Is the ‘toppled’ Tucker Carlson about to become master of the media universe?

“Ding, dong the witch – or warlock in this case – is dead” seems to be the theme for many on the left with the news that Tucker Carlson and Fox News have parted ways. 

Be it the hosts of “The View” on ABC, the show’s generally left-of-center audience, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), multiple media personalities and influencers, or thousands on Twitter, liberals and far-left activists were literally cheering, doing happy dances and smiling ear-to-ear with the presumption that Carlson had somehow been silenced.

In a Tik Tok video, AOC gloated, in part: “Tucker Carlson is out at Fox News, couldn’t have happened to a better guy, deplatforming works and it is important.”

“Deplatformed.” Really?

Over at “The View,” co-host Whoopi Goldberg stopped the show to tell the audience that: “Word has just come down that Fox News Media and Tucker Carlson have agreed to part ways.” As the audience broke into wild cheers, the hosts – I kid you not – then lead them in a sing-along of Steam’s 1969 hit “Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye.”

“Goodbye.” Really.

As the Guy Fleegman character – as played by Sam Rockwell – from the movie “Galaxy Quest” says to the fictional cast as they make one false and dangerous presumption after another: “Did you guys ever watch the show?”

Meaning: How can you be so mentally divorced from reality?

Keep in mind that, until it ended, “Tucker Carlson Tonight” spoke to the largest number of Republicans and conservatives in the country. It topped all cable news programs with an average of 3.25 million viewers per-night in the first quarter of 2023. Back in the second quarter of 2020, that average was 4.33 million. The highest quarter of viewership in the history of cable news.

As a Politico editor opined: “Carlson’s influence was such that many speculated that he would make a formidable presidential candidate himself — possibly one who could inherit former President Donald Trump’s populist MAGA movement.”

While I don’t believe Carlson would ever run for president (and may in fact find the prospect laughingly preposterous), such speculation from many does demonstrate that in some real ways, Carlson stands alone atop a foundational powerbase few can match. 

Regarding that power base, as Ralph Waldo Emerson famously said: “When you strike at the King, you must kill him.”

If you prefer a more modern interpretation, there was the Omar from “The Wire” saying: "You come at the king, you best not miss."

The “king” still stands. Potentially angrier, more ambitious and more determined than ever to gleefully prove critics wrong.   

What AOC, Whoopi Goldberg and thousands on the left may in fact be celebrating is the very moment Tucker Carlson was freed from a restrictive contract to finally reinvent himself as the soon to be unrivaled Master of the Media Universe.

You think that's an exaggeration?

I was told that several sites are already pursuing Carlson as they put together offers multiple millions of dollars higher than his Fox News contract.

Said one person: “Carlson is about to become the Joe Rogan empire on steroids.” Meaning Rogan’s massive $200 million contract with Spotify – as reported by The New York Times – is about to look like chump-change to what Carlson will command.

And again, it’s not just about the obscene amounts of money about to be thrown at the feet of Carlson. Much more importantly, it’s about the platform either “they” will allow him to create or, if he goes on his own, the platform he will establish — and own. A platform that, at a minimum, could fold in politics, education, corporate branding, entertainment and publishing. A platform that could exponentially raise Carlson’s power to influence and infuriate. 

“King” Carlson was not vanquished. In his mind, he may have just been liberated from the constraints preventing him from creating the most powerful and influential media, political and educational platform in the nation.

Whoopi, AOC and others on the left may want to curtail their celebrations in anticipation of what Carlson’s next act may bring.

Douglas MacKinnon, a political and communications consultant, was a writer in the White House for Presidents Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush, and former special assistant for policy and communications at the Pentagon during the last three years of the Bush administration.