

Heck, even during 2005 on season five episode of Curb Your Enthusiasm, “The Bowtie”, a character gets referred to Larry David as “Tucker Carlson” as he is wearing one.

Wow, haters gonna hate, eh?

Dancing with the Stars

That’s right, in 2006 conservative Tucker Carlson was on Dancing with the Stars. His reasoning to participate? “I’m not defending it as the smartest choice, but I think it’s the most interesting. I think if you sat back and tried to plan my career, you might not choose this. But my only criterion is the interest level.

I want to lead an interesting life.” He went on to conclude, “I’m 37. I’ve got four kids. I have a steady job. I don’t do things that I’m not good at very often. I’m psyched to get to do that.” However he and Elena Grinenko, his partner, were the first team to be eliminated from the competition.

Two Left Feet

Now here’s a fun fact that his dancing partner Grinenko revealed – when they were eliminated…

She said that teaching Tucker to dance was “like Einstein teaching addition to a slow child”. Ouch.

Autobiography

Back in 2003, Tucker Carlson wrote an autobiography, Politicians, Partisans and Parasites: My Adventures in Cable News, all about his TV news experiences which he published through Warner Books.

In his book, he revealed that he was falsely accused of raping a woman he didn’t know, someone who was suffering from severe mental illness and displayed stalker-like behavior. Furthermore Carlson wrote that the incident had been emotionally traumatic.

Coming Soon

That first autobiography isn’t the end though! Just in May 2017, Carlson, who is represented by the literary and creative agency Javelin…

Actually signed an eight-figure, two-book deal with Simon & Schuster’s Threshold Editions.

Gay Marriage

Contrary to popular belief, Tucker Carlson isn’t against gay marriage. In fact while on an episode of his show back in 2007, he said, “I’m just for marriage generally.

I’m for people making a lifelong commitment. Do you know what I mean? I’m not against gay marriage, actually, and I’m the most right-wing person I know.” Carlson went on to then say, “I think, marriage has been a great thing for me, and I think it’s a really civilizing force, and I think it would be a civilizing force for gay people too.”

Russia

First of all, Tucker Carlson is allowed to his own beliefs and with that being said, he doesn’t believe that Russia is a real threat to the United States of America. As such, Carlson has even called for the U.S. to work alongside Russia in the Syrian Civil War. According to Peter Beinart of the Atlantic, Carlson has also been an “apologist for Donald Trump on the Russia scandal”.

Moreover, Carlson went on to describe the controversy of Donald Trump Jr. accepting the anti-Clinton information from a Russian government official as a totally “new level of hysteria” and said that Trump Jr. had only been “gossiping with foreigners.”

Public Opinion

Okay, so not everyone is a fan of Carlson’s. In fact, The New York Times James Poniewozik once wrote that, “Mr. Carlson does not seek to interview his subjects but to defeat them … He shifts topics to imply hypocrisies … He prods, pounces, guffaws and interrupts … The camera holds tight on his face to show every squint of bemusement, contempt and confusion. (His default face is that of a bear puzzling out how to get at a beehive.)

A long ‘Ohhhhh’ means he believes a guest has just let slip a secret agenda. ‘I agree with you!’ means he does not agree at all.”

Climate Change

As far as climate change is concerned, Carlson totally rejects the scientific consensus on climate change.

In fact, according to Tucker Carlson, whether human activities even contribute to climate change is rather “unknowable”. So there you go.

Criticized 2000 Presidential Candidate John McCain

When asked by Salon.com about John McCain, Carlson responded, “I liked McCain. And I would have voted for McCain for president happily, not because I agree with his politics; I never took McCain’s politics seriously enough even to have strong feelings about them. I don’t think McCain has very strong politics.

He’s interested in ideas almost as little as George W. Bush is. McCain isn’t intellectual, and doesn’t have a strong ideology at all. He’s wound up sort of as a liberal Republican because he’s mad at other Republicans, not because he’s a liberal.”

Not A True Conservative

Ahem, Carlson has gone on to say that former U.S. President George W. Bush is “not a true conservative”. Back in an August 27, 2004, during a Washington Post interview, Carlson discussed his “displeasure with Bush”.

