Why did Fox News fire Tucker Carlson? Some claim that Tucker had planned to leave the network all along, and merely resigned.

He had even had a studio built in his own home. He was fed up with Fox and decided to call it quits, so the story goes.

But this theory is belied by the fact that Tucker's production team was taken entirely by surprise by the news.

For instance, I received the following text message from Scooter Downey, a producer of Tucker Carlson Originals, in response to my query after the announcement: "No idea what's going on. Crazy!"

Bill O'Reilly, who hosted The O'Reilly Factor, which appeared in the same time slot as Tucker Carlson Tonight, remarked that Tucker and his staff were blind-sided by the decision.

"They were putting together tonight's, Monday night's program," O'Reilly claimed. "They were actively involved with making the rundown as all of us do who go on television each night to talk to you. In the middle of that, boom. Tucker Carlson is history at the Fox News show. That's how fast it came."