You're Fired; A Victory for the Libertarian Right

Bill O’Reilly’s program, despite its performance night after night for over 20 years being highly ranked among cable news programs, became a public relations nightmare for American conservatism, a transparent echo chamber, filled with the ranting of an unreasonably pro-war chicken hawk. Even unable to confine his strong pro-war bias to his own show, I recall that roughly 6 or 8 months ago, he argued on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert that we should seek a formal declaration of war against ISIS even though doing so would under international law, count as recognition of ISIS as a state. It was sexual misconduct allegations that finally sunk him like his former employer Roger Ailes in 2016, and with these two Bush-era relics removed we will continue to see a change in emphasis that has only benefited the public face and future of right wing politics.

Firstly O’Reilly and Ailes were both ideologically neo-conservatives, which was always merely the other side of the neo-liberal coin. Neo-conservatism with both its pro-war and authoritarian leanings, drove distrust during the Bush years and has proved itself time and time again as being not significantly different that the neo-liberal ideology of Hillary Clinton, as such it is no longer fit for purpose.

Secondly, rumour has it that Tucker Carlson will take over for Bill O’Reilly in future, and Tucker Carlson is far more libertarian in his outlook. He’s young and in touch with the problem of Social Justice Warriors, whom he debunks regularly. In fact Tucker Carlson has become a favourite of YouTube compilations and clickbait videos in which he shreds and demolishes Social Justice Warriors. In years past, FOX was to be watched ironically as liberals came on the set and debunked the panellists in righteous fury, complaining that FOX was dumbing down the right wing. The bikini clad women featured at random times on FOX when Roger Ailes held the reins, both reinforced this claim and lent credibility to the occasional rumours of sexual misconduct which slowly seeped out of FOX news headquarters.

**An endorsement of Tucker Carlson by Affinity, a Social Justice rag**

Thus FOX is poised to become more libertarian, dynamic, and critically, younger. Even though one could argue that mainstream outlets like FOX have decreasing relevance and the alternative media is taking a greater share of viewership, it is still important that mainstream outlets stay in touch, lest their ineptitude should colour the public perception of large swathes of the political landscape.