The swanky Metropolitan Club in downtown Washington, D.C., might be the last place you’d expect to find Tucker Carlson’s biggest fans. But that’s exactly where they gathered Wednesday night for a party celebrating the forthcoming Carlson biography, “Tucker,” by Chadwick Moore.
Carlson was a regular at the club when he ran the Daily Caller with longtime friend and business partner Neil Patel. Although the former Fox News star wasn’t present at the party, it featured a who’s who of conservatives, including Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala.
Attendees were treated to a candid conversation between author Moore and Carlson’s longtime executive producer, Justin Wells.
Moore, who appeared on the final episode of “Tucker Carlson Tonight” on April 21, began working on the Carlson biography long before Fox News shocked the world by canceling its top-rated show April 24. The author spent hundreds of hours interviewing Carlson and others who have influenced Carlson’s life. The timing of the “Tucker” biography is fortuitous: It’s set to publish Aug. 1.
Wednesday’s party celebrated not only Carlson’s accomplishments, but also offered some hints about what he is planning next.
Wells wouldn’t speculate on reasons for the show’s cancellation and his own firing, preferring instead to focus on the future and what Carlson has planned for his “Tucker on Twitter” show.
“You’re going to see more of Tucker, and you’re going to see many different formats,” Wells said.
He added that “there is a very, very big interview” coming soon, but didn’t reveal any details when asked by Moore to tease what to expect.
Wells, who joined Carlson in Iowa for last week’s Family Leadership Summit, explained how the moderator approached his interviews with Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C.; former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson; former Vice President Mike Pence; former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley; entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy; and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.
“He listens to people, and he talk to them,” Wells said. “He’s very big on words. There’s nobody who has a better mastery of words than Tucker. And when the candidates are up on stage, and they say things that don’t make sense, he zeros in on that. There are very few people who can do that. That was demonstrated in Iowa.”
Wells added, “Being away for a little bit, he has more clarity than ever. … I think they were a little nervous because Tucker’s a no B.S. guy.”
Of the six candidates, Carlson sparred most with Hutchinson and Pence. “I don’t think they knew that they were going to struggle that badly,” said Wells, who noted that Pence and Carlson spoke afterward.
When Moore asked about Carlson’s outlook on life after 14 years at Fox News, including the last seven as host of “Tucker Carlson Tonight,” Wells said, “He’s having too much fun. He’s hunting and fishing and doing all the things that he wants to do. But he’s also had a lot of time to think.”
Shortly after Fox News canceled his show, Carlson announced he would distribute his monologues and interviews on Twitter. Elon Musk bought the social media company for $44 billion in 2022, radically transforming Twitter from a platform that routinely censored conservatives in the past to one that champions free speech today. Musk recently hired media executive Linda Yaccarino to be its CEO.
Wells acknowledged that “Twitter and all platforms have a long way to go,” but it was moving in the right direction as a platform committed to free speech.
“It’s not just Elon, but Linda and others there who oversee the future of Twitter. They all believe in that,” Wells said. “Any time we’ve run into an issue in our very short period of distributing from Twitter, we’ve worked with Twitter on the problem. I would hope over time that we blaze that trail so that others can be heard by as many people as possible.”
With the “Tucker” biography debuting Aug. 1, Americans are about to get a behind-the-scenes look at Carlson. Moore was granted unprecedented access to him, interviewing Carlson as well as his family, co-workers, and adversaries. Wells was among those who contributed to Moore’s book.
Wells said Carlson remains as motivated—and cheerful—today as he’s ever seen him.
“There’s nobody sticking up for average Americans, and that’s what’s driving him,” Wells said. “He brings something to the American public that’s different.”
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