It may help to know some history of Tucker Carlson the person. You can learn a bunch here: https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2024/01/29/rules-for-the-ruling-class

TL;DR - he's one of the "elites" who tries to say they are against the "elites," but who would be just another mediocre at best nobody-nothing without his "elite" background and connections. He became a media pundit (he's never been a "journalist" in any true sense of the word) because he failed at a bunch of other stuff and his dad said try that, they'll take anybody (see article for details). He's one of those white boys of elite privilege hoping for a seat at the zero-sum "elite" head table, but he's never gonna get one...so he does stuff like this to try and compensate, get attention, "be somebody," would be one pop-psych analysis.