The first thing that really alarmed me about Tucker Carlson’s primetime program on Fox News was his open expression of white supremacy. It really leveled up the nature of right-wing media racism because it replaced a lot of the coded language about crime and welfare and just started making the argument that America is being undermined from within by the influx of non-white immigration which is somehow eroding our cultural coherence and strength. That Fox News was countenancing this kind of messaging was disgusting and dangerous, but the fact that the mother corporation was being richly rewarded for it through sky-high ratings was a five-alarm fire. I began to feel a little desperate that something happen to stop this trajectory toward fascism.

Along the way, Carlson began attacking our institutions.  Politico reports that the Pentagon rejoiced when it learned Carlson had lost his job. The same is true of public health officials, election officials and advocates for the L.G.B.T.Q. community.

With his abrupt departure from Fox News on Monday, Tucker Carlson lost the megaphone that many have accused him of using to spread conspiracy theories about Covid-19 vaccines, gender identity and election integrity.

Civil rights activists and media experts expressed hope that a major force in the misinformation ecosystem had been muzzled.

The television host was “one of the nation’s most prolific mouthpieces for white supremacy, misinformation and misogyny,” said Bridget Todd, director of communications at the gender equity advocacy group Ultraviolet.

“We are not sad to see him go,” Sarah Kate Ellis, the president and chief executive of the L.G.B.T.Q. advocacy organization GLAAD, wrote on Twitter.

All of this was bad enough, but it was Carlson’s open support and admiration for Vladimir Putin and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine that really sent my over the edge and made me think that his ouster from Fox News was one of the highest national priorities. I found it almost incomprehensible that Fox News had allowed itself to become one of Russia’s most valuable propaganda outlets and they were seemingly paying no price for it.

On March 3, as Russian military forces bombed Ukrainian cities as part of Vladimir Putin’s illegal invasion of his neighbor, the Kremlin sent out talking points to state-friendly media outlets with a request: Use more Tucker Carlson.

“It is essential to use as much as possible fragments of broadcasts of the popular Fox News host Tucker Carlson, who sharply criticizes the actions of the United States [and] NATO, their negative role in unleashing the conflict in Ukraine, [and] the defiantly provocative behavior from the leadership of the Western countries and NATO towards the Russian Federation and towards President Putin, personally,” advises the 12-page document written in Russian. It sums up Carlson’s position: “Russia is only protecting its interests and security.” The memo includes a quote from Carlson: “And how would the US behave if such a situation developed in neighboring Mexico or Canada?”

If America were leveling Mexican and Canadian cities on the pretext that they really belonged to the United States of America, then we might have a parallel situation to what’s going on in Ukraine, but that is not even close to the case here. The truth is that a good part of the American right sees Putin on the correct side of a fight between a pluralistic and ecumenical West and the old days of white colonialism and Christian cultural dominance. In this fight, a commitment to democracy and representative government has completely fallen by the wayside, and Carlson became the biggest megaphone (other than Donald Trump himself) for this slippage.

People are still sorting through the precise reason that Carlson was terminated, but it certainly was not because of his stance toward Russia. Maybe it was as simple as him getting cocky and making disparaging remarks about upper management. Maybe it was because of the Dominion Voting Services lawsuit or because Rupert Murdoch finally concluded that he is a dangerous religious fanatic. Perhaps it was about upcoming lawsuits related to Carlson’s toxic work environment. Most likely, it was a combination of these factors.

To me, however, the most important thing is that the Kremlin lost their most valued American spokesperson. What baffles me is how Carlson was allowed to fill that role for so long. Even now, most articles on his departure don’t even mention it.