The restoration of Tucker Carlson

Tucker Carlson, whose new 9 p.m. show on Fox has been a ratings and echo-chamber hit, sat down with McKay Coppins, now a staff writer for The Atlantic:

"The SAT 50 years ago pulled a lot of smart people out of every little town in America and funneled them into a small number of elite institutions, where they married each other, had kids, and moved to an even smaller number of elite neighborhoods. We created the most effective meritocracy ever. ...

"But the problem with the meritocracy ... [is that it] leeches all the empathy out of your society … The second you think that all your good fortune is a product of your virtue, you become highly judgmental, lacking empathy, totally without self-awareness, arrogant, stupid — I mean all the stuff that our ruling class is."

A keeper: "He recalls receiving a text message on election night from a stunned Democratic friend declaring his intention to flee the country with his family. Carlson replied by asking if he could use their pool while they were gone."

One quibble: McKay calls The Monocle, where he had lunch with Tucker, "upscale" when he meant "old-school."