In the coming days and weeks we will learn more about the circumstances that led to Carlson leaving Fox News, but it is hard to believe that the split has nothing to do with Fox News paying $787 million to settle the lawsuit from Dominion. (And don’t forget that the Smartmatic lawsuit still needs to be resolved.)

Ahem. From the Morning Jolt of Wednesday, April 19:

Three: It is unlikely that networks like Fox News can afford to keep loose-cannon hosts anymore.

[It’s still early hours on this development. At least one source indicates that Carlson pulled the plug rather than Fox, although the “probably” is doing some heavy lifting here:

My sources are telling me: Tucker was all set to go live tonight. He probably had plans to talk about the lawsuit and clear his name. Producers were prepping guests and slots of Monday's show. Corporate nixed the idea and Tucker up and quit!

— Justin Hart (@justin_hart) April 24, 2023

Early hours on that take too, but if that’s what happened, one can understand why corporate and the lawyers would have stopped it, especially with another lawsuit pending. Stay tuned. — Ed]