Rare influence
Free enterprise, free speech, freedom of the press, all labored and brought forth…Fox News. Next up could be President Tucker Carlson.
Tucker Carlson, as the most-watched host of the most-watched cable news network, holds rare influence over not just Republican supporters, but politicians, too. This year Carlson has been unafraid to wield that power, across issues including war, subjugation of continents and testosterone.
That’s what we want to see – another “personality” dragging the world toward a deeper abyss.
On 22 February, Vladimir Putin’s forces were massed on the Ukraine border. As people in the eastern European country braced themselves for war, and as the Russian leader was widely condemned by the international community, Carlson used his Fox News show to launch a spirited defense of the Russian president.
Yeah, Putin! That’s what the world needs more of! Ruthless cynical valueless Strongmen!
“Has Putin ever called me a racist? Has he threatened to get me fired for disagreeing with him?” Carlson said. “These are fair questions, and the answer to all of them is: ‘No.’ Vladimir Putin didn’t do any of that.”
Knock-down argument. The list of things Putin did do is in that famous bottom drawer in the basement under the stack of refrigerators.
As Russian troops poured into the Ukraine, Russian news media picked up clips of Carlson’s defenses of Putin to sell the conflict to Russian citizens, including footage from Carlson’s Tuesday show, during which he poured scorn on international efforts to de-escalate the brewing war.
“Democrats in Washington have told you it’s your patriotic duty to hate Vladimir Putin. It’s not a suggestion. It’s a mandate. Anything less than hatred for Putin is treason,” Carlson had said.
He was every bit as scorching about the mandate to hate Obama, right? Right?
[I]n the months since the conflict began, as Kremlin-backed Russian media have amplified Carlson’s coverage “dozens of times”, Carlson’s apparent sympathy towards Putin hasn’t waned. In December the Fox News host declared Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, to be a “dictator” and “a dangerous authoritarian”.
So unlike the great and glorious Donald Trump, right?
It’s always a conundrum whether the big names at Fox beat the drums they do for ratings or sincere belief. Does Tucker love Puting and hate Zelenskyy as much as Hannity was being sincere on nightly broadcasts of the stolen elections?
I don’t think we’ll ever really know.
Tom Snyder used to say that the Rush Limbaugh he knew as a sportscaster in Kansas City was fairly liberal, but realized that the money was in conservative talk radio, because they had the dough and were easier to dupe with false patriotism. I still don’t know for sure if that’s the case, but there’s room for doubt about Tucker’s sincerity.
It’s still a seriously negative effect he has on the news cycle, and probably worse if he’s just doing this for ratings.
I’ve heard similar said about Bill O’Reilly. I agree it makes it worse that it’s a con.
You’ve heard of a hired gun? This Murdochrat from the Murdochracy is a hired tongue.
“Have Tongue, WIll Travel” reads the card of a man.
Mike, the positions adopted by many conservatives are so lacking in reasoning I suspect many of them simply do the opposite of what they hear coming from the left.
Didn’t Tucker Carlson at one point use the Limbaugh defense, viz. “it’s okay for me to lie because I’m an entertainer, not a journalist” ? I forget. Seems like the sort of thing he’d say.
Why yes – that is, his lawyers did and Fox itself did.
https://www.npr.org/2020/09/29/917747123/you-literally-cant-believe-the-facts-tucker-carlson-tells-you-so-say-fox-s-lawye