You Can’t Purge Tucker
The conservative movement has been embroiled in a vicious civil war for the past two weeks over a Tucker Carlson interview. The former Fox News host’s conversation with right-wing streamer Nick Fuentes incited fervent calls from pro-Israel conservatives to purge Carlson from the right.
The recent Republican Jewish Coalition’s summit focused on the need to banish Carlson and those who think like him. Rep. Randy Fine (R-Fla.) branded Tucker the “most dangerous anti-Semite in America” at the conference. Other Republican lawmakers, such as Sen. Ted Cruz, also disavowed Carlson and insisted the party must be pro-Israel. In a podcast, Ben Shapiro claimed Carlson is “normalizing” Nazism and demanded the right eliminate all “racists” and “anti-Semites” from its ranks.
One of the few prominent conservatives to publicly defend Carlson had to apologize for it. Heritage Foundation president Kevin Roberts was forced to grovel in a staff-wide meeting for the sin of sounding too supportive of Carlson and not condemning anti-Semitism in a sufficiently strong manner.
It’s now risky to associate with Carlson if you’re a GOP lawmaker or head a conservative think tank.
In past eras, this would have meant that Carlson is now “purged” from the conservative movement and his influence will dwindle. But that’s not going to work in our current media and political environment. Carlson still hosts a podcast listened to by millions. He’s still able to broadcast his message on YouTube, X, and Spotify, regardless of what Mark Levin thinks of him. The old conservative institutions no longer have control over what views and opinions their audience hears. Online influencers reach far more people than places like National Review and do more to shape the MAGA base’s politics. Carlson will still wield influence over the right despite all the sternly worded editorials against him.
As Chronicles readers should know, purges are a defining part of the conservative movement. Many figures have found themselves cast out for violations of conservative orthodoxy. These purges have always proved devastating to their targets, as they would lose their incomes, reputations, and ability to reach a large audience. Take, for instance, the late, great Sam Francis. As a Washington Times columnist, he had a strong voice within conservatism. But when he committed the sin of endorsing white identity politics, he was fired from his job and formally denounced by conservative leaders. His name was tarnished and his reach was greatly diminished. Neoconservatives could feel confident that Francis would be irrelevant outside the good graces of the movement. Judging by how much his opinions were ignored in the 1990s and 2000s, they were largely correct.
Francis now benefits posthumously from the new right-wing environment. Donald Trump has undermined the confidence in the conservatism of the past. Younger conservatives aren’t afraid of purged thinkers anymore. Indeed, the fact that Francis was purged is almost a mark in his favor, as his enemies enjoy a low standing within the latest version of the New Right.
Getting fired from a respectable conservative outlet today would still be bad, but Francis would have ways to overcome it. X and Substack would allow him to share his views with his audience, regardless of what conservative leaders would think of him. He might even have been able to reach a larger audience independent of the conservative institutions. These platforms are not as censorious as they once were, which allows “canceled” figures to thrive. Voices that would’ve been marginalized in the past can now do their own thing free of the oversight of the old guard.
Tucker Carlson has done this. He became the most important conservative commentator thanks to his primetime Fox News show. His influence stemmed from this institutional base. When Fox cast him out in 2023, some thought he would become irrelevant. That’s what happened to Bill O’Reilly when he was fired by the network in 2017. Carlson, unlike O’Reilly, was able to overcome this setback. The new media environment provided him with plenty of platforms to retain and even grow his large audience and maintain his influence on the right. His talent and insight didn’t disappear after his ouster from Fox News. Thus, he was able to remain a prominent voice on the right.
His podcast is the second-most popular on Spotify. His videos regularly get over a million views on YouTube. (His Fuentes interview currently has over five million views.) He gets far more viewers on these platforms than his nemesis, Ben Shapiro. Reporters and commentators regularly follow Carlson’s podcast and care about what he says. The president and vice president of the United States are often asked about Carlson’s views, demonstrating his large influence.
As long as Carlson remains on Spotify, YouTube, and X, the conservative movement can’t cast him aside. He still has his millions of listeners, and those fans don’t seem swayed by Mark Levin’s hysterical attacks. The only way to purge Carlson is to pressure these platforms to cancel him. A few years ago, this was a likely scenario. The tech giants were happy to censor anyone accused of wrongthink. But it’s a new era. These platforms, especially X, are eager to prove their free speech bona fides. Even YouTube, which was a horrific censor during peak woke, now wants to look like it supports free expression. Big Tech still leaves a lot to be desired in this area, but it operates much better than it did at the height of the Biden administration. Spotify is not going to kick off its second-most popular show just because Mark Levin and Ben Shapiro are upset. There’s no way for neoconservatives to suppress Carlson in the way they did to Sam Francis.
That is probably why they’ve fixated on Kevin Roberts during this controversy. Roberts heads a conservative institution subject to donor whims and establishment opinion. They can make him pay a price when they can’t do the same to Carlson. Neocons were able to score a victory here within Heritage, but it still doesn’t dampen Carlson’s audience. The old guard can make Heritage conform to its dictates, but they can’t control who conservative audiences listen to.
This seriously undermines their ability to purge.
GOP lawmakers and conservative think tanks may be more cautious about associating with Tucker now, but the commentator’s influence and audience will remain strong. Republican politicians and the conservative movement will still have to pay attention to him because of how many people listen to him.
No matter how hard it tries, Conservative Inc. can’t purge Tucker.