Washington (AFP) - Influential media provocateur and white outrage generator Tucker Carlson has spent years depicting America as a declining nation under assault by Democrats, Black Lives Matter advocates, 'woke' protesters, and communism.

His hit TV show bombarded viewers with grievance politics and repeatedly depicted white conservatives as being in a fight for their very survival -- that is until Fox News pulled the plug on his nightly broadcasts last April.

But Carlson, long close to former president Donald Trump, launched his own show on social media platform X, the former Twitter. 

Now in what could be one of his biggest catches since his online resurrection, Carlson -- an avowed skeptic of American military support for war-torn Ukraine -- announced Tuesday he was in Moscow to interview Russian President Vladimir Putin.

His stunt comes as Republicans in Congress seek to torpedo a bill that provides $60 billion in military aid to help Kyiv fight Russia's invasion.

The interview, if it happens, would only twist the Carlson thorn deeper into the side of Washington's political establishment.

Carlson has repeatedly attacked US media outlets for interviewing Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, saying they were "government propaganda" for pushing the call for more American aid.

Polarizing

On his Fox show "Tucker Carson Tonight," he claimed anti-white racism was on the rise, modern liberals hated Christianity, and migrants were invading the United States.

In broadcast after broadcast, Carlson, now 54, would appeal to viewers' outrage and play on their fears, propelling his show toward the summit of cable TV, making him millions of dollars, while providing ample fodder for conspiracy theorists and racists in the process.

Carlson's departure came days after Fox News paid a settlement approaching $800 million to end a defamation case over false allegations that ballot-counting company Dominion Voting Systems had helped steal the 2020 presidential election from Donald Trump.

Internal communications released ahead of the scheduled trial suggested Carlson and senior colleagues doubted claims by Trump aides and the network itself -- but aired them anyway for fear of losing viewers to rivals.

Critics accused Carlson's program of polarizing Americans and contributing to a climate of paranoia that had given rise to politically-motivated violence such as racist mass shootings.

Carlson's show billed itself as "the sworn enemy of lying" and promised to "demand answers" wanted by viewers.

The Dominion case revealed, however, that Carlson lacked the candor he claimed for his dispatches, praising Trump in public while telling colleagues in private he couldn't wait until he could "ignore Trump most nights."

"I hate him passionately," Carlson said of the ex-president in the messages that emerged during the dispute.

Carlson framed the issues he discussed as "they" versus "you" -- "they want to control your thoughts," or "they call you a racist."

He has embraced a far-right notion that Democratic politicians and other elites are trying to replace whites through immigration.

'Weird childhood'

Fox News had backed their star to the hilt despite the criticism he engendered.

The father of four had always appeared confident, telling "The Rubin Report" talk show: "You should only care about the opinions of people who care about you."

It is a lesson learned from what he has called his "weird childhood," marked by the departure of his artist mother when he was only six years old. She moved to France and never saw her children again.

Carlson was raised by his journalist father and followed in his footsteps after trying unsuccessfully to join the CIA.

The road to fame was long -- Carlson had been with Fox News since 2009 after stints at MSNBC and CNN -- but he found himself cast as a leader of conservative thought in the Trump era.

Despite the political influence he wielded, Carlson -- who says he has never owned a television -- lives far from the heart of the US government, in a rural corner of Maine, where he now records his online show and conducts what his website describes as "off grid" interviews.