Mike Huckabee to Newsmax: Carlson Exit Was 'Shocker'

Conservative commentator Tucker Carlson's abrupt exit at Fox News was a "shocker" for which "there's clearly a backstory," Baptist minister and former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee said Monday on Newsmax.

In an interview on "John Bachman Now," Huckabee noted Carlson's show "has been their top-rated program."

"It was a shocker," he said, pointing out Carlson's audience out-paced that of MSNBC and CNN combined.

"He was a huge presence in the conservative news force," he said. "And for it to be so abrupt. This isn't like 'Hey, in two weeks, I'm gonna be leaving. I want to spend more time with my family' … It was like, 'it's over. We parted ways. The last show has already been aired.' So there's clearly a backstory."

Huckabee added he believes the network will keep "a strong conservative in that slot — "it would be almost unthinkable not to."

"I'm sure we're going to find out not only the truth, but at some point pretty soon we'll find out a whole lot of stories that people will suggest as to the reason why," he said.

Huckabee also was taken aback at the prospect of President Joe Biden announcing a 2024 bid for re-election.

"It's actually … very stunning. In fact, I can't think of anybody who has less support to run for president," he said, joking "maybe other than me."

"You know, 100% of the American people don't want me to do it again, and Joe Biden is getting very close to that number — 79% of independents don't want him to run. He doesn't even have a majority in his own party.

"And when you don't even have your own party, you're the incumbent president, and they don't want you to run, maybe you ought to start listening to some people."

According to Huckabee, however, "the media will continue to give him a really nice tongue bath as they do almost every single day."

He then added, "But there's going to come a point at which they start asking themselves if this many people within the American public don't want to support this guy, maybe the Democrats should find somebody else. And then it becomes who does the media pick to be Joe's successor and let's just be honest — we're looking at a different kind of world where the media and the Deep State will have more to do with picking the nominee for the Democrat Party than rank and file Democrats across America.

"That ought to scare people into voting Republican in 2024, even if they don't like Republicans."

Huckabee noted media bias is best illustrated by the damning story slowly being revealed concerning Hunter Biden's laptop — calling it an example of blatant election interference.

"We have a media that is so in the tank for the other side that they just don't want to report things and you have social media added to that," he said. "The story that really ought to be getting a lot of attention is the way in which the Hunter Biden laptop story got spiked by mainstream media as well as by social media to the point that they kept the story from being even heard by the American public.

"That's election interference if I've ever heard it. So when I hear people talking about, 'oh, there's no such thing as election interference' I'm thinking you better believe there is — it's called social media, and it's called the mainstream media. They tinker with the elections in a way that nobody else could possibly do."

Huckabee also hailed former President Donald Trump for his anti-abortion stance, and said Republicans should embrace it as well.

"One of the big mistakes I've seen some Republicans make is they're afraid to touch this abortion issue," he lamented, adding, "Republicans believe that every child has dignity that the child with Down Syndrome is equally valuable in the eyes of God, and ought to be with us ... We value life. That's not a position I run from. That's a position I want to stand on.

"Donald Trump did more for the life community more for really the pro-life issue than any president we've ever had … and I think that Republicans need to be fearless in this issue."

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