Now former Fox News star Tucker Carlson may have lost his high-paying prime-time TV show, but it certainly hasn’t dampened his spirits — at least if the evidence of the photos and videos of his encounters since being unceremoniously dumped by the cable news network is any indication.
Indeed, the day after his sudden departure from Fox News, Carlson was all smiles and joking while he was out and about with his wife, Susan.
“Retirement is going great so far,” the former host of “Tucker Carlson Tonight” said Tuesday as he left to take in a romantic dinner with his wife, according to the U.K.’s Daily Mail.
“I haven’t eaten dinner with my wife on a weeknight in seven years,” the 53-year-old commentator added.
When a reporter asked about his future, Carlson just happily replied, “Appetizers plus entree,” before zooming off in his golf cart — “howling with laughter,” according to the outlet.
Tucker Carlson doesn’t give two fox about being ‘fired’ from the network as he tells https://t.co/Rv1nOeM6YT his future plans https://t.co/IpsI1VxZa6 pic.twitter.com/Gxi3jVYBoE
— Daily Mail US (@DailyMail) April 26, 2023
Earlier Tuesday, however, he spent time “huddling with right-hand man Justin Wells” to plan out their next move, the Daily Mail reported. Wells, who was the executive producer of “Tucker Carlson Tonight,” also lost his job at Fox News on Monday.
Carlson has had no shortage of offers. Glenn Beck of Blaze Media and Jeremy Boreing of The Daily Wire stepped up to offer him a slot with their respective operations.
It seems doubtful that either has the money to afford Carlson, however, and it’s unknown whether he’d accept the offer even if they did.
Whatever he ends up doing, he won’t be able to announce it until after he is fully divested from Fox News. He still has an exit package to negotiate, and there is no telling what restrictions he might have to agree to.
Carlson reportedly is being represented by attorney Bryan Freedman, who is also working on the exit package for former CNN host Don Lemon, who was fired the same day.
While Lemon will be lucky to host a telethon in the wake of his dismissal, Carlson has millions of dollars in the bank and millions more fans than that, and he left Fox News at the peak of his popularity. It seems very likely whatever he does next will be a hit.
Certainly, the future is a blank slate, but many of Carlson’s supporters seem to believe he’ll have an even bigger influence on the nation in his post-Fox days than he has to date.
Tucker is living his best life pic.twitter.com/B3R2Wvmp7l
— Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) April 26, 2023
Tucker Carlson laughing.
With his wife of +30 years & 4 kids.
On a golf cart.
Not a care in the world.
This after the nasty, vicious goblin left threw everything they had at him for YEARS. After all that the left is still miserable.
Tucker is still happy.
Tucker wins.
Eternal joy pic.twitter.com/74pa31ypasWill Tucker Carlson succeed even more away from Fox News?— Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) April 26, 2023
Tucker out here living his best life and it pisses the commies off so much.
I love it.
— John D (@RedWingGrips) April 26, 2023
I love Tucker laugh! He is a true seeker and true teller. Millions of us, that are hungry for THE TRUE, will follow him on his new endeavors.
GOD BLESS TUCKER ?— Jannette Panzenbeck ? (@JannettePanzen4) April 26, 2023
Carlson’s fans are also laughing at Fox News because since their favorite commentator was axed, the network’s ratings have cratered.
As The Associated Press noted Wednesday, the 8 p.m. time slot that had the hourlong “Tucker Carlson Tonight” lost half its audience the day after he was fired.
The AP said replacement host Brian Kilmeade earned 1.33 million viewers on Wednesday. “That’s down 56% from the 3.05 million viewers Carlson reached last Wednesday, Nielsen said. For all of 2022, Carlson averaged 3.03 million viewers, second only to Fox’s ‘The Five’ as the most popular program on cable television,” it said.
Meanwhile, Carlson is unapologetic. On Thursday, he posted a video message on Twitter that earned many times more viewers than his replacement earned on Fox.
The video on his Twitter account had soared to over 74 million views as of Friday morning. Meanwhile, Fox News drew just under 9 million viewers on Tuesday.
Good evening pic.twitter.com/SPrsYKWKCE
— Tucker Carlson (@TuckerCarlson) April 27, 2023
Whatever Tucker Carlson has up his sleeve for his next step, he already has notched one victory in the contest for viewers.
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.
