I've said it before, but I genuinely think that if he ran for office, he'd probably win, and that would be a nightmare. https://twitter.com/justinbaragona/status/1278120672640880640

My reason for saying this:

He's a powerful communicator with the ability to frame what is actually an extreme right-wing policy vision in language that can appeal to left and right populist points of view. It can sometimes be pretty convincing!

I read his book Ship of Fools last year when writing a piece about how he makes policy arguments. Here's an example of him framing an argument in a way that is meant to appeal to the populist left:

So he ties together the Triangle Shirtwaist factory fire with the horrific conditions employees face at Foxconn.

And that's when he pivots the argument, essentially saying that the reason people don't care about working conditions has to do with "cultural liberalism."

And that's certainly a problem in society: companies really do try that sort of "pay no attention to these atrocities we are a part of, look, we bought a float in the pride parade" or whatever. That's awful neoliberal nonsense.

But

Rather than Carlson's end point in that argument being that people shouldn't be distracted by things related to "cultural liberalism" when it comes to holding companies accountable, he frames cultural liberalism itself as the problem (rather than exploitative CEOs)

From my piece on that specific argument: https://www.mediamatters.org/tucker-carlson/tucker-carlsons-war-ruling-class-master-class-misdirection

He's really good at doing this in a way that doesn't immediately set off alarm bells. It's why every few months there's some big mainstream media piece about how he's not afraid to buck the GOP, how he cares about working people, etc. But it's a sham.

Another portion from that piece: https://www.mediamatters.org/tucker-carlson/tucker-carlsons-war-ruling-class-master-class-misdirection

He and Trump are very similar in an important way: they both use the demonization of "others" as the source of America's problems (immigrants, racial or religious minorities, the feminist movement, LGBTQ rights, etc.).