The Daily Beast: Tucker Carlson's a Very, Very, Very Bad Man! He Called People the C-Word!

If Fox News thinks this is moving the needle, they're right.

It's just that it's moving the needle from "Fox News" to "Anyone Else."

Can't wait to see some of the emails Irena Brigita sent.

And we will be seeing those, Irena!

Following Tucker Carlson's shock firing from Fox News early last week, reporting has suggested a broad variety of reasons--among them, as The Daily Beast's Confider newsletter reported, his frequent use of the vulgar and misogynistic "c-word" to deride female colleagues.

The most prominent recipient of the "vulgar and misogynistic 'c-word'" -- say, Daily Beast, can we search your emails and texts to see how frequently you use this word? I'd love to see your company slack channel-- is Irena Brigita herself. But no one reports that.

They know who Tucker Carlson used this term on -- the most hated woman in media.

But they won't tell you who he used it about, because they want you to imagine it's a shy retiring wallflower-type who just can't stand up to Toxic Masculinity.

Instead of being the nastiest woman in media and Rupert Murchoch's personal Axe-Maiden.

But it turns out that Tucker Carlson called a different woman the c-word.

A woman who was bad-mouthing him to other Fox news people.

The woman the media hated with a passion until five seconds ago, when they decided they would White Knight for her in order to Get Tucker: Kraken-promiser Sydney Powell.

Previously unreported text messages between Carlson and his "straight-news" colleague, chief political anchor Bret Baier, which were obtained and reviewed by The Daily Beast, further confirm Carlson's repeated use of the slur.

The text messages are part of redacted court filings from Dominion Voting Systems' now-settled defamation case against Fox News. A source familiar with the lawsuit confirmed their veracity. (Fox News on Wednesday argued in court that media outlets should not be able to unseal more redacted materials from the lawsuit, claiming their $787.5-million settlement was paid to "buy peace.")

In a Nov. 20, 2020, chat, Baier told Carlson that the "Sydnee [sic] Powell thing is troubling," referring to the Trump lawyer's refusal to provide evidence for her on-air claims that Dominion's voting machines rigged the election for Biden.

"See her answer to you on Maria this am. Ugggh," Baier wrote before sharing a link to an article on Powell telling Maria Bartiromo on her Fox Business Network show that Carlson was "insulting, demanding, and rude" in his insistence that she provide proof.

"Does she attack me?" Carlson wondered, prompting Baier to reply: "Says you were rude and that's why she didn't respond. Ha."

"Cunt. I mean it," Carlson replied.

The Daily Beast would usually celebrate anyone attacking Sydney Powell. Tucker Carlson famously announced that Powell had refused to provide evidence for "The Kraken" and had cautioned his audience about her claims.

Is that "rude"? No, that's journalism.

Now the Daily Beast is taking the odd position that the woman they've called a "c**t" a thousand times cannot be called a "c**t" by anyone other than an officially credentialed member of the Guild of Yellow Journalism.

That use of the sexist pejorative marks at least the second time the now-former Fox star deployed it in reference to Powell. As Confider previously reported, Carlson's repeated use of the phrase, and the fact that Dominion lawyers grilled him on it during depositions, loomed large in his firing.

The first publicly known instance of him calling Powell the slur came in a Nov. 22 text, in which Carlson referred to her as "that cunt" and a "fucking bitch" to an unidentified Fox employee. Those texts were included in Dominion's public court filings and figured into much of the reporting on the myriad reasons for Carlson's ouster.

When confronted by Dominion lawyers during a deposition on how often he "referred to Sidney Powell as a cunt," Carlson stammered in defense: "You know I-I-I can't know and I just want to apologize preemptively," he said. "I mean you're trying to embarrass me, you're definitely succeeding as I am embarrassed." (In this exchange, Dominion lawyers were referring to his texts with Baier, according to Carlson's unredacted deposition.)

In a separate exchange, currently redacted in official court documents, Carlson and Baier appear to strategize on how to delay Fox calling the 2020 presidential election for Joe Biden--one day after the network's CEO asked Carlson to let Fox's Decision Desk handle the situation.

On Nov. 4, 2020, Carlson expressed to Fox News CEO Suzanne Scott his worry that the network was "getting hammered" over its early and accurate call for Biden to win the Arizona vote, which led to a crisis within Fox as Trump fans abandoned the channel. "Please tell me if there's anything I can do to help," he wrote.

It was not an "accurate call." Even leftwing data analysts admit the call was wrong -- the state should never have been projected with such a tight race, which turned out to be less than 0.3% difference between Biden and Trump. Fox News' Polling Genius Arnon Mishkin decided that most of the uncounted mail-in vote must lean Democrat. Wrong -- the people who submitted their mail-in votes on election day were overwhelmingly Republican -- something the Polling Geninus Hillary Voter should have guessed -- and thus, most of the votes tallied through the night and morning were for Trump. And he very nearly beat Biden.

