Trump, Fox News have a new point of tension: Tucker Carlson

Tucker Carlson’s ouster from Fox News is the latest twist in what has become a roller coaster relationship between the network and former President Donald Trump.

Signs of tension have been evident for months, with Trump complaining about the coverage Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, a potential 2024 rival, has received on the network. He often blasts Fox’s parent company for having another Republican foe, former Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.),  on its board of directors.

Now Carlson’s departure is being seen by some as an inflection point. 

Hours after the news of Carlson’s exit broke on Monday, Donald Trump Jr., the president’s eldest son, said Carlson leaving Fox “changes things permanently.” 

“That’s one of the few voices in the Republican Party that would call out the nonsense from GOP senators, governors and otherwise,” the former president’s son said. “You know, an actual thought leader in conservatism.” 

Fox is seen as a powerhouse in determining who the next GOP presidential nominee will be, and critical coverage of Trump in other media entities owned by Rupert Murdoch, such as the New York Post, were seen as a sign of Trump’s wavering support.

Carlson left the network a week after it settled for a defamation lawsuit filed by Dominion Voting Systems for $787.5 million. Both Trump and Carlson were at the center of that suit, which focused on false statements on Fox that Dominion’s voting machines played a role in the former president’s 2020 loss.

Text messages revealed as part of the discovery process were an embarrassment for Carlson and Fox. They showed that Murdoch along with Carlson and other Fox hosts doubted the arguments being made by Trump and his allies about Dominion, even as the arguments played on Fox’s airwaves.

In some of the messages that became public, Carlson also criticized Trump, even saying he found Trump’s behavior “disgusting” and “passionately” hated him.

Sources close to the former president, however, say Trump and Carlson have since rebuilt their relationship.

“Trump and Tucker have never been closer,” said one source familiar with the dynamic. “Over the last year and a half they’ve become much closer than they were in 2020.”

In a possible sign of that mending relationship, Trump gave his first sit-down interview after being arraigned in Manhattan earlier this month to Carlson.

Trump, during an appearance on Newsmax just hours after Carlson and Fox parted ways, said he was “shocked” by the news, saying “he’s been terrific especially over the last year or so he’s been terrific to me,” and suggesting “maybe he left because he wasn’t being given his free rein, he wants his free rein maybe but I was surprised by it.”

Before his Fox exit, Carlson also had sought to put a shine on his relationship with Trump.

“Oh, let’s see. I spent four years defending his policies and I, I’m going to defend them again tonight,” Carlson said during a radio interview late last month. “And actually, and I’m pretty straight forward, I’m um I love Trump. Like, as a person, I think Trump is funny and insightful.”

Tensions between Trump and Fox are nothing new.

As far back as 2015, when he was first running for the GOP presidential nomination, Trump famously clashed with then-Fox host Meghan Kelly during a Republican debate.

Members of Trump’s team were furious with Fox on election night in 2020 for its decision to call Arizona for President Biden, a move that was viewed among some critics as premature even if it ended up being correct.

The network stopped having Trump on for interviews for an extended period in the aftermath of the Jan. 6, 2021, riots at the Capitol, when a mob of the former president’s supporters forced the evacuation of Congress.

Allies of Trump have at times fanned the flames.

During a fiery speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference this spring, former top Trump advisor Steve Bannon referred to Rupert Murdoch, the owner and chairman of Fox Corp. as a “foreigner,” saying the network has “disrespected Donald Trump for long enough.”  

“They don’t respect you, read the depositions,” Bannon screamed during his speech, alluding to the revelations contained in the court filings as part of Dominion’s lawsuit. “They have a fear, a loathing and a contempt for you.” 

Trump is unlikely to dodge Fox News entirely, as evidenced by recent sit-downs with opinion hosts Sean Hannity and Mark Levin.

But the former president never been shy about criticizing Fox, and both the former president and his allies will be watching what happens next at the network and with Carlson closely.

“I think Trump is so connected to Fox in so many ways, and because Fox is a powerhouse in terms of its agenda setting power in the conservative movement, it’s hard to imagine his relationship with Fox changing that much,” said one Republican operative.

Fox will be hosting the first GOP presidential debate in August, and there will be plenty of speculation about whether Trump — the Republican frontrunner — will attend.

Trump this week revived his threat of skipping the debates.

Fox remains the top-watched network in cable television, with popular shows like “The Five,” featuring a bevy of pro-Trump commentary and fiery debate that has earned it the No. 1 in cable ratings several quarters running.  

And despite a dip in its ratings in the 8 p.m. hour this week following Carlson’s ouster, its defenders have expressed confidence it will be able to retain its outsized audience share irrespective of Trump, Carlson or any other leading political figure. 

Fox stars have also made it clear they’re not worried about the likes of Bannon.

“We’re strong as ever. For Steve Bannon to come out and criticize Fox … really? These are a bunch of people who think they can run this network and they can’t,” Brian Kilmeade, a long-time host at Fox who has been filling in Carlson’s former prime time slot this week, said during a radio interview. “I don’t think we have to curtail our format to make Steve Bannon happy.”