“I’ve known and talked to every president, you know, for a while, for like more than 30 years. And you know, I can’t think of anyone whose life was improved by that. I mean, I guess if like I was the last person on earth, I could do it, but I mean, it seems pretty unlikely that I would be that guy.”
— Tucker Carlson, talking about running for president on the Ruthless podcast.
New York Times: “Over the last year, dozens of advertisers, including Pacific Life, Farmers Insurance and SodaStream, have distanced themselves from Mr. Carlson, the host who caused an uproar with his recent on-air comments on white supremacy days after the mass shooting in El Paso. In the past two weeks, smaller companies, like the meditation app Calm and the online lending start-up SoFi, joined them.”
“The Monday episode of Tucker Carlson Tonight, the host’s first since he left the airwaves for what Fox News said was a planned vacation two days after making the remarks on white supremacy, had fewer commercials than usual.”
Facing mounting controversy for declaring the very real problem of white supremacy in America to be a “hoax,” Tucker Carlson announced at the end of his Wednesday night Fox News show that he will be taking a vacation, CNN reports.
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Margaret Sullivan: “In his ongoing and remarkably successful quest to be the worst of the Fox News nighttime hosts, Tucker Carlson hit a new low on his Tuesday show.”
“White supremacy, he claimed, isn’t a real problem in America.
Said Carlson: “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… I’ve lived here 50 years and 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.”
Fox News host Tucker Carlson defended President Trump’s praise of North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un, saying part of leading a country “means killing people,” The Hill reports.
Carlson said there “is no defending the North Korean regime, which is a monstrous regime. It is the last really Stalinist regime in the whole world. It is a disgusting place, obviously.”
He added: “On the other hand, you’ve got to be honest about what it means to lead a country. It means killing people. Not on the scale the North Koreans do, but a lot of countries commit atrocities, including a number that we are closely allied with.”
New York Times: “He heard from his generals and his diplomats. Lawmakers weighed in and so did his advisers. But among the voices that rang powerfully for President Trump was that of one of his favorite Fox News hosts: Tucker Carlson.”
“While national security advisers were urging a military strike against Iran, Mr. Carlson in recent days had told Mr. Trump that responding to Tehran’s provocations with force was crazy. The hawks did not have the president’s best interests at heart, he said. And if Mr. Trump got into a war with Iran, he could kiss his chances of re-election goodbye.”
Washington Post: “Trump’s decision to call off the strikes, citing the potential casualties, came as a surprise to Pentagon officials who had spent the late afternoon gearing up for the operation.”
“A source familiar with the conversations told the Daily Beast that, in recent weeks, the Fox News host has privately advised Trump against taking military action against Iran.”
“And a senior administration official said that during the president’s recent conversations with the Fox primetime host, Carlson has bashed the more ‘hawkish members’ of his administration.”
Tucker Carlson said on Fox News that Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) has “spent the rest of her life attacking” the United States after immigrating to the country from Somalia.
Said Carlson: “Here’s someone who was brought to the United States at public expense simply because we’re a kind country that accepts a lot of refugees. And rather than being grateful for that, she’s spent the rest of her life attacking this country. Why?”
“As blue-chip advertisers have abandoned Tucker Carlson’s well-rated primetime show, his network has recently opted to keep things in the family, broadcasting a growing and increasingly sizable number of ‘house ads’ for Fox News, Fox Nation, Fox television and Fox Sports programming in recent weeks,” according to a Hollywood Reporter review.
Media Matters published more audio of Tucker Carlson on the Bubba the Love Sponge Show.
In one clip, Carlson credited “white men” for “creating civilization” and made numerous racist remarks about the Obamas, including agreeing that Michelle Obama would “be a problem” because she “turns into a sister” and asking of Barack Obama, “How is he Black, for one thing? He has one white parent, one Black parent.”
Carlson also called Iraqis “semiliterate primitive monkeys” and said Afghanistan is “never going to be a civilized country because the people aren’t civilized.” He also said he had “zero sympathy” for Iraqis because they “don’t use toilet paper or forks” and that the war could turn around “if, somehow, the Iraqis decided to behave like human beings.”
Media Matters published audio clips of Tucker Carlson’s calls to the Bubba the Love Sponge radio show between 2006 and 2011.
In one clip, Carlson said underage marriage is not “the same thing exactly as pulling a child from a bus stop and sexually assaulting that child… The rapist in this case has made a lifelong commitment to live and take care of the person so it is a little different.”
In another, Carlson described underage girls at Carlson’s daughter’s boarding school experimenting sexually with each other and said, “If it weren’t my daughter I would love that scenario.”
The Daily Beast says Carlson “appeared to defend statutory rape and called for the elimination of rape shield laws, among other things.”
Carlson responded that Media Matters “caught me saying something naughty.”
NowThis has obtained footage of Fox News host Tucker Carlson calling historian Rutger Bregman a “tiny brain moron” during an interview that the cable channel is now refusing to air.
Carlson added: “Why don’t you go fuck yourself.”
An Antifa angry mob gathered outside of Fox New’s anchor Tucker Carlson’s home on Wednesday evening, USA Today reports.
“The anti-fascists group, possibly associated with Smash Racism, D.C., chanted ‘Tucker Carlson, we will fight. We know where you sleep at night’ outside of Carlson’s D.C. home, according to Fox News. In a video posted online, the group can also be heard saying ‘racist scumbag, leave town!'”
Fox News host Tucker Carlson told the National Review that he can no longer go to most restaurants because he will be screamed at by people who dislike his political views.
Said Carlson: “I can’t really go to a lot of restaurants anymore because I get yelled at. I don’t feel threatened, but having someone scream, ‘Fuck you!’ at a restaurant, it just wrecks your meal.”
He added: “I can’t wait for this revolution to end, so I can go back out to dinner.”
“Michael Avenatti has to be regretting going on Tucker Carlson’s show right now… It was worse than you’re imagining,” the Daily Beast reports.
Politico: “Even if Avenatti has little chance of winning the nomination, he could still wreck the 2020 Democratic race.”
Taegan Goddard is the founder of Political Wire, one of the earliest and most influential political web sites. He also runs Political Job Hunt, Electoral Vote Map and the Political Dictionary.
Goddard spent more than a decade as managing director and chief operating officer of a prominent investment firm in New York City. Previously, he was a policy adviser to a U.S. Senator and Governor.
Goddard is also co-author of You Won - Now What? (Scribner, 1998), a political management book hailed by prominent journalists and politicians from both parties. In addition, Goddard's essays on politics and public policy have appeared in dozens of newspapers across the country.
Goddard earned degrees from Vassar College and Harvard University. He lives in New York with his wife and three sons.
Goddard is the owner of Goddard Media LLC.
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