Tucker is gone.

If Tucker Carlson wanted to run for the GOP presidential nomination, there’s a real chance he could win. He is a populist, like Trump. He’s charismatic. He’s the best-known political/media figure on the right. He’s 53. FDR was 50 when he announced for president. Tucker’s a believer (Episcopalian), married to his first wife. He prays. He’s articulate, well-spoken, smart entertainer. His father is a Marine. He’s unafraid to go after — with humor — the potentates who run the country. He collects the right enemies, including, now, Rupert Murdoch.

On the other hand, he has no experience building and running any kind of campaign organization. He has no visible friend who could step forward and make up for this shortcoming, people like the team that helped Gen. Eisenhower in 1952. He lacks money on the scale Trump has it, a big handicap (though one observer thinks Tucker's fame would make him an instant “online fundraising juggernaut”). 

With decades of public exposure behind him, Tucker’s never expressed interest in the White House. From 3 years ago:

I don’t think that way. I don’t want power. I’ve never wanted power, I’m annoyed by things, and I want them to change, but I’ve never been motivated by the desire to control people. 

Then there’s his strange stands. He’s against helping Ukraine turn back Russia’s bloody invasion, an unpopular enough position that he has trouble finding people who share his view. He’s extreme, given the lack of evidence large numbers have suffered, about the damage Covid vaccines cause people. He’s fascinated by UFOs. He seems to take pleasure in oddball stories. To me, he’s more Drew Pearson/Jack Anderson-type muckraker, willing to provoke while you decide. 

Tucker is, at bottom, a serious person. The Friday before his Monday firing, he told his Heritage Foundation 50th Anniversary audience:

good is characterized by order, calmness, tranquility, peace, whatever you want to call it, lack of conflict, cleanliness. Cleanliness is next to godliness. It’s true. It is. And evil is characterized by their opposites. Violence, hate, disorder, division, disorganization, and filth. So, if you are all in on the things that produce the latter basket of outcomes, what you’re really advocating for is evil. That’s just true. I’m not calling for religious war. Far from it. I’m merely calling for an acknowledgement of what we’re watching.   .   .

At that same event, with unintended irony he said :

I am paid to [talk]. I face no penalty. Someone came up to me [and said,] “You’re so brave.” Really? I’m a talk-show host. It’s like I give any opinion I want. That’s my job. That’s why they pay me.

Since his firing, he indirectly lumps FOX with the detested left, telling us:

Suddenly, the United States looks very much like a one-party state. That’s a depressing realization, but it’s not permanent. Our current orthodoxies won’t last. They’re brain dead. Nobody actually believes them. Hardly anyone’s life is improved by them. This moment is too inherently ridiculous to continue. And so it won’t .   .  .