\n\n“On Jan. 4, 2021, Fox News host Tucker Carlson was done with Donald Trump.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“We are very, very close to being able to ignore Trump most nights. I truly can\u2019t wait,” he texted an unidentified person.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“I hate him passionately. … I can\u2019t handle much more of this,” he added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
By this time, Fox News was in crisis mode. It had angered its audience when it correctly said Joe Biden had won Arizona in the presidential election. Executives and hosts were worried about losing viewers to upstart rivals, most notably Newsmax.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The private comments were a far cry from what Carlson’s viewers were used to hearing from the stalwart conservative host on his prime-time show every night.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe\u2019re all pretending we\u2019ve got a lot to show for it, because admitting what a disaster it\u2019s been is too tough to digest,\u201d he wrote in another text message, referring to the “last four years.” \u201cBut come on. There isn\u2019t really an upside to Trump.\u201d”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
…<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“In a group text chain from mid-November, Hannity, Ingraham and Carlson complained about their news colleagues and the network\u2019s decision to call Arizona in favor of Biden. Fox News was the first network to do so, and the call was accurate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWhy would anyone defend that call,\u201d Hannity asked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cMy anger at the news channel is pronounced,\u201d Ingraham said later in the exchange.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Carlson piped in, saying: \u201cIt should be. We devote our lives to building an audience and they let Chris Wallace and Leland [expletive] Vittert wreck it. Too much.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Wallace and Vittert were Fox News hosts and anchors at the time.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
…<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“In a conversation with Fox News journalist Chris Stirewalt on Dec. 2, 2020, about a month after the election, Bill Sammon, who was then the network’s managing editor, lamented the state of the place they worked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“More than 20 minutes into our flagship evening news broadcast and we’re still focused solely on supposed election fraud \u2014 a month after the election. It’s remarkable how weak ratings make good journalists do bad things,” Sammon said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Stirewalt added: “It’s a real mess. But sadly no surprise based on the man I saw revealed on election night.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sammon replied, “In my 22 years affiliated with Fox, this is the closest thing I’ve seen to an existential crisis \u2014 at least journalistically.””<\/p>\n\n\n\n