Thank You, Tucker (Part 2): “You are not alone. We are with you.”
Some advice given to me back in June 2020 by a combat pilot instructor that hopefully Tucker can take to heart: “You stood, seemingly alone, in the breach. But you are not alone. We are with you…. The spines of thousands are being strengthened, by hearing of your fight.”
I didn’t get a chance to fill in any details for my post, Thank You, Tucker, that Kemberlee posted for me yesterday while I was traveling.
The post was one tweet:
Was great spending a lot of time with @TuckerCarlson, thank him for all the support he gave @LegInsurrection @CriticalRaceOrg @ProtectionEqual over the years, will follow him wherever his path eventually leads. Wish him well. https://t.co/xoZsXFzvpP
— William A. Jacobson (@wajacobson) April 24, 2023
I’ll add some detail to that.
Put aside the many times Tucker had me on his show to highlight the work we were doing at Legal Insurrection (including here, here, here, here, here, here. here, here, and here).
He did something few other hosts do – he gave voice to the voiceless, to people suffering under the weight of local left-wing pressure, including several parents and teachers we brought forward on the Legal Insurrection website. While appearing on any of the major Fox News shows was good exposure, appearing on Tucker was a launching pad to national stardom.
Nicole Solas
Ramona Bessinger
Laurie Barrett
There was another person we have covered who was scheduled to be on last night. But of course that’s not happening.
Our pipeline to Tucker’s show raised the suspicions of one particular radio show host in Rhode Island, but there was no magic and nothing nefarious about it. We brought good people with good stories to his show’s attention, and they recognized a good story when they saw it.
While Tucker was not alone in giving voices to people under siege, he was unique in his consistent willingness to do so, and the enthusiasm with which he did so.
We don’t know the details yet as to what led up to his departure, or the terms, and there’s a lot of sleazey and planted speculation. I think Tucker was getting too close to some hard and uncomfortable truths that shall not be spoken, about cultural issues and the creeping totalitarianism in this country. I think we one day will know what went down, but today is not that day.
The situation Tucker finds himself in reminds me of a part of my conversation with him in my hour-long Tucker Carlson Today interview regarding the attacks on me at Cornell Law School in June 2020. Some of Tucker’s questions and comments are eerie in hindsight (underscoring added):
Tucker: Why do you, it’s just meta question, super quick. I would say, my guess is maybe one in a thousand people can handle that. It’s one thing to have people criticize you, but to have people on your hall, your friends, your boss, all denounce you in public. Only a tiny percentage of people can continue working under those circumstances. Why you, what is it about [you], like what was your childhood like? … What is it about your makeup that allowed you to keep going in the face of that?
WAJ: I don’t know. To tell you the truth, I think that part of it was, oddly enough, my upbringing studying in the Soviet Union where we were surveilled, where we were in a repressive environment. And I think you have to be able to create some sort of mental shield around yourself. So I don’t know what it was….
So, I don’t know what got me through it. I can tell you that when you’re going through it, it’s an out-of-body experience. And obviously the support of my wife and friends was extremely important. And the fact that I had a website where I was getting an outpouring of support from readers. I got hundreds and hundreds of emails from around the country supporting me. So that kind of gave me strength, and emails from students assuring me that people don’t, not everybody agrees with what’s being done to me.
Tucker: Did you ever think it’s one thing to have your political views or your journalism, because it is journalism whether you admit it or not, but maybe it’s just not worth it? Did you ever think that?
WAJ: Uh, no, actually, I didn’t <laugh>. I mean it’s just, I don’t know what it is. I guess it was just my personality not to give in and give up. But it was tough.
Tucker: Everybody gives in, everybody. Even people I know who I thought so much of and still like, but don’t think much of anymore, they all bend the knee. Have you noticed this?
WAJ: Yes. I, I have. And it’s tough. I did stand strong. I did beat the boycott [of my course by 15 student groups]. My class signup was over-subscribed, like it always is. So the boycott of my course failed. And I think I emerged from this whole thing stronger with my head high. Had I apologized. Yes, I agree….
I am an anomaly at Cornell. I am an anomaly at Cornell Law School and I wear that badge proudly because I’m ready to defend my viewpoints.
Tucker: Wow. Really a pretty extraordinary story.
I didn’t leave anything on the table at that interview, almost everything I would have wanted to discuss I discussed.
The one regret is that I didn’t mention to Tucker the email I received in June 2020 from a combat pilot instructor, “The spines of thousands are being strengthened by hearing of your fight” – A Supporter’s Message:
Combat Theology – a Combat Pilot’s perspective during trying times
Don’t cave to them.
You are not alone.
