On Tuesday, several high-profile politicians harshly criticized Fox News star Tucker Carlson for a series of false claims he made the day before about the Jan. 6 attack. But surprisingly, the criticism isn’t just coming from Democrats — several prominent Republicans, including Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, have also spoken out against him.
And on Tuesday’s episode of Carlson’s Fox News, who to remind you, the New York Times once described as “what might be the most racist show in cable news history”, he was clearly angry, though he wore a sarcastic grin as he spoke about it.
But Carlson delivered a chilling message: Republicans and Democrats in Congress, he said, are essentially conspiring with each other against the American people — and he urged his viewers to “keep a list” of Republicans in individual who do so.
You can watch the full clip at the top of the page (courtesy of @And is on Twitter), but before we continue, a little background. On Monday’s “Tucker Carlson Tonight,” Carlson made many false statements around January 6, including the use of selectively edited footage to advance the false claim that the attack was a peaceful event. Carlson also repeated the lie that the 2020 election was stolen from Donald Trump.
Those comments are what drew rare criticism from Republicans, including Mitch McConnell. And as we said, Carlson was clearly upset about it.
After noting statements by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, Carlson said, “Schumer has been joined in this outrage by Senate Minority Leader, and that would be a Republican, Mitch McConnell. And they were joined by a cascade of other Republicans, Tom Tillis of North Carolina, Mitt Romney of Utah, all sharing the same outrage.
“And from that, we learn 2 things. 1) Get closer to what really interests them, and you have to ask yourself “why?” Why is it so important that they degrade themselves by telling such blatant lies and calling for censorship? Carlson said.
“Why? What are they looking to protect? It might be worth exploring,” Carlson continued. “And we plan to do that.”
“And the second thing we learned from that is that they’re on the same side,” Carlson said, meaning Democratic politicians and Republican politicians.
“The Senate Majority Leader joins the Senate Minority Leader. Tom Tillis, Mitt Romney,” Carlson added with a performative sneer, “they’re all on the same side. So it’s not left and right. It’s not about Republican and Democrat. Here you have people with common interests.
Carlson went on to describe what he sees as these “shared interests”: “People with open borders. People like Mitch McConnell, living in the splendor of Chinese money. The people who, underneath it all, have everything in common, are all lined up, against everyone else.
“And that would also include almost every news organization in this country,” Carlson said, a sentiment that likely doesn’t include his own employer.
“And so if you watch this at home, it would be kind of interesting to keep a list. Because one thing we learned today is that they are all okay with each other. They sort of revealed themselves. They kind of showed their membership cards in any club to the public.
“So keep a list. If you want to know who is actually aligned, despite the illusion of partisanship, we found out today,” he added.
Interestingly, while Carlson has devoted a considerable portion of his shows this week to repeating lies about the Jan. 6 attack and seeming to agree with false claims that the 2020 election was stolen from Donald Trump , documents released in ongoing libel suit filed by Dominion against Fox News tell a very different story.
For example, on January 4, 2021, Carlson told someone in a text that he hated Donald Trump “passionately.” Other communications include Carlson acknowledging to other Fox News personalities that he did not believe Trump’s claims that the election was stolen.