Republicans No Longer Fear Tucker Carlson

The widespread Republican criticism Tucker Carlson has received over his attempts to reframe the January 6 riot as mainly a "peaceful" protest shows the GOP is no longer hesitant to go against the influential Fox News host.

During Monday night's episode of his Fox News show, Carlson played clips from themore than 41,000 hours of security footage handed to him by House Speaker Kevin McCarthy to push the claim the attack was not as violent as claimed disproved the "lies" told by Democrats and the January 6 House Select Committee have portrayed for more than two years.

Carlson has long been considered one of the most powerful media figures in the U.S., whose primetime show repeatedly seemed to influence the decision-making of Donald Trump while he was in the White House. In early 2020, the Fox News host even reportedly urged Trump personally to take the coronavirus pandemic seriously.