You can make a profound difference.Sir,
When you are in Combat; far from the target; there is rarely a shot fired against you.
When you are (Air Force term ) “on the Run In, to the OA” (Objective Area) that is when you know you are in the right area… SAM shots, AAA gunfire…everything the Adversary has, comes at you. Not solely to destroy, but often, simply attempt to distract you off target.
Distraction can lead to mission failure, as much as Destruction.
But, you are a warrior, you have trained your whole life for this moment, and you are on the Run In.
You are on the Run In, and you have Top Cover. People, Prayers, Angels, the Earth itself is a witness to your Courage. You will not die 1000 deaths; you will taste of death but once. The Top Cover overhead are like F15 Strike Eagles. You can’t see them, can’t hear them at 45,000ft; but the Eagles are there, and they will “Cry ‘Havok’ and loose the Dogs of War;” not now, but at the right time. To defeat the adversary when their tools, at their disposal, are the most effective. Not on your desires, not on your timing; but on moment when they know their weapons are the most effective; to protect you. ‘For the weapons of our warfare are divinely powered, for the destruction of fortresses.’
The spines of thousands are being strengthened, by hearing of your fight.
You are NOT ALONE.
Before tonight, I never heard of you. If you had equivocated prior to this point, you would have still been destroyed by the people who want you to pander to them; and you would have dissolved into obscurity.
But, you fought for righteousness. The rule of law, the Constitution and Bill of Rights. For the Ethos of Dr Martin L King, … you fight for Content of Character.
You stood, seemingly alone, in the breach.
But you are not alone. We are with you.
I am with you – Fangs Out and Full Speed, I am coming; and with you even now.
Bow, kneel, grovel… you will dissolve into obscurity.
Make them seemingly kill you; and the eggs and smears and brutality they throw at you, will be a mantle of Honor you wear into eternity.
Use their leaders and their words to defeat them. Fight like Sun Tzu, fight with asymmetric warfare; expose the rot they expound, with Frédéric Bastiat – the Law…. show their decayed ideas and words are NOT NEW: decaying and failing for the last 200 years; and being renamed, rehashed and repacked: Orwellian; Gestapo; Tribal and Animal Farm-brutal.
You stand, seemingly alone, in the breach. But you are not alone.
I am with you – Fangs Out and Full Speed. Dropping my external tanks; so I can gain extra speed, extra maneuverability; unguarding the Weapons Release switches. I am coming, a Warrior Poet, with an army of angels and prayers. Reaching Mach1, and the turbine blades in my engines glow cherry red, while the Tach gauge red-lines at 103%
I am coming. I am the prayers of strangers. I am the Almighty; who sees all and judges the Heart.
I put Daniel’s heart in the scales, to see if he would kneel to images of gold; but he chose lions; and therefore I was with him. I put David’s heart in the scales; to see if he would kneel to a giant. Three small stones. Smooth and round. Symmetric, and elegant in their simplicity. The sword was too heavy, the armor too clumsy. David fought his fight, he won because he fought on his terms and didn’t fight the way the others wanted him to: friends and foe alike. I was with him. Three smooth stones. He didn’t kneel; so I was with him. I Am with you.
…and I’m with you as well.
Fangs Out and Full Speed,
LtCol X.
Combat Tactics Instructor Pilot; and your friend.
Tucker will come back, bigger and better, I’m convinced of it.
“I will exalt You, O Lord, for You have raised me up, and You have not allowed my enemies to rejoice over me.” (Psalm 30)
DONATE
Donations tax deductible
to the full extent allowed by law.
Comments
We are vastly better with Tucker anywhere but a cable news network right now. And I hope he feels the same way.
And it appears that will be the case. Per Bannon, among others, apparently the Murdochs have paid out his contract, which means he won’t be anywhere until it expires.
There was not much time left on his current contract. I just read that if he were to sue them the payment amount would be minimized by the fact that it is expiring soon.
Bitter pill is that this happened right after a Congressional bartender demanded that it happen. I know Tucker is not done, but that was disgusting.
I have a feeling that stupid b*tch will end up really wishing she hadn’t gotten what she wanted
Professor Jacobson has posted numerous high quality articles on this blog over the years, but I find this to be among his best. While the subject is Tucker Carlson, I find it sheds more light on the professor himself: who he is, what he stands for and the kind of heart he has. He gives me hope. That is the reason I come here.
Yeah, it doesn’t make any sense that they might have blamed Tucker for the $787M lawsuit (that they agreed to do fearing discovery motions) to a company worth $30M.
That’s on you FoxNews now go have a Bud Light In The Loafers beer with Dylan.
The MSM is a dying breed. Relatively few get their news from the MSM as they know it is mostly government / corporate propaganda. I have cancelled any contact with Fox.
