The Truth Behind That Tucker Carlson Apology Video
I watched the entire two-hour Tucker Carlson interview with his brother – and it wasn't pretty. Plus, will Fox abandon Trump as his approval numbers continue to sink?
Good evening, and welcome to this week’s ‘Ragebait.’
Justin Baragona here, bringing you the latest media dispatches from the right-wing industrial outrage complex. In tonight’s edition, we take a deep dive into Tucker Carlson’s mea culpa for “misleading people” into voting for Trump – and why progressives shouldn’t just take it at face value. Plus, we ask: with Trump’s approval numbers sinking to new lows, is it just a matter of time before Fox abandons him?
Should the Left Embrace Tucker the ‘Tormented’?
You do not, under any circumstances, got to hand it to Tucker Carlson.
The former Fox star has increasingly drawn plaudits from progressives for his “credible anti-war voice” and outspoken criticism of Israel’s genocide in Gaza, resulting in Donald Trump unceremoniously excommunicating his one-time close ally and adviser from MAGA.
With Democratic lawmakers talking up a potential bipartisan alliance that would feature Carlson, the far-right pundit sparked even more applause from the left when he issued an apology for “misleading people” with his past advocacy for Trump.
“You know, we’ll be tormented by it for a long time – I will be… It was not intentional,” Carlson declared at the tail-end of a two-plus-hour podcast conversation with his brother, former Trump speechwriter Buckley Carlson, whom he colloquially referred to as “Uncle Buck.”
“You and I and everyone else who supported him – you wrote speeches for him, I campaigned for him – I mean, we’re implicated in this for sure,” Tucker Carlson said. “It’s not enough to say, ‘Well, I changed my mind’ – or like, ‘Oh, this is bad – I’m out.’”
To be certain, Tucker’s explicit condemnation of Trump’s illegal war against Iran and Israel’s genocidal violence against Palestinians should be commended. It is clearly a good thing, and we can only hope that more on the right follow his lead on these particular issues.
However, I watched the entire two-plus-hour conversation, and it was readily apparent that the two had become disenchanted with Trump precisely because they believed he wasn’t extreme and fascistic enough, and they felt the president didn’t make good on his vows of retribution against liberals and Democrats.
Besides drawing copious headlines that hyped his mea culpa for helping Trump get elected, prominent left-wing personalities praised Carlson. Even Mehdi – who also complimented Carlson recently for challenging an interviewer to define the phrase “Israel’s right to exist” – briefly gave Carlson some kudos. That is, until he listened to the rest of the conversation that took place between the two ultra-conservative brothers.