Tucker and Megyn Find an Unlikely New Fan Base: Muslim Audiences

Tucker and Megyn Find an Unlikely New Fan Base: Muslim Audiences

Megyn Kelly recently boasted that both she and Tucker Carlson have seen their audiences grow in recent months — with much of that new support coming from Muslim viewers. Once among the loudest critics of Islamic fundamentalism, both have dramatically repositioned themselves in pursuit of a new audience.

The Manhattan Institute’s Jesse Arm noted Kelly’s dramatic reversal in a recent post on X. He presented a clip from January in which Kelly argued that “Islam is not consistent with the values of America.” She told viewers:

They should stay in countries that don’t care about keeping church and state separated … protecting free speech … women’s rights. That’s where Islam can fester and grow. … If you don’t care about genital mutilation, you might really enjoy living in an Islamic country.

…

There’s no such thing as Islamophobia. You are not only entitled to quote “fear Islam,” I would argue it’s your duty as a Christian to stand up and fight against it.

However, just four months later, she’s done a complete 180. During an interview with podcaster Mark Halperin this week, she raised the issue of Carlson’s jump in viewership since his split from President Donald Trump and said, as if it were a good thing, “He’s standing up for Islam.”

She noted that she’s become more “clear-eyed” on Israel:

A lot of the anti-Muslim rhetoric that’s put out there originates with people who are very, very pro-Israel who kind of need us to demonize them.

And I’ve taken a look recently at my own rhetoric on this to say, ‘Have I been manipulated on this? I want to make sure I’m not getting manipulated.’

He’s [Carlson] having a lot of Muslim viewers flock to him. And so, while he may have lost some contingent of the Fox News audience that’s very, very pro-Israel, pro-Trump … for every one of those who leaves, there is another newer, younger audience member who does want to hear these traditional lines challenged and hear just new, independent thinking.

I’m experiencing some of that myself.

Arm calls Kelly’s wholesale shift in position “quite the flip.” He remarked, “If you devote your program to alienating conservatives, Trump supporters, and Evangelical Protestants throughout the West, you’re likely to attract the opposite audience: progressives, Trump haters, and Islamists from the Third World.”

She's just an empty vessel. When she was at Fox, she was a conservative. At NBC she became liberal. She was anti Trump when she thought he'd lose. She was pro Trump when it was convenient. Now, she just mimics Tucker for hits. https://t.co/dn7hwKkQ1T

— David Harsanyi (@davidharsanyi) May 6, 2026

Kelly’s “epiphany” appears to be more motivated by “clicks” than conviction as Ben Shapiro rightly pointed out on X, “Go get them clicks.”

Professor Jacobson considers Kelly’s change of heart to be worse than Carlson’s because Carlson actually believes in what he’s saying. During an interview on The Tony Katz Show, Professor Jacobson said:

Tucker actually believes the stuff. I think he’s malicious. I think he’s wrong. I think he’s devious. But I think he actually believes the stuff.

Megyn Kelly’s doing it for clicks and audience. … She’s been justifying what Tucker’s been doing and what she’s been doing because they’re accessing the Islamic world audience.

…

We know the Islamic World is grotesquely antisemitic. I mean, we’re talking approaching 100% just hate Jews.

…

They treat women horribly. They are worse than totalitarian societies. In Iran, they will torture a woman to death if she shows a strand of hair in public.

That’s the audience she’s now going for?

Why @megynkelly is worse than Tucker – I explain on @tonykatz show pic.twitter.com/LdkNDRvIzK

— William A. Jacobson (@wajacobson) May 6, 2026

Steven Crowder also took aim at Kelly’s conversion:

You’re wrong, @megynkelly. Being pro- or anti-Israel doesn’t change the facts about Islam:

-Muslims have killed countless Christians, Jews, and Non-Muslims
-They’ve enslaved millions (including 1M+ Europeans)
-Child marriage is permissible
-Men can marry 4 wives
-Female testimony is worth less than a man’s
-Women MUST wear hijabs
-Muslims used violence to expand Islam every century since it’s founding

I’ve ALWAYS been critical of Islam for the same reasons that I’m critical of Islam today.

You’re wrong, @megynkelly. Being pro- or anti-Israel doesn’t change the facts about Islam:

-Muslims have killed countless Christians, Jews, and Non-Muslims
-They’ve enslaved millions (including 1M+ Europeans)
-Child marriage is permissible
-Men can marry 4 wives
-Female… https://t.co/JogWiszuUZ pic.twitter.com/Nco4LQ2fnE

— Steven Crowder (@scrowder) May 6, 2026

Kelly’s transformation has been impossible to miss. And few are buying it.

In just a matter of months, rhetoric that once portrayed Islam as fundamentally incompatible with Western values has given way to appeals for “clear-eyed” reassessment — precisely as Muslim audiences increasingly flock to her and Carlson’s platforms.

The timing is too convenient to ignore: what’s being marketed as independent thinking looks far more like a calculated rebrand designed to maximize reach, engagement, and clicks.

She’s spent decades building a reputation for seriousness and credibility. That she would jeopardize that hard-earned integrity now in pursuit of clicks and audience growth is a mystery.

Elizabeth writes commentary for Legal Insurrection and The Washington Examiner. She is an academy fellow at The Heritage Foundation. Please follow Elizabeth on LinkedIn.

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