The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly

 

The good:

New rumblings are emerging about a new political party being concocted by betrayed MAGA luminaries, but according to the D.C. insiders at Pod Save America, these rumors actually pose a disaster for President Donald Trump and his allies, as well as "a gift to Democrats like you cannot imagine."

In the latest episode of the "Pod Save America" podcast, former Obama administration officials Jon Favreau and Dan Pfeiffer touched on the emerging rumors that ex-Fox News host Tucker Carlson might be plotting a run for president, as well as the rumors about a new political party that might coalesce around him. The rumors went into overdrive after former congresswoman-turned-Trump critic Marjorie Taylor Greene shared a photo to X of herself at Carlson's Maine compound, alongside Rep. Thomas Massie and Joe Kent, along with the caption, "The movement has begun."

"MAGA was betrayed. We all were. It's time for a new path forward," she added in another post.

While Carlson has denied any presidential ambitions, he did last week release a "10-point plan for America," outlining his vision for the future of the country, something that Favreau, Obama's one-time director of speechwriting, said "sounds pretty 'I'm going to run in 2028.'"

The hosts of Pod Save America, especially former National Security Council spokesman Tommy Vieter, have long despaired about the possibility of Carlson running for president, given that his established popularity with the GOP base and his well-honed media skills could make him a highly effective "demagogue." In light of this news, however, Pfieffer, Obama's former senior communications adviser, argued that Carlson's political threat to Democrats was entirely neutralized and that he would instead become a major threat to MAGA Republicans.

"There's been a lot of talk of Tucker Carlson being a formidable presidential candidate because of his media skills, mainly because of his media skills," Pfeiffer explained. "That was always under the assumption he would be the Republican nominee, right? Tucker Carlson, a third-party candidate, is a gift to Democrats like you cannot imagine."

He continued: "There aren't a lot of potential John Ossoff, [Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez], Kamala Harris, Gavin Newsom, Josh Shapiro voters who are voting for Tucker Carlson, but there are a lot of disillusioned Trump 2024 voters who might vote for Tucker Carlson. That's how you win. So that would be very good news. Like, we should encourage this. This would be great... It does speak to how much the MAGA coalition has truly fractured under Trump's second term, right? Because of Epstein, apparently because of the war, there are these incredibly prominent people with large audiences who have soured on Trump."

Every day that the bastards are fighting amongst themselves and splintering is a good day, for Democrats and for democracy.

The bad:

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has rejected President Trump's 15-point peace plan for Gaza, saying Israeli forces will not withdraw from Gaza until Hamas is "genuinely disarmed."

"We are talking about genuine disarmament, not fictitious disarmament," he said at a meeting with government ministers Sunday.

Netanyahu's comments come just over a week after President Trump announced that his Board of Peace had reached a deal with the Palestinian militant group to completely give up its weapons.

"Today, the Board of Peace reached a HISTORIC agreement for the COMPLETE DISARMAMENT of Hamas and all other armed groups in Gaza. This is a monumental step toward lasting PEACE and SECURITY," Trump wrote on social media in late July.

Under Trump's proposed peace deal, Board of Peace officials said Hamas and other militant groups would hand their arms over to a vetted international policing force.

But a senior Hamas official previously told NPR that the group would only hand over their weapons if Israel withdrew from parts of Gaza first...

Given that the Malignant Fascist is a pathological liar without the slightest knowledge base about the Middle East or skill in negotiation, combined with a toddler's attention span and attention to detail, it wasn't hard to imagine that the HISTORIC agreement he rashly trumpeted was just a creation of his desperate, diminished mind.  At best, he thought he could bum rush Netanyahu into agreeing to an agreement by making a premature announcement -- a classic Shart of the Deal move by him.  But he ends up looking like he got played like a fiddle (which he was).  He puts American prestige and lives on the line every day just to make his worthless orange self look as good as he can.  That this disgraceful behavior isn't called out for what it is every day in our credulous, broken media is another scandal of our times.

The ugly:

President Donald Trump has found a new way to go after politicians he doesn’t like: dragging their marriages into his political feuds.

On Saturday, the 80-year-old president unleashed a flurry of posts on Truth Social, including one targeting Democratic Michigan Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed, 41, and his wife.

The post paired a photo of Trump and Melania Trump, 56, with one of El-Sayed and his wife, Dr. Sarah Jukaku, putting the two couples side by side beneath the typo-riddled caption: “Two VERY DIFFERENT America’s.”

