Six weeks after Fox News unceremoniously canned Tucker Carlson, both the network and its former star host are still struggling to pick up the pieces. Fox’s ratings have tanked and Carlson’s new Twitter-based show is a mess – yet none of their rivals have stepped up to fill the vacuum.

When Fox took Carlson off the air in late April, several scenarios seemed plausible. Fox could have retained its high ratings and position as the fulcrum of the right-wing media, as it did after cutting ties with previous stars like Bill O’Reilly or Glenn Beck. Carlson, at the height of his influence within the conservative movement and Republican Party, could have quickly moved on to another platform and retained his power. Or, with Fox or Carlson weakened, competitors could quickly move to take advantage.

But none of these scenarios have played out so far. Instead, Fox’s decision to drop Carlson seems to have done serious damage to both parties, and no other entity has proven capable of responding. 

Fox’s ratings collapsed amid a furious attack on the network from Carlson and its would-be right-wing media rivals. The total audience in Carlson’s own former timeslot is down by roughly half, and none of the would-be replacements cycling through have broken out. Even worse, the ratings slump is not limited to Fox’s 8 p.m. hour; the network is seeing steep declines in viewership across the lineup and particularly in prime time. This collapse is happening as Fox executives are hoping to use the network’s former ratings strength to negotiate lucrative increases to its already-high fees cable providers pay to carry the network.

Meanwhile, Carlson’s Tuesday night debut of “Tucker on Twitter,” a version of his show recorded specifically for the platform, went poorly. Over the course of a 10-minute monologue well-leavened with his typical dishonesty, Carlson hit familiar themes from his Fox show about the perfidy of the media and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Carlson’s anti-semitic overtones were somewhat more pronounced and his conspiracy theories wilder (there was a tangent about the media covering up evidence of aliens). But the show’s production value was abysmal – operating his own teleprompter, without the bells and whistles of Fox’s chyrons and graphics, he seemed small. 

Carlson became an influential force because he was able to bring the most extreme elements and narratives of the far-right to a more mainstream Fox audience. On Twitter, he’s just Alex Jones in jacket-and-tie.

With Fox and Carlson engaged in mutual destruction, there seems to be an opportunity for rivals to supplant them. Twitter CEO Elon Musk seems to have an interest in replacing Fox at the center of the right-wing media ecosystem. But the Twitter Spaces launch of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ presidential campaign and Carlson’s early effort on the platform – both potentially key steps in a Musk ascension – were comically weak in their execution. NewsMaxTV has seen some ratings growth following Carlson’s firing, but it still trails well behind Fox in overall audience. And no other right-wing media personality has emerged to replace Carlson as the right-wing media’s ringleader.

The result is chaos on the right. The only clear winner is America.