Tucker Carlson's crash out is Charlie Kirk's legacy [View all]

Tucker Carlson’s crash out is Charlie Kirk’s legacy
Everybody hates Tucker right now — and that’s bad for Trump

By Sophia Tesfaye
Senior Writer
Published October 29, 2025 9:10AM (EDT)


(Salon) “Maybe you won?” Tucker Carlson conceded to start a new interview with the avowed white nationalist Nick Fuentes. Then Carlson’s phrasing turned definitive as he admitted that Fuentes has successfully wrangled ideological control of the modern conservative movement: “You won.”

The rumored linkup between warring right-wing podcasters, which had been anticipated for weeks, nevertheless appears to have shocked many on the right. The two had previously been at loggerheads before Monday’s conversation, with Carlson mocking the far-right 27-year-old, who has groused, as a “weird little gay kid in his basement,” that “the GOP is run by Jews, atheists, and homosexuals.” Fuentes has also called out Carlson for claiming he only discovered his late father’s work for the CIA after his passing. The pair finding common cause was inevitable, as the 56-year-old Carlson has been forced to confront Fuentes’ growing influence with young conservatives.

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Fuentes famously spent years harassing Kirk and his Turning Point staff at similar college campus events before Kirk banned the provocateur. With antisemitism as its cornerstone, Fuentes’ so-called Groyper movement seeks to push extremist ideas into the conservative mainstream. In August, Fuentes taunted Kirk, “I took your baby Turning Point USA, and I f**ked it.. We own you, we own TPUSA and we own this movement.”

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While none of this GOP infighting is the least bit surprising, it is revealing. Trump’s political strength depends on coalitional unity — at least rhetorically — of a broad “anti-establishment” right. Carlson understands that Fuentes’ mission is Trumpian at its core. But while folding Fuentes into the GOP tent makes sense for short-term peace, it’s a surefire way to impede any successor to Trump. ........................(more)

https://www.salon.com/2025/10/29/tucker-carlsons-crash-out-is-charlie-kirks-legacy/