Tucker Carlson

Tucker Carlson (1969–) is an American white nationalist[1][2] and paleoconservative political commentator, news correspondent, Donald Trump supporter, and noted jackass. He started his career as a semi-respectable journalist, and has been sinking lower ever since.[3] He co-hosted the CNN political show Crossfire (until it was cancelled), the MSNBC show Tucker (until it was cancelled), and currently works for Fox News, taking sexual harasser Bill O'Reilly's prime-time spot, with his show Tucker Carlson Tonight.[4] He is also the co-founder and former editor-in-chief of the propaganda outlet The Daily Caller. Previously known for holding libertarian views on economic issues, he flipped to a faux protectionist economic analysis in which he consistently blames immigrants for every problem in the US.

Parroting squawkbox
Pundits
And a dirty dozen more
v - t - e
“”It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends on his not understanding it.
—Upton Sinclair

According to Erik Wemple of The Washington Post, Carlson's modus operandi is to blindside "his guests and keeping them from issuing fully formed answers", as well as falsely claiming that his guests are ill-prepared to refute his arguments.[5] When his guests object to his loaded questions, he'll keep badgering them for not answering his question and then subsequently declare victory.

Crossfire debacle with Jon Stewart

On October 15, 2004 Jon Stewart appeared on Crossfire and although he criticized the show as a whole, Carlson took it as a personal attack. Stewart attacked the show for sensationalizing political debate and failing to provide hard-hitting interviews with those they agree with, comparing it to professional wrestling. Carlson decided to engage in the tu quoque method of debate by pointing out that Stewart did not ask John Kerry tough questions. Stewart responded with: "You're on CNN! The show that leads into me is puppets making crank phone calls! What is wrong with you?"[6]

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The show was cancelled a few months later with the president of CNN stating that he felt Stewart was right in his criticisms.[7] However, whether or not this is the real reason is still debatable. Rather pathetically, Carlson is still under the delusion he won the debate[8] and also has made claims such as that a Daily Show producer called him to say he was sorry and that Jon Stewart lectured the show's staff for over an hour. These claims have never been backed up and, given his history of dishonesty (see Keith Olbermann incident below), this leaves him open to skepticism.

Sexism

He appears to consider 1950s gender roles applicable in modern society, believing that the idea of a woman paying for her man's meals is "disgusting."[9] It should be noted that his attitudes may offend men as well since he does not consider statutory rape a crime if the victim is male and the perpetrator is female, further adding that it is "whiny" for the boys to report it.[10] He has attacked rape shield laws that protect the identity of victims, and he has defended pedophile Warren Jeffs.[11][12][13][14]

MediaMatters compiled disgusting comments over the years that Carlson made about women.

