Tucker Carlson's ouster shows MAGA’s waning influence: columnist

Some of the top MAGA figures were quick to assail Fox News over its surprising decision to cut ties with right-wing opinion host Tucker Carlson.

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) tweeted: “Cable news is about to be taught a powerful lesson after Fox News caved to the woke mob and fired Tucker Carlson.”

It’s not yet known exactly what it was that compelled Fox News to dismiss the network’s top-rated host.

Texts and emails revealed during discovery in the Dominion case that resulted in a $787.5 million settlement show the network was fearful enough of MAGA viewers abandoning Fox News for rival right-wing outlets Newsmax and OANN that it coddled its election denying audience.

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But the decision to let Carlson go at least in part reflects the waning influence of the MAGA movement, Washington Post columnist Greg Sargent writes.

Sargent asserts that Carlson’s dismissal shows that a movement that helped propel Donald Trump to the White House is in decline.

Sargent notes that Ray Epps, a figure at the center of Jan. 6 false flag conspiracy theories promoted by Carlson, among others , who on Sunday night was the subject of a “60 Minutes” segment, to be among the most recent examples of MAGA’s waning influence.

Epps has been depicted as an FBI plant who helped inspire the breach of the Capitol. Conspirators have pointed to a video that shows Epps whispering to a man before a crowd pushed past a barrier, knocking a female police officer to the ground.

Sargent writes that the news show “debunks this with additional video of Epps just after he whispered to the man. It shows Epps repeatedly urging the rioters to calm down and refrain from violence. ‘They’re not the enemy', Epps told the rioters, speaking about the police.”

Epps remains an election denier despite receiving death threats over the conspiracy theories, and he singled out Carlson in particular during his appearance on “60 Minutes.”

“He’s obsessed with me,” Epps said.

Sargent writes that the “toll of this obsession was severe,” noting it led to death threats and prompted Epps to sell his Arizona ranch.

“In the end, the Epps saga exposes the insurrectionist wing of the MAGA movement for what it is: violent, destructive and lawless, with tentacles reaching into the highest ranks of the GOP, and Carlson as its willing accomplice,” Sargent writes.

“At the same time, this saga is part of a largely positive story about our institutions and their performance in the face of extraordinary strains exerted by the largest outbreak of political violence in recent U.S. history.”