A writer for a liberal outlet who considers Tucker Carlson a āfar-right firebrandā is very upset the former Fox News host pulled a joke on him. And reporters wonder why conservatives donāt trust them.
The reporter in this case is Mattathias Schwartz of Insider, who interviewed Carlson by text Tuesday night.
The headline effectively summarizes Schwartzās article ā and his attitude toward the former Fox News host ā in as few words as possible:
āTucker Carlson told us heās running for president in 2024. Then he said he was joking. Then he said heās āfundamentally a d***.'ā
(Insider didnāt use asterisks.)
āWhen I asked Tucker Carlson in a text on Tuesday evening if he was planning a run for president, the newly self-employed far-right firebrand had a shocking answer: āYes. Announcing Friday in New Hampshire,'ā Schwartz wrote in the article, published Wednesday.
āBut my earthshaking scoop was short-lived. After I credulously asked him to confirm that he was serious before I blasted out the news, which would reshape the 2024 presidential race, the former Fox News broadcaster confirmed what millions of Americans have already concluded: Heās just an a**hole.ā
Carlson wrote back that he was, āTotally kidding,ā adding, āSorry. I can never control myself. Iām fundamentally a d***. My apologies.ā
Schwartz also tweeted about this, along with a screenshot that actually makes him look worse, somehow:
Schwartz apparently made the unfortunate mistake of believing that, absent any fundraising push or an exploratory committee, Carlson would be announcing a presidential run that very week, and Schwartz wanted the scoop.
Iāve never done iMessage with Tucker Carlson, but even I wouldnāt be foolish enough to believe, without any serious noise about assembling a team that would enable him to run for high office, that the former TV host was going to be announcing that run in just a few days.
So, coming away empty-handed, Schwartz concluded Carlson was the āa**holeā in the conversation and tweeted a screenshot that made himself look like a humorless prat.
For whatever reason, on his Twitter account, Schwartz retweeted conservative social media personality and former Daily Caller writer Greg Price calling him out for confirming that, yes, Schwartz is a humorless prat:

Boy, you sure showed them, Mattathias Schwartz.
Further on in his piece, the Insider writer whoād told Carlson he ācan appreciate a good trollā decided he didnāt appreciate the joke after all. He finger-wagged Carlson for his ārash messagesā and said the joke came āas the incendiary monologist attempts to rebrand himself as a full-time Twitter personality.ā
Schwartz went on to say Carlsonās former show was an āideological North Star for the embittered and racialized nationalism that propelled Donald Trump into the White House and then incubated the Trump movementās conspiracy theories and insatiable sense of outrage in the wake of his 2020 election loss.ā
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I donāt know why Carlson wouldĀ ever pull a prank on this gentleman.
Schwartz became the latest journo to get outraged because Tucker Carlson appears to have fun being Tucker Carlson. The most famous, naturally, is Media Matters for America hack Matthew Gertz, who has been busy being irate over ā#FoxLeaksā videos that make Carlson look like a human being with a functioning sense of humor.
See what passes as ghastly in the jocularity void that is MMFA-land:
WARNING: The following videos contain language that some viewers might find offensive.
Stop the presses: Carlson is human, not an MMFA-bot-scold. Perhaps thatās why theyāre so freaked out heās decided to continue his show on Twitter until his Fox News contract ends in January of 2025 or heās able to negotiate an exit.
Check out former CNN host Brian Stelterās reaction on MSNBC to Carlsonās announcement about his new Twitter project. In case you needed to remember how much of a twit Stelter was in his āReliable Sourcesā days, here he is essentially lamenting the fact Carlson has ā gasp! ā free speech so long as he abides by Twitterās policies. The horrors!
Just to be clear, Stelter, Schwartz, Gertz and their respective outlets ā MSNBC, Insider and MMFA ā have painted themselves as gatekeepers stopping us from from this, this, this ā man who jokes. around. OCCASIONALLY.
This is Edward R. Murrow and Joe McCarthy, Woodward/Bernstein and the Nixon White House! The po-faced Fourth Estate is protecting you from āincendiary monologistsā on the āfar-rightā who josh with reporters from Insider on iMessage!
And Twitter is platforming that guy! He also made some jokes about pillow fights and the Dominion Voting Systems lawyer and stuff! Jāaccuse, Tucker!
So yeah: If you needed a reason why conservatives distrust the media, you could do a lot worse than Mattathias Schwartz.
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.