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Assorted dickishness
  • During the weekend that Keith Olbermann was suspended from MSNBC he actually pretended to be Olbermann in a back-and-forth e-mail exchange with Philadelphia Daily News columnist Stu Bykofsky. In the exchange, Carlson slandered Olbermann's boss.[15] It turns out that Carlson's right wing website The Daily Caller purchased the domain KeithOlbermann.com over the summer and Carlson's e-mail address there is "Keith@KeithOlbermann.com."[16]
  • On his MSNBC show, he also called Canadians "stalkers" and "like your retarded cousin". After the controversy he then went on the CBC program The Hour and gave an equally offensive non-apology.[17]
  • His insanity includes attacking his own network, Fox News, as anti-gun (no really!) for reporting the importance of gun safety around children.[18]
  • Like a lot of conservatives he is against affirmative action, abortion, and, … seat-belt laws.[19]
  • When interviewing a Washington state elector about his intention to urge electors to vote their conscience, Carlson engaged in an extremely disingenuous argument. Hold on to your hats and pay attention here: Carlson claimed that electors wanting to support the candidate with the most popular votes rather than the one with the most electoral votes is against democracy. He was essentially arguing against his own (stupid) position, while making it seem like his guest was guilty of the same thing he is. Absolutely crazy spinning.[20]
  • He is known for his incomprehensible expression when he cannot understand basic science, and is a denier of the overwhelming evidence of global warming. Whenever he realizes that his opponent on the Republican-biased Fox News debate is making a valid point, he chortles in a failed attempt to try and undermine the scientific evidence, but deepens his reputation to further stupidity.[21]
  • He referred to transgender people transitioning as "the act of a crazy person", and compared it to "setting your hair on fire or blinding yourself."[22]
  • He said of California's pro-LGBT curriculum "It sounds weird but California public schools could soon be required to teach kids about the sex lives of historical figures. It‘s all part of an effort to force kids to approve of homosexuality."[23]
  • He claimed that California is becoming a third world country (it's not) because of scary browns Latin American migrants.[24] He believes Mexico has interfered in American elections more successfully than Russia by "packing our electorate".[25]
  • He promoted the alt-right social media platform Gab on his show.[26]
  • As exemplified by the statement above, Tucker has a long and storied history of spouting out white nationalist rhetoric.[27]
  • As a further example, 3 days after a white supremacist committed a mass shooting in El Paso, he dismissed white supremacy as "a hoax", "just like the Russia hoax". [note 1] [28] (He then declared that he never "met anybody, not one person, who subscribes to white supremacy", suggesting that he has never looked in a mirror lately).[29]
  • In 2019, he attempted to re-ignite a culture war that was already (mostly) won by idiots like himself in the 1980s, keeping English units in the US instead of the metric system.[30]
  • Another example of Tucker not being a journalist on any level: he claims that some "damning, authentic" documents that are somehow the only documents to exist in one copy on Joe Biden's son Hunter has "disappeared in the mail". Sure, Tucker, we believe you. [31]
  • And to top it all off, Fox News, in late 2020, defended itself in a defamation lawsuit (brought by a former Trump mistress whom Carlson said was committing "a classic case of extortion") by arguing that Carlson cannot be trusted to provide accurate information on his show.[32]

Few moments of not being a dick

While he supported the Iraq War at first, he would later criticize it [33] and the Bush Administration in general.[34] He also supports same-sex marriage.[35] In August 2018, he dedicated a segment of his Fox News show to calling out Amazon, Walmart, and Uber for not paying workers a living wage (and thus, forcing taxpayers to pick up the slack instead), in weighing the benefits of the "Stop Bezos Act" proposed by Bernie Sanders and Ro Khanna. He has also been strongly critical of the Trump administration's attempts to start a war with Iran.

Notes
  1. Referring to the influence of Russia on American elections, a topic Tucker Carlson has dismissed as a lie quite often... despite all the evidence to the contrary.
gollark: 🦀
gollark: Which one is it?
gollark: I'm ALWAYS up for random tests!
gollark: One somewhat related thing I find bad is people saying stuff like "you must be antiracist or racist" (or, well, "you must be part of/following/supporting [SPECIFIC APPARENTLY ANTIRACIST CAUSE] or you're racist"). I *really* do not like "us vs them" thinking.
gollark: The timestamp on pictures is just metadata and very easy to edit.

