Ever since it began in 2016, Tucker Carlson Tonight has been easily the most interesting news show on American television. It was never, as Carlson’s many detractors claim, Trumpist propaganda. On the contrary, Carlson was a rare bright spot of originality in a boringly partisan media landscape.

And now he’s gone: fired directly by Rupert Murdoch, I’m reliably told, with no reason given, just a few days after Fox News paid out $787 million to settle with Dominion Voting Systems.