‘I’m Fundamentally a Dick’: Tucker Carlson Trolls Reporter With Fake 2024 Presidential Run Scoop

AP Photo/Seth Wenig

Tucker Carlson trolled a journalist into believing he had a major scoop on his hands after the former Fox News host jokingly claimed he would announce a 2024 presidential campaign in New Hampshire on Friday.

Insider senior correspondent Mattathias Schwartz published the series of messages on Wednesday which showed him being tricked by Carlson — who announced this week that his show would move to Twitter following his ousting from Fox News.

“Are you going to run for president?” Schwartz texted Carlson.

“Yes. Announcing Friday in New Hampshire,” Carlson replied.

Unaware that he was being tricked, Schwartz shot back, “Can I call you? I would like to be first with this… But I can’t stand it up with one text… Let me know. A voice call would be helpful.”

Carlson then apologized and informed the journalist that he was “totally kidding.”

“I can never control myself. I’m fundamentally a dick. My apologies,” he said.

Asked on Twitter whether he was initially skeptical of Carlson’s claims, Schwartz said, “At the time, it seemed plausible but also in need of more substantiation.”

“I think that his hope was that we would go with it and hit print based on the one text. But I don’t know that,” he added.

Schwartz said he decided to publish the conversation because “ultimately these were texts that needed to be shared.”

While Carlson has expressed little interest in running for president, many publications have speculated about a potential Carlson presidential campaign, including the Hill, the Daily Beast, Politico, Newsweek, the Washington Examiner, and New York Magazine.

In April, Lincoln Project co-founder Rick Wilson called a potential Carlson presidential run “the worst-case scenario” and said, “I do believe that if Tucker ran for president, there is an argument to be made that he’s the one person who could beat Trump.”

One British betting shop even placed Carlson’s odds of winning the 2024 presidential election above candidates who had actually entered the race, including Republican Vivek Ramaswamy and Democrat Marianne Williamson.

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