References
  1. Unearthed audio shows Tucker Carlson using white nationalist rhetoric and making racist remarks by Madeline Peltz (March 11, 2019 8:01 PM EDT) Media Matters for America.
  2. Fox News host Tucker Carlson uses racist, homophobic language in second set of recordings by Michael Brice-Saddler & Eli Rosenberg (March 11 at 9:41 PM) The Washington Post.
  3. Salon: Tucker Carlson’s downward spiral
  4. https://variety.com/2017/tv/news/fox-news-tucker-carlson-bill-oreilly-1202313557/.
  5. The stupendously dishonest Tucker Carlson by Erik Wemple (February 15, 2017) The Washington Post.
  6. watch it here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aFQFB5YpDZE
  7. Howard Kurtz (January 6, 2004). "Carlson & 'Crossfire,' Exit Stage Left & Right". The Washington Post.
  8. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GhiBfmfP_tw
  9. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hN_LwBoVcDA
  10. no really
  11. Tucker Carlson unapologetic over ‘misogynistic’ comments on statutory rape, insults against women by Allyson Chiu (March 11, 2019 at 4:42 AM) The Washington Post.
  12. Tucker Carlson Refuses to Apologize for ‘Naughty’ Past Comments About Statutory Rape, ‘C–ty’ Women by Rosemary Rossi (March 10, 2019 @ 7:46 PM) Media Matters for America.
  13. Media Matters Teases Release of ‘Vile’ Tucker Carlson Tapes Focused on ‘Race and Ethnicity’ by Jon Levine (March 11, 2019 @ 7:35 AM Last Updated: March 11, 2019 @ 7:36 AM) Media Matters for America.
  14. In unearthed audio, Tucker Carlson makes numerous misogynistic and perverted comments: During interviews on Bubba The Love Sponge, Carlson said he "love[s" the idea of young girls sexually experimenting, used sexist terms to refer to a number of women, and defended statutory rape] by Madeline Peltz (March 10, 2019 7:00 PM EDT) Media Matters for America.
  15. Mirkinson, Jack. "Tucker Carlson Sent Emails Posing As Keith Olbermann", Huffington Post,
  16. "HOT DOCUMENT: Keith Olbermann vs. Stu Bykofsky
  17. some would consider this ironic https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=02_nC9B0vvU
  18. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/08/10/tucker-carlson-gun-safety-fox-news-friends-bathtub_n_5666262.html
  19. "Republican Convention: Tucker Carlson (washingtonpost.com)"
  20. https://youtu.be/PrAwgFj7ubc?t=6683
  21. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I02LGkyhjFc
  22. 'The Situation with Tucker Carlson' for February 23 NBC News. 2/24/2006.
  23. 'The Situation with Tucker Carlson' for April 11 NBC News. 4/12/2006.
  24. http://www.businessinsider.com/tucker-carlson-california-third-world-country-latin-american-immigrants-2018-3
  25. Bump, Philip. Tucker Carlson identifies the actual threat to American democracy: Hispanic voters. Washington Post. July 17, 2018. (video clip)
    I don’t think Russia is our close friend or anything like that. I think of course they’re trying to interfere in our affairs. They have for a long time. Many countries do, some more successfully than Russia, like Mexico which is routinely interfering in our elections by packing our electorate.
  26. https://thinkprogress.org/tucker-carlson-promotes-white-nationalist-social-media-site-f5d1bb156d1d/
  27. https://beta.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2018/12/18/advertisers-flee-tucker-carlson-brands-himself-mr-dirtier/?outputType=amp
  28. https://www.thedailybeast.com/tucker-carlson-white-supremacy-is-a-hoax-and-not-a-real-problem-in-america
  29. https://www.mediamatters.org/tucker-carlson/tucker-carlsons-descent-white-supremacy-timeline
  30. Video: Fox Host Tucker Carlson Attacks 'Inelegant, Creepy' Metric System that the U.S. Alone Has Resisted by Shane Croucher (6/6/19 at 5:12 AM EDT) Newsweek.
  31. https://www.theguardian.com/media/2020/oct/29/fox-news-tucker-carlson-mocked-for-lost-in-the-mail-biden-documents-claim
  32. Judge Rules Fox News' Tucker Carlson is Not a Credible Source of News (5 Sept 2020, 6:28 AM) Slate
  33. "LP: Newly Dovish, Tucker Carlson Goes Public (Tucker Carlson turns against the war)"
  34. "Republican Convention: Tucker Carlson (washingtonpost.com)"
  35. "'Tucker' for July 24 - Tucker - MSNBC.com"
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