Will Tucker Carlson run for president of the United States?
That very question has been batted around for years, no more so than now following news of the conservative talk show host’s exit from Fox News.
That departure was announced Monday, with observers left to speculate what Carlson plans to do next.
Many, such as The Daily Wire co-CEO Jeremy Boreing, wonder whether he will choose to enter the 2024 Republican presidential race.
“Whatever [Tucker Carlson] does next, he’ll succeed. If that something is running for president, the entire game just changed,” Boreing wrote Monday on Twitter.
The most important voice on the right just left the biggest media company on the right.
Whatever @TuckerCarlson does next, he’ll succeed.
If that something is running for president, the entire game just changed.
— Jeremy Boreing (@JeremyDBoreing) April 24, 2023
Carlson certainly would attract large numbers of voters in a GOP primary, even if that primary were filled with heavy hitters such as former President Donald Trump and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.
His sheer influence cannot be overstated.
“Tucker Carlson Tonight” consistently ranked as the most-watched cable news program in the country. In 2020, the show even went as far as becoming the most-watched cable program in U.S. history, raking in an astounding 4.5 million viewers on average over the year’s first quarter, according to Business Insider.
Many on social media suggested they would support him either at the top of the ticket or as a running mate to one of the other top contenders.
I support #Trump2024 right now, but if #TuckerCarlson runs for president, I’m jumping ship. #Tucker’s been the one holding #Trump constantly accountable representing what the base wants.
He’s been consistent on standing for true #MAGA #AmericaFirst values. The best of the best. https://t.co/lsm5CfPMpp— NixonRepublican
(@NRMachiavellian) Ok hear me out
Trump/Carlson 2024 pic.twitter.com/r4qRU1RTOk
— DC_Draino (@DC_Draino) April 24, 2023
DeSantis/Carlson 2024 has a good ring to it.
— Logan Smith (@logansmith86) April 24, 2023
When murmurs of a potential Carlson bid for the White House first began back in 2020, Politico spoke with 16 prominent Republican strategists and leaders.
The outlet reported there was “an emerging consensus in the GOP” that Carlson would be a top contender for the White House if he chose to run.
Unless, of course, he opted to run as an independent. Given Carlson’s open disdain for the Republican Party, this remains a very real possibility — although the former Fox News host likely would have a better shot at winning with the support of the party apparatus.
But what would a Tucker Carlson presidency look like?
He likely would enact a more populist agenda as opposed to an overtly conservative one.
During an interview with Ben Shapiro in 2018, Carlson said, without hesitation, that he would be willing to ban and restrict automation if it meant saving American jobs.
“Would you, Tucker Carlson, be in favor of restrictions on the ability of trucking companies to use this sort of technology specifically to sort of artificially maintain the number of jobs that are available in the trucking industry?” Shapiro asked.
“Are you joking? In a second. In a second,” Carlson said.
He then went into greater detail on his plan, saying if he were president, he would order to Department of Transportation to keep driverless trucks off the road.
“Why? Really simple: Driving for a living is the single most common job for high school-educated men in this country in all 50 states,” Carlson said.
A Carlson presidency also would be overtly pro-family at a time when pro-family, pro-parental-rights leaders, such as DeSantis, Gov. Kim Reynolds of Iowa and Gov. Glenn Youngkin of Virginia seem to be finding the most success in the GOP.
“But first, Republican leaders will have to acknowledge that market capitalism is not a religion,” Carlson wrote in a 2019 editorial. “Market capitalism is a tool, like a staple gun or a toaster. You’d have to be a fool to worship it.
“Our system was created by human beings for the benefit of human beings. We do not exist to serve markets. Just the opposite. Any economic system that weakens and destroys families is not worth having. A system like that is the enemy of a healthy society.
“Socialism is a disaster. It doesn’t work. It’s what we should be working desperately to avoid. But socialism is exactly what we’re going to get, and very soon unless a group of responsible people in our political system reforms the American economy in a way that protects normal people.”
“If you want to put America first, you’ve got to put its families first.”
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