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. 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: The Story You Need to Know
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.
Tucker Carlson’s Roots
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!
College Days
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.
Cause When You’re 15
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.
The Start
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.
Trust Me, I’m A Writer
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.
Youngest Anchor Ever
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.”
Memorable Appearance
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.”
Aftermath
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.”
MSNBC’s Tucker
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.”
My Thoughts
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 News
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.
Fox & Friends
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”.
Tucker Carlson Tonight
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!
Ratings Soaring
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 The O’Reilly Factor was canceled following sexual harassment allegations.
8PM Gig
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.
Viewership
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.
No Chance Of Failure
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.”
Horton’s Kids
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.
The Daily Caller
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!
No Ads Needed
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.”
Bow Ties
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?
Haters
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.
Dancing with the Stars
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.
Two Left Feet
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. Guess you’ll have to pick up your copy to see just what dirt he dished out.
Autobiography
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.
Coming Soon
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.” Many viewed this as a brave statement on his part.
Gay Marriage
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.”
Russia
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.”
Public Opinion
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.
Climate Change
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.”
Criticized 2000 Presidential Candidate John McCain
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.”
Not A True Conservative
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.”
2004 Is A No
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.
Immigration Status
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 remarked with this rather bold statement that most didn’t see coming, “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.”
The Iraq War
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.
Family Life
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.”
Views
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.”
Permission
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 made the bold statement to support his reasoning, “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.”
No Oprah
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!”
Jeopardy!
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.
Liberal Views
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.
The Grateful Dead