How Tucker Carlson got so weird

For over 20 years, Tucker Carlson has persisted as one of the most influential conservative voices. He’s a longtime culture-war provocateur, first on cable news and now on YouTube. But the real key to his success isn’t longevity, it’s his willingness to amplify the right’s strangest and most extreme instincts: spiritual warfare, traditional gender roles, abortion conspiracies and apocalyptic moral panic, to name a few. In this episode, I break down why Tucker Carlson’s conversations keep getting weirder and why liberals can’t afford to ignore his growing political influence. I’m joined by New Yorker writer Jason Zengerle, whose book “Hated By All the Right People” is all about Tucker. Follow him here: https://x.com/zengerle Subscribe here on YouTube for more Standing Room Only, airing weekly Thursdays at 5 PM ET on YouTube. 🥳 Standing Room Only started as a newsletter. Join the party and get it in your inbox 2x a week by clicking here: https://www.salon.com/newsletter?utm_... 🤓 Read Amanda Marcotte's writing on Salon.com here: https://www.salon.com/writer/amanda_m... 👍 Follow Amanda on Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/amandamarcot... ✌️ Support Salon’s mission—become a member: https://www.salon.com/premium?utm_sou... 🎵 Like our Encore segment? Follow the Standing Room Only Playlist on Spotify to hear the full songs and more recommendations from Amanda: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5xGJv3dQ8BPbO2gMw53dvB