In "Tucker Carlson Tonight," which has aired since 2016 and is one of cable's most-watched shows, the suit-and-tie host portrayed a besieged America. Through immigration, Black Lives Matter protests, or self-righteousness.

Blue eyes plunged straight into those of viewers, five nights a week and for an hour, he commented on the news in a very personal tone, asserting that "American men are in a very delicate position", or that "anti-white racism is exploding across the country".

Opposed to abortion, a great defender of the right to bear arms, the 53-year-old pro-Trump presenter has never hesitated to expose his opinions in a program that claimed, on his site, "the sworn enemy of lies".

After his recent resounding indictment in New York, it is also to Tucker Carlson that Donald Trump reserved his first interview, on April 11.

"Great replacement"

According to his critics, the presenter counted on fear to win viewers.

Protest in front of the offices of Fox News, March 13, 2019 in New York © Drew Angerer / Getty / AFP / Archives

To the point of going too far? In May 2022, a racist massacre plunged Buffalo, New York, into mourning. The young white supremacist accused of seeking to kill as many African-Americans as possible had been influenced by the theory of the "great replacement", a far-right ideology according to which the white population will be supplanted by an immigrant population.

But on his show, Tucker Carlson had mentioned hundreds of times the idea that whites were being replaced by other ethnic groups, according to a New York Times count.

Fox News anchor Tucker Carlson on a screen during a rally of Republican candidate Mehmet Oz, on May 17, 2022 in Newtown, Pennsylvania © STEPHANIE KEITH / Getty/AFP / Archives

Taking up this figure, the leader of the Democrats in the Senate, Chuck Schumer, had denounced "a poison spread by one of the largest media in the country".

"Unique power"

Despite the accusations, Fox News supported his foal at all costs, arguing the diversity of opinions he was supposed to represent. Until Monday.

Did the hefty bill that the channel had to pay to avoid a defamation lawsuit on the 2020 presidential election get the better of him?

During a 2020 trial, the network's lawyers argued that given Mr. Carlson's reputation, any viewer was able to approach his show with a certain amount of skepticism.

Impervious to criticism, this father of four said in September 2022 that "we should only care about the opinion of those who care about you," in an interview with Rubin Report.

An ad showing star Fox News anchors, including Tucker Carlson (c), on March 13, 2019 in New York © Drew Angerer/Getty/AFP/Archives

A lesson he says he draws from his "bizarre childhood", marked by the departure of his mother, an artist, when he is only 6 years old. She eventually settled in France, and never saw her children again.

Raised by his journalist father, he followed in his footsteps after unsuccessfully trying to join the CIA.

The road to fame is long for Tucker Carlson, who works for CNN and finds himself temporarily unemployed, around the age of 40.

The one who claims to have never had a television lives far from the political heart of the United States, in a rural corner of Maine (northeast). It was from there that he usually recorded his show, from a studio set up for him.

Will politics be the next step for him? At one time, rumors were circulating about his possible candidacy for the 2024 presidential election.

The interested party had evacuated the idea of a burst of laughter on the conservative podcast "Ruthless", in June 2022. "I'm a talk show host. I like it."

© 2023 AFP