Good grief. Follow the money. The Murdochs, as well as other masters of the universe, care only about money. Tucker’s high ratings resulted in only lackluster revenue because no cowed blue chip advertiser would touch him. His televised content was punctuated by lengthy pitches for magic pillows and snake oil potions for would-be, vibrant seniors. These advertisers paid below market rates. I suspect Tucker is precisely the kind of guy I’d like to hang with, but his refreshing frat-boy style behind the scenes, only worsened his position by traumatizing his woke support staff.
Don’t shed any tears for Tucker. His $20 million a year contract was paid to expiry, and he is probably contractually restrained for commenting. Don’t hold your breath waiting for him to forfeit that payoff to be your hero.
It’s not just Tucker and his slot that cannot court the higher value advertising. Get a grip. It’s everything about FNC that is being protested and boycotted. I don’t watch much cable news, but I’ve seen some reporting…or maybe observations?….that all cable news outlets are too risky and many national and international brands avoid them. The vitamin pills show up on all 3 news operations, for example. Less ads from “mainstream” pharma than, say, 10 years ago. Etc.
See the twitter files.
There has been a concerted effort, including the US intel agencies and orgs abroad, to silence conservative voices. Part of that has been tagging conservative outlets (including non-conservative ones like Reason and RealClearPolitics) as “dangerous” to advertisers.
Ad buyers subscribe to lists of “dangerous” sites, so they don’t find their ads running next to Taliban beheading videos. But, much mischief has been done by putting mainstream conservative outlets on those same lists.
Not getting valuable ads on your platform is just a product of being to the right of Mao, and thus, getting on the blacklists.
So, question for all the lawyers out there: Is there some way that he can sue Fox to keep them from muzzling him until his contract runs out?
There is some speculation that he is restricted from working with/for any other corporate entity (non-compete restriction), but that won’t have any effect on his working for himself on a podcast or other internet based strategy.
If he is bound by his contract (which Megyn Kelly believes he has been paid much less than some of the Lefties of the past on NBC, et al) to do nothing at all on the net or TV, it will be a book writing period for him (or anything else he could have done under his contract e.g. appear at Heritage Foundation events, give speeches, etc.).
Giving speeches would be great!
I honestly thought the Murdochs set up Fox Nation as a way to siphon more of the stronger right-learning views to an outlet they could enjoy with other general entertainment content while slowly, “progressively” transition FNC to be more centrist and mainstream. It won’t surprise me if FNC is now on a faster track and perhaps becomes some amalgamate of things like Bulwark and Lincoln Project. Establishment GOP – perhaps with people like Paul Ryan being even more engaged in direction. Wait and see how Hannity and Ingraham deal with Trump and the GOP primaries as that will be the bellwether. That is, if they survive. They may leave on their own or without choice if they won’t follow along. I don’t watch them at all, so maybe they are already there??
Fox stands alone among networks in transmitting the Conservative viewpoint.
By firing one of its chief commentators, it has shot itself in the foot with many viewers.
Do the Fox executives expect the 3+ million Carlson fans not to watch him wherever he restarts his career, instead of whoever is opposite him on Fox?
Long term bad move.
Fox is phony, controlled opposition. It only criticizes where the left lets it criticize. If they weren’t controlled opposition, they would have been investigating J6 all this time. It would have been seriously investigating election irregularities far beyond just Dominion. It would not refer to “trans-women” men with female pronouns.
They are outwardly conservative but still, for all intents and purposes, controlled by the left.
Absolutely agree! Fox put a hard news blackout on Obama’s antecedents early on. National Review and other phony conservative outlets carefully stroked the egos of their audiences so that they thought the birth certificate story had been proven false and that only buffoons would even mention it. You were supposed to fight the good fight and only oppose Obama on policy issues. The fact that he was a complete fraud was deemed racist and irrelevant.
Tucker has done good work, and while I don’t watch FNC anymore, I have seen much of his stuff on YouTube.
However, there is one thing that does concern me about him.
I do not get the feeling that he is a big fan of Israel. Why do I say that?
a) Back in 2009 when he was still on CNN Crossfire, I remember him being critical of Israel’s incursion into Gaza. IIRC, it was a rare case where he took a general view supported by the left. I do not recall who his lefty counterpart was.
b) He was critical of Trump’s takeout of Soleimani. This is the head terrorist of a regime whose primary purpose is to finish Hitler’s work.
c) He frequently has on Glenn Greenwald and Jimmy Dore, both pro-Palestinian, and in the case of Jimmy Dore if you go into his podcasts, it strikes me as your typical far-left anti-Semitism disguised as anti-Zionism.
