Regarding My Friend Tucker

I’m living in Mexico and I am two hours behind EDT, so I have to wake up early during the week. My normal morning routine is, as it has been for years, to check the Drudge Report, and this morning I did not like what I saw.

I saw articles and innuendo about a friend of about twenty years, Tucker Carlson. You may have heard of him. 

Why do I care? Because I know his story, I know him, and I have known few people more loyal and, yeah, entertaining than Tucker. And I do not like seeing him get beat up. Fox’s decision to axe him is flummoxing. The most popular host on the entire network? Really? Whatever. He’ll be fine. But I don’t like the trash talk coming from Fox, and it is just that. I read some things this morning that are probably actionable, but that’s not my business. 

Related: Fox News ‘Is Dead,’ and Tucker Carlson Is Already Living Large With a Job Offer

Right now, I just want to talk about my friend.

It started with his brother, Buckley. Like Tucker, Buckley is one of a kind and hysterical. We bonded when he came to work as a consultant at a firm I was with for years in D.C. We would do stuff like go to Martin’s Tavern and get hammered and come up with show ideas. One was called “Cocktails With Buckley,” and it was to take place there at Martin’s (a Carlson family favorite) and we even wrote a jingle:

He’s Tucker’s Younger brother

Embarrassing his Mother

Two steps ahead of Johnny Law….

Camel in hand

Pocket full of contraband

It’s time for cocktails with BUUUUUUCKLEEEEEY!

So eventually, of course, Tucker—and their lovely father—moved into the scene. It was mostly at The Palm for lunch. This was around the time when Tucker and Neil Patel (another gem of a man) were launching The Daily Caller. I started writing a bit for them and we all just kind of hung out when we were able to. Then he got the Fox gig and things really blew up. It was fun to watch because I felt he deserved it.

Before I even knew him, I’d watch “Crossfire” with the bowties and such and I always found him interesting and insightful, which he is in real life. It is not an act. And like I said, he is hysterical. Look up the YouTube clip of him and Buck  “inaugurating” his studio in Maine during the pandemic and you’ll get it.

I last saw Buckley at a dinner I hosted for Roger Stone in D.C. on the eve of his sentencing hearing which we all went to. The Judge got mad at Milo for wearing sunglasses in the courtroom. Circus Maximus.

Some of the stuff I read this morning that bothered me involved humor. Seems some didn’t like his style in that department. Well, that’s BS and it’s one of the reasons I am living in Mexico. You can’t laugh in America anymore. You lose your job. Like the Carlsons, my sense of humor can be a bit juvenile and politically incorrect, and I make no apologies for that. You can take the boy out of 1980s southern California, but you can’t take the 1980s southern California out of the boy.

It’s similar with the Carlsons. They have been a family of only men for a long time and they are all clever, devoted, and interesting. This makes for a generally good time. It got a little too good once when Tucker, now a longtime teetotaler, tossed a drink in the face of Grover Norquist (another gem) when he perceived a slight about his father, The Ambassador. Stuff happens!

Anyway, back to the point. It is a shame that Fox made the call that they did. The show was the best on the network and Tucker is a good man. He did not deserve what he got and, again, I know he will be just fine. But it is all really a shame. I’m sure he is up in Maine fielding offers and not being all that bothered because he’s been here before. But as a friend who cares, it’s all a little hard to watch.

And there you have it.