Fox News has announced that Jesse Watters will be the permanent host occupying the time slot formerly held by the fired Tucker Carlson, the reasons for whose abrupt departure remain a mystery. Watters has been with Fox News for a long time. He has a juvenile sense of humor and no compunction about saying stupid, bigoted, and incendiary things.
The key question for Fox is whether he can get back the ratings that Carlson used to get and which have slumped since his departure. This will be a test of the model developed by the late Roger Ailes that their shows are based on a template and that the personalities who front them are just types who have specific roles and know they must follow the template because they can and will be replaced by another would-be clone if they fall short.
The template for the Carlson slot is the same as that of most other shows on Fox and that is to promote conspiratorial fear mongering with racist overtones. It is not clear if Watters can suppress and conceal his sophomoric frat-boy personality sufficiently, as Carlson was able to do, so that the dark vision will taken seriously by the typical Fox viewer.
The key question for Fox is whether he can get back the ratings that Carlson used to get…
Gotta give Watters credit for starting out (or final-auditioning?) with a hard-to-top blend of racism, xenophobia, and general disinformation.
But have no doubt -- he’ll find ways to surpass his own nastiness and lies over and over, just like his predecessors.
I propose we stop calling this strategy “fascism” -- and start calling it “Foxism”.
Tucker himself grew into the role of demagogue from bland beginnings, I’m sure Jesse will manage.
These guys are easily replaced. Their schtick is saying things intended to get liberals upset and make bigots feel good about themselves.
They could be made on an assembly line.