There is, says Droogan, an implicit violence in the theory, especially when filtered through an American perspective. American mainstream media, and Fox in particular, give platforms to people who use conspiracy terminology – including references to “elites” and “globalists” and nods to the “great reset” such as Vlaardingerbroek’s – in a way that rarely happens on television broadcast in Europe or Australia.
Terms like “race war,” concepts like acceleration — to go out and create societal crises or exaggerate them to intensify them to create a kind of culminating, purging violence against all these threats to white identity — these really come from the American psyche and popular culture,” says Droogan.
It is impossible to draw a direct line between content on Tucker Carlson tonight and political events inside or outside the US. But his place within the information ecosystem means he’s been at least a passive participant in some surprising coincidences.
In June 2022, Carlson interviewed Jair Bolsonaro, then Brazil’s right-wing president, who spent the months leading up to the country’s October elections attempting to cast doubt on the validity of the vote.
“During the interview, [Carlson] spoke the same language as the far right in Brazil,” said Bruna Santos, a researcher and activist with the Coalizão Direitos na Rede in Brazil. Santos says Carlson’s focus on anti-communism, skepticism about the Covid pandemic and concerns about “anti-white racism” resonated deeply with Brazil’s far right. “The external endorsement from the US,” says Santos, reinforces and validates the positions of the country’s far right.
Eduardo Bolsonaro, the son of Jair Bolsonaro, often posted clips from Carlson’s show on his popular YouTube channel, where he has over 1 million subscribers, with translations and subtitles in Portuguese. These clips, as well as others from Carlson’s show, would subsequently circulate among the country’s far-right groups, appearing in Telegram channels and WhatsApp groups.
In the run-up to the Brazilian election, Santos says, these groups shared short clips of Carlson’s show. “A lot of Carlson’s critique of [US President Joe] Biden, or what Biden represents, would be redirected to something that could help Bolsonaro,” says Santos. “And a lot of this comes from YouTube and social media networks, and that’s usually where the conversation starts.”
Then, on January 8, 2023, Bolsonaro supporters attempted to storm the presidential palace in Brasilia after the right-wing populist lost a round of elections to his left-wing opponent, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.
Bolsonaro is not the only authoritarian Carlson has promoted. He is an outspoken advocate for Viktor Orban, Hungary’s president, who rails against LGBTQ rights and migration, and who routinely accuses US financier and bête noire of the far right, George Soros, of interfering in the country’s politics.
“[Carlson] is a celebrated figure in authoritarian countries that he championed on his show,” said Matt Gertz, senior researcher at Media Matters for America, a media watchdog group. “He received a favorable reception from Orban, and his coverage of Ukraine was touted and promoted by Russian propagandists.”
Carlson echoed Russia’s talking points about Ukraine and criticized the US administration for supporting the government in Kiev. Several researchers told WIRED that Fox, and Carlson in particular, have been useful tools for Russia, reinforcing narratives about the dangers of liberalism and the imminent collapse of Western civilization. When news of his firing broke out, Kremlin propagandist Vladimir Solovyov offered Carlson a job.
Yesterday, Vlaardingerbroek posted a photo on Twitter of himself with an arm around Carlson. “Tucker is the best of the best in the business. He tells the truth like no one else does, in a way no one else can. I support him 100%,” she wrote, before retweeting right-wing conspiracy theorist Mike Cernovich, who claimed Carlson’s firing meant “the bad guys will try to win him over and erase him from history, and start another genocide in Armenian style will begin. against all of us.”
