Was he lying though? I’ve read that he expressed skepticism on air to some of the claims his guests were making. I went looking (just now) and came up with this from ABC comparing Tucker Carlson’s private and public statements. The article is pretty hostile to Tucker (it seems to be heavily based on the Dominion filing), but it does note that he did push back some:
Another of the entries:Carlson during this show also said that "false claims of fraud can be every bit as destructive as the fraud itself," according to the filing, and that "[T]he fraud that we can confirm does not seem to be enough to alter the election results. We should be honest and tell you that..."
First of all those two statements don’t contradict. But also Tucker’s private statement suggests that he did believe there was fraud, even if he didn’t buy into all of the kooky stuff his guests espoused. Overall the impression I get from this (unfriendly) article is that he was skeptical but not unbelieving. He was probably under pressure—explicitly or implicitly—from Fox, from his viewers, from his own showmanship to let the audience hear guests that say what they want to hear. He was probably too reluctant to challenge them too much, probably even to the point of cowardice. Or was he? I’ve never watched his show, so I really don’t have any feel for what kind of impression I would have gotten of it if I had actually watched him. Is there any way I could possibly find out now? I can say I’m pretty sure that Tucker Carlson didn’t explicitly espouse these things on air himself or else the article would have told me.PRIVATE: On Nov. 13, Carlson wrote privately that Trump needed to concede, and agreed that "there wasn't enough fraud to change the outcome" of the election, according to the filing.
PUBLIC: Three nights later, Carlson said on air that there are "legitimate concerns" about election integrity.
"Millions of Americans understandably are asking the questions and questions like it. Those are real questions. Our current system does not inspire confidence," he said. "People have legitimate concerns about the integrity of our elections and right now a lot of those concerns center on the software that many states use to keep track of ballots." And while Carlson added that he would not "endorse" Powell's claims until he saw evidence, he said they were "shocking" and that he didn't "dismiss it out of hand."
There’s just so much dishonesty—on all sides—when it comes to the whole election fraud thing. I’m about ready to take up my lamp and start wandering around town. But then they’re the cynics.