Tucker Carlson’s RNC Speech Snubbed By CNN & MSNBC; “God Is Among Us,” Ex-Fox Host Tells GOP Before Trump Takes The Stage Tonight

Dominic Patten
·3 min read
20
  • Oops!
    Something went wrong.
    Please try again later.
  • Oops!
    Something went wrong.
    Please try again later.

Tucker Carlson made a primetime return to Fox News tonight with his speech at the Republican National Convention, but the ex-host was nowhere to be seen on his old homes of CNN and MSNBC.

Taking the stage at the GOP shindig to the introduction of “Journalist, author and American citizen,” Carlson opened his remarks sounding very unlike a former bow tie-wearing conservative. “I’ve been to many conventions,” he told the delegates in Milwaukee after spending the past three days palling around with the Trumps and sitting in their VIP box. I’ve never been to a more fun convention. I’ve never been to a convention with better vibes.”

More from Deadline

Venturing into the occasional aside and with no teleprompter, Carlson then delivered a full-throated seal of approval to Donald Trump and VP nominee J.D. Vance to the enthusiastic and one-time “Mass Deportations Now” sign-holding crowd. On the last night of the RNC and just hours before Trump takes the stage in his first remarks since the July 13 assassination attempt, Carlson talked to the audience of “divine intervention” for the former president surviving the shooting at a rally in Butler, PA.

“God is among us right now, I think that’s enough,” Carlson said leaving the stage to cheers.

“That was Tucker Carlson, you may remember him from the eight o’clock hour here,” quipped Carlson’s FNC time slot replacement Jesse Walters when the Tucker Carlson Network founder’s less than 15-minute speech was over.

On a night that will see UFC boss Dana White, Hulk Hogan and Kid Rock before the GOP faithful as warm-ups for Trump, the BBC also ran Carlson’s time at the lectern. However, as their hosts and pundits centered on Joe Biden’s increasingly shaky hold on the Democratic nomination and the expectation the end might be nigh, CNN and MSNBC didn’t spend one second on Carlson’s speech.

While the Warner Bros Discovery owned CNN showed nothing of Carlson, the Manhattan studio-based Rachel Maddow and Chris Hayes did at least show a glimpse of Carlson taking the stage over their shoulder on a wide shot on the LED screen live feed from Wisconsin.

Following Carlson, MSNBC still stayed on their hosts in the 9 pm ET hour. CNN did show the remarks from the RNC stage of former teacher Annette Albright.

Before joining Fox in 2009 as a contributor and becoming a host in 2013, Daily Caller founder Carlson was at CNN from 2000 – 2005, PBS (for real) from 2004 – 2005 and had his own Tucker show on MSNBC from 2005 – 2008.

Hours before Carlson’s highly rated FNC show was set to air on April 24, 2023, the brass of the Rupert Murdoch-owned outlet announced that the host would no longer be a presence at the channel, to put it nicely. The move came just a few days after Fox paid out to Dominion Voting Systems $787.5 million on the first day of trial to settle defamation claims over false 2020 election claims. In the months leading up to the trial, scathing internal correspondence from Carlson and other Fox hosts attacking Trump, the company, the very notion of the Stop the Steal movement and sinking ratings were made public to everyone’s great embarrassment.

Among that material was Carlson texting his show staff of Trump: “I hate him passionately.”

That seemed to be long forgotten today.

Best of Deadline

Sign up for Deadline's Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.