Top Republican Party strategists are “buzzing” about Fox News host Tucker Carlson as a future presidential nominee, possibly as early as 2024, Politico reports.
“He’s a talented communicator with a massive platform. I think if he runs he’d be formidable,” said GOP strategist Luke Thompson.
Sam Nunberg, a former political aide to President Donald Trump, added that if former Vice President Joe Biden wins the White House in 2020, Carlson would “be the nominee” in 2024, though he added that the Fox News personality wouldn’t run since “he’s so disgusted with politicians.”
Carlson has never sought public office, and has dismissed the idea in the past. According to Nunberg, longtime GOP operative Roger Stone tried to get Carlson to run as a Libertarian, but Stone told Politico that he has no memory of this, though he “may have raised it in jest.”
National Review editor and Politico columnist Rich Lowry said that “No one can dismiss this and say it’s completely implausible.”
“There is at the very least a significant faction within the Republican Party that [Carlson] has a huge stake in and arguably leadership over,” he added. “If he has political ambitions, he has an opening. He has a following and a taste for controversy. He’s smart, quick on his feet and personable. Political experience matters less than it once did.”
“What [Carlson’s] been saying speaks for a lot of people, and it’s basically not expressed or serviced by most Republican politicians,” Lowry said. “There’s a lot to be said for being fearless, and he is, while Republican politicians, as a breed, are not.”
Theodore Bunker ✉
Theodore Bunker, a Newsmax writer, has more than a decade covering news, media, and politics.
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