Media critic lays out 3 'takeaways' From Tucker Carlson’s 'warped' texting with Alex Jones

20 January 2023

In an article published by the Daily Beast on August 8, 2022, journalist Lachlan Cartwright reported that Fox News’ Tucker Carlson was “s******g himself” because he feared “the possibility that texts between him and far-right conspiracy loon Alex Jones” would “leak.” And five months later, on January 12, 2023, those text messages between Carlson and Jones did leak thanks to an exclusive report by HuffPost’s Sebastian Murdoch.

Washington Post media critic Erik Wemple analyzes those messages in his January 19 column, offering three takeaways. HuffPost, Wemple notes, “secured the messages from Mark Bankston, a Texas lawyer who last year was involved in litigation from families of Sandy Hook victims in a defamation action against Jones.”

“If Carlson was ever quivering about the material being released,” Wemple argues, “he needn’t have bothered. The texts are pretty tame, at least by the warped standard that Carlson and Jones have established for themselves.”

Wemple’s takeaways are: (1) “Carlson is a national scourge, but not necessarily dumb,” (2) “Carlson just might believe the garbage he spews on air,” and (3) “Jones is part of Carlson’s bubble.”

Wemple cites some examples of the Carlson/Jones text exchanges that HuffPost reported, observing, “When Jones complains that the Daily Caller, which Carlson co-founded, wouldn’t allow Jones’ Infowars website to feature Daily Caller stuff, Carlson responded, ‘F*****g crazy. I’m really sorry.’ When Jones highlights a story about a company that was suspended by Twitter for a video about ultraviolet light being used to kill the coronavirus, Carlson responds, ‘I saw this. They’re clamping down. We’ll be China soon.’”

Wemple adds, “*When Jones asks to speak with Carlson about “the Democrats working to get me arrested,” Carlson responds “Arrested? My gosh. That’s out of control. Are you free this afternoon?”

In an April 2020 text, Carlson told Jones, “If Democrats win in November, they’re going to crush Fox News just as they’ve crushed the NRA. And we’re going to deeply regret letting it happen.”

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