Sadly, you’ll find few — if any — of these good qualities on his cable news program. At Fox, he is only slightly less delirious than Hannity, and roughly as ungracious as disgraced former host Bill O’Reilly.

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Consider, for example, the shameful response this week to criticism from Commentary writer Noah Rothman.

Carlson advanced the theory Monday that a reported chemical attack on Douma may be a false flag operation by operatives who want to goad the U.S. into war with Syria. Rothman responded to this theory by accusing the Fox News host of parroting “Russian geopolitical narratives.”

On Wednesday, Carlson hosted Rothman. The interview could’ve been great given the nature and weight of the topic. It wasn’t.

The Fox host was huffy and dismissive. Instead of a good-faith debate about what we do and don’t know about the Syrian civil war, he tried to bait Rothman with jabs like, “I hardly would have to say this with a rational person,” “I don’t want to be mean to you, and I know you’re new to this,” and “self-awareness is not your strong suit.”

[Also read: A media dumpster fire, in one minute and two seconds]

Rothman, on the other hand, was gracious throughout the conversation (if you can call it that).

Then there was the time Carlson sounded the alarms over the so-called gypsy invasion of the U.S. There’s a lot to unpack here in this immigration-focused segment, and you can read a thorough and brutal criticism of his shoddy commentary here, but nothing stands out quite like the host’s repeated focus on public defecation, which appears to be based on a single incident involving a child who couldn’t make it to the bathroom in time. It’s all as weird as it sounds.

And don’t forget the time he forfeited a debate with Teen Vogue political writer Lauren Duca when he dismissed her from his show with, “You should stick to the thigh-high boots.” (He apologized later for this — sort of.) This particular example is jarring precisely because Duca’s insubstantial brand of political commentary is so deserving of criticism. But to pick apart her ideas and words would require some work. It’s easier to dismiss her simply as a girl who writes about girl things.

Here’s the really disappointing thing: Compare the current version of Carlson to the one who appeared regularly on PBS News, MSNBC, and CNN. Compare the modern Carlson to the one who wrote for The Weekly Standard and contributed to the now-defunct Talk Magazine.

Compare the present-day version to the one who wrote the 2016 Politico op-ed “Donald Trump Is Shocking, Vulgar and Right.” This take is one of the most astute and absorbing reads on the rise of President Trump produced by any political commentator, which is saying something considering how overcrowded the field is. Carlson put real thought into this. This op-ed, written months before he took over the 9 p.m. slot, is engaging and beautifully written. It is also persuasive. In short, it’s the opposite of his Fox show.

It’s almost tragic, revisiting his past commentaries and then turning on his evening program. Gone is that keenness of vision. Gone is that deeper grasp of the decades of context that explains our current culture. Gone is his desire to persuade. It has been replaced with circus sideshow stuff, red meat for viewers who don’t want anything more difficult than “blue is bad, red is good.” His show deals with issues in terms of who loves and who hates America. Ideological opponents are classified simply as “elites,” the “ruling class,” “East Coast liberals,” “THE MEDIA,” etc.

This may be the stuff of ratings gold, but Carlson is capable of so much more than simply catering to the easiest partisan appetites. He has real talent, but it’s being wasted right now, and there’s nothing worse than wasted talent.

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