Tucker Swanson McNear Carlson (born May 16, 1969) is an American conservative political commentator, journalist, and host of The Tucker Carlson Show since 2023. He previously hosted the nightly political talk show Tucker Carlson Tonight on Fox News from 2016 to 2023, the highest rated cable news show at the time of its termination, and is an influential voice in right-wing media. Carlson began his media career in the 1990s, writing for The Weekly Standard and other publications. He was a CNN commentator from 2000 to 2005 and a co-host of Crossfire, the network's prime-time news debate program, from 2001 to 2005. From 2005 to 2008, he hosted the nightly program Tucker on MSNBC. In 2009, he became a political analyst for Fox News, appearing on various programs before launching his own show. In 2010, Carlson co-founded and served as the initial editor-in-chief of The Daily Caller, a right-wing news and opinion website, until selling his ownership stake and leaving in 2020. In the 2021 Dominion Voting Systems v. Fox News Network defamation lawsuit, Carlson was among the hosts named for broadcasting false statements about the plaintiff company's voting machines. In April 2023, Fox News canceled Tucker Carlson Tonight, leading Carlson to launch his own program, The Tucker Carlson Show. Originally a supporter of the Iraq War, he renounced his support in 2004 and has since been skeptical of U.S. foreign interventions. Formerly an economic libertarian, he now supports protectionism and restrictions on immigration. Carlson is known for introducing far-right ideas into mainstream politics and discourse. He has been noted for false and misleading statements on some topics and for promoting conspiracy theories on demographic replacement, COVID-19, the 2021 United States Capitol attack, and Ukrainian bioweapons. Some of Carlson's remarks on race, immigration, and women have been described as racist and sexist, and provoked advertiser boycotts of Tucker Carlson Tonight. A longtime supporter of U.S. president Donald Trump, he is said to have influenced Trump's decision-making, but has also been critical of Trump, most notably after the 2026 Iran war, causing him to leave the Republican Party. In February 2024 he became the first Western journalist to interview Russian President Vladimir Putin since the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine. He has written three books: Politicians, Partisans, and Parasites (2003), Ship of Fools (2018), and The Long Slide (2021).