Carlson went on to ask: “Why do so many antiwar liberals give [John] Kerry a pass when he adopts the Bush view on Iraq, as he has? The amount of team-playing on the left depresses me.”

2004 Is A No

When it time to vote in the 2004 election, Carlson did not! His reason? Well he was completely disgusted with the Iraq War and the small-government Republican Party. He said, “I don’t know what you consider conservative, but I’m not much of a liberal, at least as the word is currently defined. For instance, I’m utterly opposed to abortion, which I think is horrible and cruel.

I think affirmative action is wrong. I’d like to slow immigration pretty dramatically. I hate all nanny state regulations, such as seat belt laws and smoking bans. I’m not for big government. I think the U.S. ought to hesitate before intervening abroad. I think these are conservative impulses. So by my criteria, Bush isn’t much of a conservative.”

Immigration Status

Speaking of immigration, Carlson has actually been accused by many for demonizing immigrants, both legal and undocumented. Various news organizations, such as The Washington Post and Huffington Post, have called him out on his views many a time.

Although Carlson just brushes it off and carries on as normal.

The Iraq War

Initially Carlson was a supporter of the Iraq war but then his views changed. During an interview with the New York Observer, he said, “I think it’s a total nightmare and disaster, and I’m ashamed that I went against my own instincts in supporting it.

It’s something I’ll never do again. Never. I got convinced by a friend of mine who’s smarter than I am, and I shouldn’t have done that. No. I want things to work out, but I’m enraged by it, actually.”

Family Life

In their 25 year marriage, Tucker Carlson and Susan Andrews are parents to four children, three daughters (Lillie, Hopie, and Dorothy), and a son named Buckley.

Together, the family lives in a farmhouse in Alexandria – which the family had renovated in order to accommodate their own and their children’s demands to create their dream house.

Views

Well, Tucker Carlson is undoubtedly an outspoken conservative, he has gone on to become rather critical of mainstream views of conservatism.

He even calls mainstream opinion “insufficiently conservative.”

Susan’s Father

Sorry to bring this fact up but it’s in the family, Susan’s father was once accused of not having reported a teacher to the authorities of allegations of sexual assault. Susan’s father was the headmaster of St George’s school between the years of 1984 – 1989, Rev. George E. Andrews then became headmaster at the St.

Andrew’s School until 2007 when he retired. However, in 2016, the Diocese of Southeast Floridaopened an independent investigation into Andrews regarding allegations that he did not report a teacher who worked for him for sexual assault. Later it was revelaed that Andrews had actually fired him but was not aware the extent of his assaults and therefore had not broken any laws under the Rhode Island state law.

Permission

We already said that Carlson and his met while at school but did you know that Susan’s father was actually the headmaster there?! While at St. Andrews, Carlson asked Rev. Andrews for permission to marry his daughter, Susan, just six months before he graduated.

This duo carried on dating after high school and college, just six months before he gradated, he asked for permission. “All very 19th-century, but a good thing to do,” Carlson said during a 2000 People Magazine interview. “She was the cutest 10th grader in America.”

No Oprah

That’s right, Tucker Carlson doesn’t allow his son to watch Oprah as he believes her show is very ‘anti-male’. He comments, “When I had a son, I stopped watching Oprah because it was just too anti-male, and I felt like I didn’t want to bring him up in a home where Oprah was constantly attacking men.

And remember, keep your boys away from Oprah and it will make them feel bad about being male. It’s absolutely true. Keep your girls away from rap, keep your boys away from Oprah. And everybody will be fine.”

Jeopardy!

In 2004, Carlson played on Jeopardy! while he and his family were at Wawenock Camp. While on the show, Carlson played for Camp Wawenock’s scholarship fund, which is an all girls camp for 8 to 17-year-olds. “Lillie Carlson is at UVA, Buckley is a junior at St. George’s, Hopie Carlson is in 8th grade and Dorothy is in 5th grade,” Susan once wrote in the newsletter.

“Time passes too quickly. I think of you all often. How grateful I am for your energy, thoughtfulness, and enthusiasm in spreading Wawenock spirit. Wawenock Spirit never dies!”

