The Incredulous Tucker Carlson Act is Tiresome

Carlson’s never-ending incredulity at the state of things leaves me wondering if he is naive, dumb, or just playing a tired role.

It seems as though every interview Tucker Carlson conducts ends up with him being shocked – SHOCKED, I tell you! – by the state of things. Whether it is George Floyd’s autopsy results, various 9/11 theories, or the possibility that Lyme disease may have come out of a lab, Mr. Carlson is flabbergasted over and over again.

Mind you, his guests often reveal new and unique information, and thus some amount of surprise is warranted. During such interviews I have learned a lot about the pharmaceutical industry’s practices, what transpired on 9/11, and from where Lyme disease may have originated. His recent interview with investigative reporter and producer of the documentary The Fall of Minneapolis Liz Collin on the state of Minnesota (pun intended) brought out many new revelations; but it also repeated several things that I had heard many times before.

I appreciate that Mr. Carlson has traveled up the same steep learning curve that many of us have since 2020. He questions conventional history and government shenanigans that are cause for concern.

But there comes a point in one’s journey where (to mix my metaphors here) you need to act like you have been outside the cave for a while and you know the score. I can understand that new information can sometimes be surprising. But if we are going to turn against the very forces that would do us harm, those who lie and manipulate us, then we need to start expecting dishonesty instead of being incredulous about it. “What?! The guy who runs the Minneapolis Star Tribune is close to Tim Walz!? No way!” is a perfect example.

You can’t win a battle if you consistently underestimate your opponent. And every time Mr. Carlson acts befuddled that some government or cultural actor would do something illicit, immoral, or even illegal, he is proving that he is not ready to lead us against them.

At some point, the nationalist/populist movement and its leaders need to lay out the terms of battle for us: this is how we got here, and this is how we win. The ongoing or repetitive discovery phase must at some point to come to an end. An example of what such a reckoning might look like and an explanation of how we got here is as follows.

• After WWII, the Deep State formed and grew, partly to help us win the Cold War, but also to harness scientific progress in order to ensure American dominance for the next hundred years.

• Elected representatives became more and more captured by intelligence networks and by the intel (foreign and domestic) which they provided, and the federal government began to grow beyond the control of the people.

• Endless wars, unelected agencies, boundless regulation, and deficit spending have defined a dysfunctional government that pretty much does whatever it wants.

• Nihilism became the default worldview of multiple generations.

To reverse these documentable evils, we need:

• A populist revolution led by an incredibly strong executive (or series of executives) that will put the will of the people first and foremost.

• A dismantling of the Deep State (Intelligence/Blackmail Operations), Administrative State (Bureaucracy), Crony Capitalist States (corporate lobbyists who buy politicians or politicians who become lobbyists), and the War Machine (Military Industrial Complex). Thankfully, this has already begun as a result of several Supreme Court rulings.

• An end to most welfare, deficits, and a revived infrastructure to compete with a changing world.

• A fearless promotion of Christianity as the one and only correct moral worldview.

So much more could be said in terms of identifying the basic situation and solutions. I am offering an assessment and an “action plan” using a modicum of words. I suggest that to be more effective, Tucker’s show should offer systemic breakdowns of the problem in sober terms, and then offer sober solutions in each particular area of need. At this point, we need our media to be detailing “where we go from here.”

Perhaps he is feigning incredulity because he doesn’t want to appear cynical. Or maybe he wants to pretend to be more naive than the rest of us, who understand our situation for what it is: a soft, sometimes violent, battle between normal Americans and radical leftists. But if this is where we are, we need to acknowledge it so that we can begin the long, hard process of giving America back to those who make it work and are still loyal to her founding.

Meanwhile, he has other tics that undercut his credibility. For example, he says the worst things about people he later admits are actually quite wonderful Such as: “I don’t know a single person who doesn’t like David Ignatius, personally, and that would include me. He’s such a courtly man. He’s like the Murdochs; you can’t dislike him. He has elaborate, wonderful manners. But, like, he is the spokesman for CIA!”

Well, I don’t know about you, but I don’t really care how nice someone is if they run cover for one of the most devious institutions on earth. What does he think he might be gaining with such praise?

He also admits that he has moral failures, but continues to indulge them. He is arrogant and proud, though he hides it well with a regular dose of false humility. Several times in his interview with Ted Cruz, Mr. Carlson did not act in good faith. He asked loaded questions intended to put Mr. Cruz in a bad light. Then, twice, Tucker admitted that he had acted smugly, and he twice apologized for it…during the interview.

It is becoming hard to look at Tucker as anything more than someone who is too naive to help, too slow to understand reality, or too dishonest in his portrayal of never-ending shock. He’s not dumb, that’s for sure. But if you continue to portray fake shock at the systemic evils that are constantly being exposed, you won’t be able to help us move on and begin the hard work of reversing course.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not a hater. Tucker Carlson is and has always been a force for good. I would however prefer for him to discard the insincere “I’m shocked!” routine. It’s wearing thin in 2025. After all, we’re not in 2021 anymore.

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