Here, the Daily Beast summarizes this as the call being "accurate."

The media routinely lies.

"We need to continue to be transparent about the call--let the data folks defend their decision," Scott wrote back.

"Amen. I strongly agree. But if I can help in any way, I hope you'll let me know," Carlson concluded.

Even with that guidance from above, Carlson apparently reached out to Baier--the face of the network's "news" operation--to strategize next steps. "FOX News stood by the Arizona call despite intense scrutiny," a spokesperson wrote in a statement to The Daily Beast. "Given the extremely narrow 0.3% margin and a new projection mechanism that no other network had, it's hardly surprising there would be postmortem discussions surrounding the call and how it was executed, no matter the candidates."

"I continue to think the company isn't taking the [sic] seriously enough," Carlson wrote to Baier the following day. "We need to do something to reassure our core audience. They're our whole business model."

"Is there some way I could help?" he asked Baier. "Obviously I'd never do anything without full approval from the top." The primetime star expressed concerns that any additional Fox on-air calls for Biden would irreparably damage Fox among its right-wing viewership. "Do we have a plan for this? We could lose our audience," he wrote, citing a Semafor co-founder Ben Smith tweet outlining the pickle Fox had found itself in.

"We have been pushing for answers," Baier responded. "I have pressed them to slow. And I think they will slow walk Nevada. The votes don't come in until tomorrow."

Um, so Tucker saw that Fox had blown the Arizona call and pressed the Arnon Mishnik-Chris-Stirewalt Brain Trust to slow their horses on making the next probably-erroneous call.

What a villain!

Hey Daily Beast -- if I "project" DeSantis to beat the Democrat candidate in 2024, right now, before DeSantis even declares, and then he does win -- would you say my call was "accurate"?

Or would you call it a bit premature?

Stupid, stupid venal people.

Meanwhile, Tucker Carlson floats the idea of hosting an alternative, non-leftwing-media-rigged debate, with Trump.

Tucker Carlson, the former Fox News prime-time host whose exit from the network sent shockwaves through political media last week, is reportedly floating the idea of hosting a Republican primary forum.

Carlson's unexpected departure from the company has left the media world wondering what he will do next. Carlson, according to the Washington Post, citing people familiar with his thinking, is interested in hosting a forum for 2024 GOP candidates.

Carlson has even chatted about the idea with former President Trump, according to the report, who has threatened to skip one or both of the first Republican debates that are scheduled for the summer. The first GOP debate is slated to be hosted by Carlson's former network, Fox News.

The only other candidate who'd agree to this is Ron DeSantis, because the rest know that Tucker Carlson wouldn't let them offer leftwing, Media-Simp bromides without aggressive challenge. And that's fine, because I don't want to hear from the other candidates anyway.

Meanwhile, GOP politicians are gleeful that their corporate friends have cancelled another dissenting voice, so they can get back to the important business of ignoring voters' wishes and doing favors for corporations.

A sizable number of GOP lawmakers are quietly cheering Fox News' decision to remove Tucker Carlson from its airwaves as making it easier to provide aid to Ukraine, Axios has learned.

Why it matters: Carlson was one of the most vocal critics of continued support to Ukraine, often going after lawmakers by name on his program. His commentary was a source of regular heartburn for defense hawks.

One House Republican pointed to Speaker Kevin McCarthy's rhetoric this week as a sign of the tides potentially changing.

McCarthy, who'd earlier opposed giving a "blank check" to Ukraine, gave his full-throated support while speaking to reporters in Israel on Monday.

What they're saying: Multiple House Republicans, speaking on the condition of anonymity, slammed the former Fox News host's rhetoric on Vladimir Putin and Russian aggression, and said his inflammatory remarks on an array of issues often put them in a tough spot.

"Tucker being gone makes my life easier with many things including Ukraine," one GOP lawmaker said. "Though I think that somebody will own that space in a couple of weeks anyway."

"Well no one is more unhappy about Tucker's departure than the Russians," another House Republican added.

A third lawmaker argued that Carlson "thrived on destroying Republicans ... I say good riddance."

I'm not as anti-Ukraine-War as many of you are. I'm definitely pro-debate-about-the-Ukraine-War. We didn't debate Iraq, and look where that got us.

Although I have mixed feelings about Ukraine, hearing GOPe c0cksvckers celebrate the fact that a corporate pal has silenced a dissenting voice so now they do not have to answer any questions from voters about their positions does make me kinda hope Russia just seizes control of the whole country.

You can't be anti-Soviet abroad but pro-Soviet at home.

And that's what these vile fascist are.

posted by Ace at 01:05 PM

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