While spending decades promoting and trumpeting blatant falsehoods about immigrants, declaring Black people as violent criminals and feminists as sadistic vixens, and heavily assisting in helping to provide the retrograde groundwork for the Trump administration, former Fox News host Tucker Carlson declares that he has had an epiphany of sorts and is asking his critics for forgiveness. During a recent podcast, Carlson and his brother, Buckley, a former speechwriter for Trump in 2015, denounced the war in Iran. He further referred to Trump as an “out-of-control, megalomaniacal, destructive president.” And an unusually restrained Tucker stated that he will be “tormented” by his support for Trump for a “long time,” profusely apologizing to his listeners for “misleading” them about the president.

Carlson was terminated from the Fox News Network in June 2023 as the result of rancid internal political tensions. Carlson had garnered the ire of the network, unleashed violent and unhinged texts, and trumpeted inaccurate information about Dominion voting machines, while the same company was in the process of suing Fox News for defamation. While his tenure at Fox ended some time ago, the fallout remains. He has endangered the lives of certain journalists. Carlson repeatedly promoted Trump’s propaganda, including unverifiable claims of “meaningful voter fraud” in Georgia following the 2020 election. He has also endorsed racist and anti-immigrant remarks, including voicing support for the Great Replacement conspiracy theory, the philosophy that promotes the fictional idea that non-White people are brought to America to replace White voters and eradicate the Republican Party fundraising base.

During the pandemic and an insurrection, Carlson’s histrionic tirades about Covid resulted in intense levels of misinformation, exacerbating the effects of the virus and leading to a Covid toll needlessly worsened by disinformation and an insurrection fueled by election conspiracies that Carlson helped to spread while fully aware of the fact he was spreading dangerous untruths. His dishonest depiction and intentional distortion of the January 6, 2021, insurrection incensed millions of MAGA supporters. Overdosed with a fierce dose of political adrenaline by this point, Carlson continued to feverishly entice his right-wing base of voters with ongoing, sinister, and scurrilous accusations of supposedly “vile,” “corrupt,” and “illegal” behavior being committed by the far left and liberals (in particular, liberal politicians).

Reminiscent of a frenzied dictator, Carlson, along with members of his conservative family, continually enraged his largely delusional supporters and enticed them with politically verbal red meat. He deceptively reassured them that their failures were not the results of their personal failings or shortcomings, but, rather, their lack of success was due to those “other” people, primarily non-Whites, radical feminists, immigrants, and, in some cases, Jews, LGBTQIA+ people, and others. He worked full time selling his political, social, and cultural poison to his listeners. Interestingly, Carlson argued that his support for Trump “was not intentional.” Well, guess what? The evidence demonstrates otherwise! Mr. Carlson routinely misled more than 3.5 million viewers on his Fox News show. Prior to the 2020 presidential election, Carlson claimed a nightly audience of more than 5 million viewers. Despite expressions of shock and disillusion, the truth is that Carlson cannot credibly feign ignorance.

The straw that broke the camel’s back for Carlson came when Trump invaded Iran and went on a villainous tirade recently posting a litany of religious screeds on his Truth Social posts. Indeed, Carlson commented that such antics made “Christianity.” Many Americans agreed with him, including me for that matter. Personally, I believe that Carlson, along with other conservative isolationists, was sincerely angry that the Trump administration decided to go to war with Iran. He was vehemently forceful in his verbal opposition toward such a military conflict and aggressively attempted to dissuade Trump from moving forward on such a highly questionable and problematic endeavor. Genuine concerns notwithstanding, astute observers are aware of the reality that Carlson has anticipated that this conflict is likely to result in failure, or rather, a Pyrrhic victory at best. Thus, by preemptively taking such a politically proactive position, he will be able to reassure the MAGA faithful that his position was correct all along and that he will continue to provide them with the utmost truth. Thus, adopting such a pivot provides him with some political currency for his future agenda. Does the 2028 presidential contest ring a bell?

Carlson is one of a number of right-wing commentators and pundits (including Marjorie Taylor Greene, Alex Jones, Megyn Kelly, and Nick Fuentes) who have recently stated that they were deceived by President Trump and have suddenly and abruptly cried FOUL! These so-called “patriotic rebels” have garnered the support of numerous men and women on the political, social, and cultural right, the groups ranging from social media bloggers and Republican politicians to rank-and-file conservatives by manipulating people’s fears, insecurities, and resentments.

They have not suddenly transformed into principled defenders of traditional conservative values. They’re all just hucksters who are skilled at reading the political tea leaves. Thus, such a lame attempt to claim that they have suddenly had an “on the road to Damascus,” “turned a corner,” or “seen the light” political conversion and have distanced themselves from the godfather of inflammatory speech is FAR TOO LITTLE, FAR TOO LATE! You sold your souls, and hopefully most sagacious people will not allow themselves to be hoodwinked by such intellectually dishonest and disingenuous hucksterism.