Reaction explodes as former Trump press secretary takes Tucker’s timeslot

When word broke on Thursday that former Trump White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany would be sitting in for former Fox News host Tucker Carlson’s timeslot next week, Twitter exploded with reaction to the news.

She will be the first female host to sub for Carlson and is the third one to step into his time slot. Hosts are appearing on a rotating basis. Co-host Brian Kilmeade of “Fox & Friends” was the first to fill in for Carlson followed by Lawrence Jones of “Cross Country.” Currently, McEnany is one of three hosts on “Outnumbered.”

“I am honored to share that I will be hosting Fox News Tonight on at 8pm ET all next week (5/8-5/12)! Set your DVR,” McEnany tweeted on Thursday. “Please join me next week as we dig into the state of politics, media, culture, and faith in America!”

Carlson departed the network after almost six years with its second-most popular program. It was only outranked by “The Five.” He has sent out a video in response to his departure that received 16.5 million views, according to the Washington Examiner. The post on Twitter received 1.8 million views within the first hour of airing. That tweet eventually garnered 53.5 million views. During Kilmeade’s turn sitting in for the former host, Fox News had just over 1.7 million viewers. According to cable news ratings, the night before Kilmeade sat in, viewership dropped by 21% which followed Carlson drawing in 3.3 million viewers over the previous eight Mondays.

“Outnumbered” drew 1.89 million total viewers in comparison to CNN’s 650,000 and MSNBC’s 699,000 total viewers for the weekday noon time slot ahead of the 2022 midterm election, according to the cable ratings report. Among the key demographic of 25-54-year-olds, “Outnumbered” also beat its competition, drawing 252,000 viewers compared to 151,000 for CNN and 60,000 for MSNBC.

Carlson is reportedly considering moderating his own GOP primary debate ahead of the 2024 presidential election according to the Washington Examiner.

The response to McEnany stepping in to fill Carlson’s shoes, even temporarily, was heated and ugly at times:

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