A recent survey by Punchbowl News and Locust Street Group found that 87 percent of GOP congressional aides considered Fox prime-time host Tucker Carlson to be “the most influential Republican voice” outside of lawmakers and former presidents or vice presidents. The survey highlights the conservative star’s meteoric rise in both right-wing media and Republican politics: The GOP has hitched its policy wagon to Tucker Carlson Tonight at the same time that Fox has gone all-in on branding Carlson as the face of the network. And the result is waves of culture war political posturing by Republicans that is informing everything from their tweets to legislation.
Fox has long been the communications arm for the GOP, and the revolving door between the Trump administration and the network laid bare the extent of the ties between the channel and Republican policymaking. With Donald Trump now out of office, the close relationship between Fox and the GOP continues — with Tucker Carlson’s monologues effectively becoming the party platform.
In April, the Republican Party released a memo outlining its intention to keep the party aligned with Trump and their mutual cheerleaders at Fox. The platform highlighted GOP priorities such as “anti-wokeness,” the threat of China, and anti-conservative bias in Big Tech. The “traditional” issues of conservative politics — taxes, deregulation, the national debt — had disappeared, replaced by a list that reads more like a teaser for an hour of Fox News prime time. Continue reading.