As shooting victims still lie in hospital beds in El Paso, Fox News extremist Tucker Carlson used his program on Tuesday night to declare that white supremacist terrorism is a hoax “like Russia.”
“The whole thing is a lie,” Carlson said. “Just like the Russia hoax, it’s a conspiracy theory used to divide the country and keep a hold on power. That’s exactly what’s going on.”
Video:
Tucker Carlson: White supremacy is “actually not a real problem in America.” Calling white supremacy and issue is “a hoax” and “a conspiracy theory used to divide the country” pic.twitter.com/ydzmJ0L7UI
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— Andrew Lawrence (@ndrew_lawrence) August 7, 2019
Carlson said (via Media Matter for America):
The whole thing is a lie. If you were to assemble a list, a hierarchy of concerns of problems this country faces, where would white supremacy be on the list? Right up there with Russia probably. It’s actually not a real problem in America. The combined membership of every white supremacist organization in this country would be able to fit inside a college football stadium. I mean, seriously, this is a country where the average person is getting poorer, where the suicide rate is spiking — “white supremacy, that’s the problem” — this is a hoax. Just like the Russia hoax, it’s a conspiracy theory used to divide the country and keep a hold on power. That’s exactly what’s going on. … White supremacy — you know, I’ve lived here 50 years, I’ve never met anybody — not one person — who ascribes to white supremacy. I don’t know a single person who thinks that’s a good idea. I don’t — I mean, they are making this up, and it’s a talking point which they are using to help them in this election cycle, obviously, because Russia died.
Fox News is encouraging Trump to double down on racism
It should surprise nobody that Tucker Carlson used his program on Tuesday to downplay the existence of white supremacist violence in the U.S., even as the FBI warns that such terrorism is on the rise.
After all, you have to give the audience what they want, right?
Tucker Carlson has made a fortune spewing white nationalist venom on his prime-time cable program. What makes it particularly dangerous is that the president of the United States is watching.
With Fox News churning out this garbage in the immediate aftermath of a white supremacist terrorist attack in El Paso, Donald Trump is more likely to double down on the rhetoric that helped cause the violence in the first place.
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Sean Colarossi currently resides in Cleveland, Ohio. He earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in Journalism from the University of Massachusetts Amherst and was an organizing fellow for both of President Obama’s presidential campaigns. He also worked with Planned Parenthood as an Affordable Care Act Outreach Organizer in 2014, helping northeast Ohio residents obtain health insurance coverage.