He is the premiere culture warrior for our side, no doubt about that. But he also strikes me as having a Buchananite/Paleocon streak to him as well.
And I think it matters, because the arguments over Israel are, ultimately, existential ones – about the survival of Israel and the Jewish people. If you don’t support our fight for survival, everything else is secondary. If you are not alive, none of the things he fights for matter.
I agree that Tucker has voiced no support for Israel, to my disappointment. At least part of that reflects his anti-neocon views. But nothing he has said promotes its opponents. His Christian faith and belief in faith generally, his nationalism, his rationality all suggest that his silence on Israel should not concern us.
So, 90% agreement instead of 100% agreement with your positions is a concern? I’m just trying to understand the broader point. I can’t say I agree 100% with anybody, but I do pay close attention when we do agree. Maybe in 2023 we’ve all become more sensitive because views have to be forced into a bipolar situation. Either left-right, or agree-disagree, reasoned-crazy AF, etc. E.g. I’ve had a conversation with someone who hates Nikki Haley and vocalized it once she announced. I’d swear they are in agreement maybe 95%, but found 1 thing to bitch about and now label her with all kinds of names. Including RINO. Crazy times IMHO.
As I said, I still listen to him. But I consider Israel the key issue, because it is ultimately (to me) the most immediate existential issue. People who are anti-Israel, for the most part, want the Jews dead. They can deny it all they want, but for a majority of its critics, at the core of Israel-hatred is Jew-hatred.
You can support all my rights, all my freedoms, and all my property. But first, you have to support my right to LIVE. Without that, all the others are worthless.
Tucker has emerged as one of the most charismatic leaders in contemporary America. He has it all,charisma, articulate, deeply knowledgeable,impeccable credentials, excellent lineage, popularity amongst at least 70% o the population, name recognition, wealth, and the list continues. Yes, he has , and electability. It is time to put all of these talents and assets to work and do one of two things. Most likely, declare himself a candidate for the Republican nomination. This would give him the platform on which he could continue his expose of the Left and the cabals that rule America. No other platform could exceed that one for the next 18 months. He does not have to be hostile towards Trump.He could drop the hint that he was really seeking the VP slot on a Trump ticket, but would be an alternative if for any reason Trump was eliminated from the race. On the other hand, he could ally himself with RFK, Jr. and seek the Democratic nomination, a quest we all know will be a failure. The Democrats are not a political party. They are an organized criminal syndicates that masquerades as the Democratic Party. However, it would be an opportunity to run as an independent wit the real potential of so splitting the vote that RFK, Jr. could well emerge the winner., or with sufficient electoral votes to give Trump the Presidency.
In the meantime, Tucker’s entering the race would allow him to reveal the vast amount of insider information that expose the machinations and evil of the crime syndicate that runs our nation. Perhaps, even break the back of he two party uniparty system that has poisoned the well of American civilization.
Carlson co-founded the Daily Caller back in 2010, not sure how involved he is with the company / site today.. Expanding that company could be a possible future route for him. They could easily add video content featuring him as part of the outlet on a platform like Rumble or Locals.
Haven’t seen what if any terms there are in regards to a non compete. I would also like to know who owns the content he produced for Fox Nation, does he own it or is it the property of Fox.
Dave Rubin looked absolutely tickled yesterday. I wonder if he knows something.
He sold his Local.com site to Rumble, where a lot of people are guessing Tucker will end up. (Steven Crowder and Bongino are already there, along with Rubin, Russell Brand, and others.) Rumble is growing rapidly, and I’m sure they’re trying to get Tucker.
I found the quote I was looking for, from The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant (the Unbeliever) by Stephen R Donaldson.
This is from the chapter Lord Mhoram’s Victory. He is a “Lord” only in service, now bereft of power, lost, alone, at the end of what he has sworn to serve, and served for a lifetime. He’s in a battle — this is epic fantasy, after all — he has to lose, then the last of what he’s sworn to preserve will fall behind him. Outnumbered, over-matched, fact to face with the malice of ravening hordes. And so…
“As he grasped the utterness of his plight, he turned inward, retreated into himself as if he were fleeing. There he looked the end of all his hopes and all his Landservice in the face, and found that its scarred, terrible visage no longer appalled him. He was a fighter, a man born to fight for the Land. As long as something for which he could fight remained, he was impervious to terror. And something did remain; while he lived, at least one flame of love for the Land still burned. He could fight for that.”
They had to come for Tucker Carlson, as they come for LI, the staff here, our gracious host, and even occasionally the players in this sandbox. Once someone owns their own agency, and that they may choose how to spend it, they become terrible, in the original meaning — terrifying in aspect. The Hero in the end comes to own his own power. Can’t have that.