One day last year, as I was driving home from a quail hunting trip, Tucker Carlson had an eye-opening experience of radical empathy. “We were talking about someone I despise,” the former Fox News host said Wednesday evening. Megyn Kelly, a friend who had traveled a parallel career by leaving the network under acrimonious circumstances. Suddenly, Carlson said, “I could understand why this person was doing these horrible things. »
After falling asleep that night, Carlson woke up startled at 2:30 a.m. “I go into the bathroom,” he said, “I turn on the light and I have claw marks on both sides, right and left, on my ribs.” The marks didn’t match his own fingers. He began reading the Bible and, when he awoke, concluded after consultation with his wife and one of his podcast producers that he had been attacked by a demon.
Carlson and Kelly sat, he in his standard preppy fare and she in a red pantsuit, before a packed house at the 5,000-capacity Westchester County Center in White Plains, New York, for the final stop of Kelly’s live podcast tour. The story elicited little reaction from a generally engaged crowd, dotted with body rash and leopard print — all things considered, a sober take on MAGA — and young men in blue blazers handing out discount codes for its products.
Carlson had previously told the story on his own podcast, and as he and Kelly struck out on their own post-cable careers, their audience became accustomed to a freer sensibility. In recent months, between his fishing and hunting trips, Carlson has used his studio in Maine to discuss finding a wife in the age of OnlyFans with an early fan. love island participant. In another recording, the suspicious tone he adopted during a conversation about the death of an OpenAI whistleblower caused some perplexity. Sam Altman wondering aloud if he was being accused of wrongdoing. (“I think it’s worth thinking about,” Carlson said while asserting, “I’m not accusing you at all.”)
“He’s back and he’s bigger than ever,” Kelly said, introducing his guest for the evening.
Mindy And Jim Berard, A couple from Pleasantville, New York, browsing the arena’s decor styles, was less sure of Carlson’s new approach. “We love Megyn Kelly,” Mindy said. “We like movement.” They thought the show could bring them relief in the aftermath of Zohran MamdaniNew York City’s mayoral election the night before, which she called “very worrying.”
