After a short social media hiatus following his departure from Fox News, Tucker Carlson published a video message on Twitter. The video had 1.8 million views within an hour, over 57 million views in less than a day, and over 78.6 million views as of the writing of this article.

In comparison, Carlson’s replacement Brian Kilmeade saw around 1.7 million views that night, around half of the norm and the lowest number that Fox has seen since 2001.

Given the various scandals Fox has recently been involved in, some speculate this could be the start of the downfall of the network.

Carlson, on the other hand, may end up on top. Considering that Carlson had a nightly audience of approximately 3.3 million viewers, fans of the former Fox host are expecting that his career is about to get a second wind.

Not a Coincidence

Carlson published the video on Wednesday at 8:00 p.m. — at the same time as his usual primetime slot. Some Twitter users didn’t think this was a coincidence since the context of the clip involved several cryptic messages about the corruption of mainstream media.

Although he did not directly address why he was allegedly fired from Fox, he did make a few comments suggesting that both U.S. politics and the American media are partially to blame.

“Both political parties and their donors have reached consensus on what benefits them, and they actively collude to shut down any conversation about it,” he said, adding that today, “the United States looks very much like a one-party state.”

As he took a swing at modern-day media, Carlson appeared to accuse the average cable news network of censorship, pointing out that, “The undeniably big topics, the ones that will define our future, get virtually no discussion at all."

“When was the last time you heard a legitimate debate,” he said, adding “It’s been a long time. Debates like that are not permitted in American media. Both political parties and their donors have reached a consensus on what benefits them, and they actively collude to shut down any conversation about it.”

Fox Is Failing

The drop in Fox’s viewership is one of many issues the company is facing. On April 18, Fox Corp settled for a $787 million defamation suit with Dominion voting systems. 

In addition, shares of the parent company News Corporation have fallen over 5% since Carlson’s departure — equivalent to about a half-billion-dollar loss.

It is suspected by market analysts that without Carlson, the network could end up falling apart. 

Carlson, meanwhile, has made no official statement about his career plans but he appeared to be confident and positive about the future.

What’s Next?

Before signing off with an optimistic “See you soon,” Carlson hinted that he will be back but possibly not on a platform that one would expect.

Social media users speculated that Carlson’s choice to break his silence on Twitter may be a hint of what’s to come, especially given the success of his latest post and his repeated critique of mainstream media outlets.

Not all media houses are off the ballot, however. In the last part of the video, Carlson rhetorically asked, “Where can you still find Americans saying true things,” and responded with, “There aren’t many places left, but there are some, and that’s enough.”

Still, many argue that one of those places may be Twitter. The social media platform has become a leading news source around the world since Elon Musk’s takeover and is increasingly being favored by conservatives.