Liberal Views

For someone who is a conservative, he actually has some liberal views, even if he says that mainstream conservatism isn’t conservative enough.

Additionally, he has been a long time supporter of same-sex marriage, long before it even became law in the United States.

The Grateful Dead

No, really, Tucker Carlson is actually a huge fan of The Grateful Dead. A band that has a rather unique style, which fuses a sound of rock, modal jazz, country, folk, bluegrass, blues, reggae, and so on.

For a band of free-thinkers, it’s an odd one for a conservative commentator to like. But hey, music is music.

Heated Debate

June 2017 is when Carlson got into a heated debate with a former undocumented immigrant, Julissa Arce, who had false papers when she became a Goldman Sachs executive while living in America. The duo argued about how California universities institute an 18% cap on out-of-state residents but have no cap for illegal aliens.

Throughout the segment though Carlson got frustrated with Arce’s explanations and accused her of using a “rhetorical trick” when it came to avoiding answering his questions.

Divide and Conquer

On June 1, 2018, Carlson came out and said that the left uses racial conflict to “divide and conquer.” He said, “More and more, it feels like racial division is the subtext of virtually everything in this country.

Even topics that seem unrelated to ethnicity are suddenly racially fraught.” He was talking about Roseanne Barr’s racist tweet and also Starbucks’ anti-bias training.

Two Sides

When it comes to his private life, Tucker Carlson is kind, compassionate, and giving. However that’s not who we see on his television show! As GQ said it, “On his show, Carlson mocks and verbally body-slams those who disagree with him, a passel of easy marks such as Democratic politicians, well-meaning liberal activists, and young reporters.”

Bu why does he do it? ““That was something I learned from Christopher Hitchens,” Carlson says to GQ. “Once a day, launch a grenade into A**hole HQ.”

It’s Not

In that same GQ interview, Carlson isn’t bothered by keeping Trump supporters happy, no matter what the president is facing.

“There’s this illusion, and it’s created by the people who live here, that everything is meaningful, everything important,” Carlson said. He told the reported this secret, “It’s not.”

Once More

Speaking again about illegal immigration. Tucker Carlson recently said, “Everything I say on immigration is totally sincere.

That’s not a subject that I’m demagoguing on. Our immigration policy is insane and really hurting the country.” This is not a man who will hide from his beliefs.

Opens Up

After Carlson’s 2004 interview with Jon Stewart on CNN’s Crossfire, Stewart actually called Carlson a “d*ck” and asked him to “stop hurting America.… You’re doing theater when you should be doing debate.”

When Carlson spoke to GQ recently, he spoke about that debate. “He’s a talented guy. But I think he’s a deeply unhappy guy. I learned something deep and valuable, which is, you’re not graded on the merits, you’re graded on who’s more popular.”

The Best

When Tucker Carlson took over for Bill O’Reily, another right winged news anchor stepped in to sing Carlson’s praises, Sean Hannity.

Hannity said to GQ magazine, “Tucker is one of the smartest, best people I know.”

Journalism

Carlson has been airing on the side of caution when presenting information and digesting information presented by journalists. “The core of journalism is skepticism, right?” asks Carlson. “Where is the evidence? Journalists are supposed to be skeptical because the rest of us don’t have time to be skeptical.

‘We’re going to pre-masticate this information for you.’ And we’ve just stopped doing that—we’re just vomiting on the public.”

Real Threat

On May 3, 2018, Tucker Carlson tweeted the following, “The biggest threat to America isn’t Putin, but China. Consider: China spies on us more than any other country. It’s behind the massive OPM hack carried out from ’12-’14. It has the largest population & will soon have largest economy.

Its military is growing rapidly in strength.” Not many agree with him but then again, they don’t have to.

October 2018

Listen up, October 2018 is when Carlson’s new book officially hits stands! But you can pre-order Ship of Fools: How a Selfish Ruling Class Is Bringing America to the Brink of Revolution now.

As Simon and Schuster put it, “The host of Fox News Channel’s Tucker Carlson Tonight offers a blistering critique of the new American ruling class, the elites of both parties, who have taken over the ship of state, leaving the rest of us, the citizen-passengers, to wonder: How do we put the country back on course?”