I woke up thinking about this, so I need to explore this a bit further.
The thing is, in these last weeks when we were seeing images of violence and destruction from across the country, night after night, the reason Tucker Carlson's ratings went through the roof is that he and this head writer of his [Blake Neff, the one just fired], along with the show's producers, decided to do something that was rather unprecedented. Or, maybe it was not so much a decision, as a realization. For, they realized the importance, the absolute
necessity of seizing the moment; they realized they were the only [mainstream] voice out there willing to say what needed to be said, and in all urgency. They realized, too, the singular power they had to appeal to the president in that moment to do what needed to be done for the sake of the country. I've said before that Carlson was acting as the president's moral conscience, and in those dire moments of symbolic and actual conflagration, Carlson did so bravely, and decisively, and urgently.
There aren't a lot of moments like that in life when you know you have the power to do something because you know in your bones that you are in the right, and that all the decisions, all the work and experiences in your life have brought you to the exact right place at the exact right time
to transform it all into right action. And what we saw in Tucker Carlson was just such a transformation, and all the people watching him felt that -- including the President of the United States. You saw it in Trump's Mount Rushmore speech, how Trump and his writers were elevated in their mission -- in part thanks to the coming together of talents and ideals that drove those few miraculous shows on Tucker Carlson.
And now, with the loss of Carlson's head writer, I'm realizing a key ingredient -- perhaps "the" key ingredient -- that went into the ability to "seize the moment" was the exceptional writing for those shows: in particular, the shows in which Tucker condemned Black Lives Matter, as well as the other shows during that time period in which Carlson took hold of the [constitutionally endowed] reins of this runaway country of ours, and was seemingly single handedly steering it out of its madness.
In that TPM article I linked to there are a few telling lines that match up with a lot of what I've been relaying here:
"Darcy [CNN reporter] also reported that Neff is quoted by the Darmouth Alumni Magazine as saying,
'Anything [Carlson is] reading off the teleprompter, the first draft was written by me', adding that the show’s writers did their best to use the show’s power in swaying the political conversation 'responsibly'.”
So, CNN, in being so challenged (threatened, really) by all that Tucker Carlson's team was able to pull off through sheer hard work and daring, instead of using that to engage in "real" debate, and thereby improve the quality of their own reporting (as opposed to the absolute inanity they are serving up via talking head, Don Lemon), they rather predictably decide that their best course of action is to defame if not Carlson, then a key player on Carlson's team. And they found their man in Carlson's head writer, Blake Neff.
It's almost funny when you think about it. I mean, CNN's digging up dirt on Neff is probably the only recent example of real investigating that the station's even done. One is surprised they were even able to pull it off seeing how laziness has this uncanny way of dissolving into utter incompetence. Of course, their actions could have been scripted by Carlson himself when he complains how the cowards on the left, unable to engage in real debate, attack people instead.
Carlson & company should have taken those words more to heart. Although, as far as damage control goes, it seems Neff has been making "off color" comments online (using a pseudonym) for quite some time now -- which actually brings up another matter concerning all this:
While Neff's posting lines like “Black doods staying inside playing Call of Duty is probably one of the biggest factors keeping crime down,” is obviously a joke made in bad taste, still, it doesn't exhibit the type of rabid racism one might expect to see given Fox's reaction. After all, for Fox News CEO, Suzanne Scott, and Fox News President, Jay Wallace, to say that Fox News Media “strongly condemns [Neff's]
horrific racist, misogynistic and homophobic behavior," calling such conduct "abhorrent" would seem to be something of an overstatement, to say the least, or at least given the Neff material that CNN has dug up thus far.
So, again we see this cowardice that Tucker has been calling out -- both on the left and right -- only now it's the cowardice of his own company. I mean, there has to be a way of censuring, even punishing bad behavior without resorting to the type of hysterics so typical of the mindless authoritarians on the left. And for Fox to summarily dismiss this writer without taking any time at all to assess the situation is just another example of such knee-jerk, mindless hysteria.
So, given all of the above, I've been realizing this morning how the firing of Blake Neff is actually far more momentous -- even ominous -- than it might at first appear. After all, we are no doubt going to see a lot more darkness come to bear as we approach the coming election, and Tucker Carlson will need to be in top form if he means to continue to be the voice of reason during a time of complete (insidious) irrationality. Only, he's been mortally wounded here, given Neff is the guy who writes the first draft; Neff is guy who's writing the material capable of swaying the political conversation "responsibly" -- as in bravely, and with conviction.
So, it will be... ('interesting' seems too benign a word)... but, yeah, it will be "interesting" to see how Tucker Carlson addresses what's happened to his intrepid team on tonight's program. He won't pardon Neff's behavior, obviously. But what
will he do? Whatever he does, he'll probably have a few choice words for CNN. Or, at least I would think so. Of course, he's definitely in a tricky spot. I mean, it must have been one helluva weekend he and his team have just suffered through in order to arrive at this momentous next move. Will they simply play the whole thing down? -- and not kick the hornet's nest just now (as the C's have recently recommended).
I just went to Youtube to see if I might end on an appropriate clip from The Tucker Carlson Show, and decided to take my cue from the panicked left instead: notice how desperate they are to confine Carlson's searing commentary to that of a "dangerous racist." But in Carlson's pointing out the obvious -- that the emperor, indeed, is wearing no clothes -- I'm not sure how long they can succeed in their increasingly "naked" protestations. Having said that, Carlson will continue to need good writers to inspire the country, and keep the radical left on the run: