I want to draw attention to Park MacDougald’s take on what he calls “The Tucker Op” in his daily column at Tablet’s The Scroll. He takes account of more weirdness in the Carlson/Cooper hoedown than I did — e.g., Churchill’s alleged installation as prime minister by shadowy “financiers,” the likening of Israelis to the Nazis (“So, the Nazis were misunderstood, but also the Israelis are a bit like the Nazis. Does that mean the Israelis aren’t so bad? We’ll have to get back to you on that one”) — and adds a twist that gives a view of things to come:
[W]e think it’s better to think about this episode from a political perspective. Who benefits from putting a World War II revisionist on the most popular podcast in America two months before an election? Well, for one, Carlson himself. One way to understand the interview is as a play by Carlson to draw a line on the right, with himself and the other brave “truth-tellers” (like Candace Owens) on one side, and the “neocons,” “Zionists,” and other establishment hysterics on the other. Sure, it shrinks the conservative coalition, provokes pointless infighting, and gives ammunition to Democrats and various sub-Lincoln Project grifters who would love nothing more than to distract from nearly a year of donor-funded, pro-terror protests on the left by portraying Donald Trump supporters as a gang of Nazi apologists. But it also puts Trump on the spot: Will you denounce your loyal followers to please liberals and “Conservative, Inc.” talking heads who hate you? Either way, Carlson wins.
Carlson wins, that is, and Trump loses. As Abigail Shrier observes on X:
Tucker Carlson is a very bright man. He has the largest conservative podcast in the country, and eight weeks before a presidential election, he is approvingly boosting Nazi apologists.
The Occam's Razor explanation?
He wants Kamala Harris to win. pic.twitter.com/MzIDHXTuKZ
— Abigail Shrier (@AbigailShrier) September 4, 2024
J.D. Vance is scheduled to join Carlson as a guest on Carlson’s first-ever Tucker Carlson Live tour in Hershey, Pennsylvania on September 23. The damage Carlson is doing to the conservative movement has yet to be fully registered. There is more to come.
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