“Those fuckers are destroying our credibility. It enrages me,” Tucker Carlson texted his producer two days after Election Day 2020. The “fuckers” in question were Fox News employees who accurately reported Joe Biden’s victory in Arizona.

It’s hard to think of a more succinct encapsulation of conservative media than one of its biggest stars complaining that reality is ruining his credibility.

Carlson wasn’t alone. A week later, Sean Hannity texted Carlson and fellow Fox personality Laura Ingraham that calling Arizona for Biden — again, we should stress, simply reporting reality — had “destroyed a brand that took 25 years to build and the damage is incalculable.”