 

Trump also singled out El-Sayed’s full name, identifying him as “Abdulrahman Mohamed El-Sayed”—a pointed choice that echoes his repeated emphasis on Barack Obama’s middle name, “Hussein.”

When asked about Trump’s post on CNN’s State of the Union on Sunday, El-Sayed agreed that the two marriages represented “two very different Americas,” but turned the president’s jab back on him. He contrasted what he described as a marriage between “two people who don’t like each other” but are united by their shared interest in making “billions of dollars off of you” with his own relationship with Jukaku, which he said is rooted in genuine love, family, and even enjoying “some pancakes together.”...

The MF's completely on-brand racist, Islamophobic post got many more pointed rebukes from social media pointing out truths about his third wife and marriage, but JFC what a piece of shit we have representing our country, always in the most despicable ways possible.  Two very different Americas, indeed.

His Final Lie

 

Oh, the schadenfreude, it tingles!

(h/t democraticundergound.com)

New Texts From Dominion's Suit Against Fox

Late yesterday, new text messages within Fox "News" were released from the ongoing defamation lawsuit by Dominion Voting Systems. As the texts released last week indicate, there was incredible fear among their hyper-partisan evening hosts about telling their delusional viewers the truth about the 2020 election. The New York Times reports on their difficulty in just telling the truth:

"It had been more than a week since the news networks projected that Joseph R. Biden Jr. would become the next president. And Tucker Carlson, Sean Hannity and Laura Ingraham were at a loss about what to say on the air.'

'What are we all going to do tmrw night?' Ms. Ingraham, the host of the 10 p.m. show on Fox News, asked her colleagues in a text message chain on Nov. 16, 2020.

Mr. Carlson responded that he planned to devote a significant chunk of his program to a little-known voting technology company that had become a target of Trump supporters who suspected the election had been rigged: Dominion Voting Systems.

'Haven’t said a word about it so far,' Mr. Carlson said, acknowledging that the conspiracy theories about Dominion’s purported role in a fictitious plot to siphon away votes from President Donald J. Trump were making him uneasy.

'The whole thing seems insane to me,' he wrote. 'And Sidney Powell won’t release the evidence. Which I hate.' Ms. Powell, a legal adviser to the Trump campaign, was 'making everyone paranoid and crazy, including me,' Mr. Carlson added."  (our emphasis)

The newly-released texts also underline just how much the hosts, Putin-friendly Tucker "Tovarich" Carlson in particular, despised the Malignant Loser in private and, by extension, his cult members that made up their audience:

"Some of Mr. Carlson’s private remarks about Mr. Trump are difficult to square with the praise he has lavished on the former president publicly. At times, the host and his producers were gleeful about what a news cycle without Mr. Trump would look like. And they cheerfully predicted his waning power as a political force.

'We are very, very close to being able to ignore Trump most nights,' Mr. Carlson wrote to members of his staff on Jan. 4, 2021. 'I truly can’t wait.'

One producer replied, 'I want nothing more.'

Then Mr. Carlson responded, 'I hate him passionately.'” (our emphasis)

Just one day after the Trumpist insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, Carlson and his team anticipated the Malignant Loser's rapid decline in power, and attendant chaos and anger. Only when it became clear that he still held sway over his cult / their viewers, did they revert to their support for him:

"When Mr. Carlson again predicts that Mr. Trump’s clout will fade as he 'becomes incalculably less powerful' out of office, one of his producers frets that the last weeks of Mr. Trump’s presidency could bring even more chaos and danger.

'The Trump anger spiral is vicious,' the producer tells his boss.

'That’s for sure,' Mr. Carlson responds.

'Deadly,' the host adds. We’ve got two weeks left. We can do this.'”  (our emphasis)

Following Carlson's disgraceful and dishonest whitewashing of the January 6 insurrection in the past two nights on his program, these releases help to paint him as a hollow, hating propagandist, willing to say anything even if he doesn't believe it.

BONUS: The Guardian has more, including a text by Carlson commenting on the Malignant Loser's legacy:

"In another text, Carlson said of 'the last four years' under Trump, 'We’re all pretending we’ve got a lot to show for it, because admitting what a disaster it’s been is too tough to digest. But come on. There isn’t really an upside to Trump.'”  (our emphasis)

 

(photo: Justin Lane / EPA) 

 

The Carlson Cut: "See! It Wasn't An Insurrection After All!"

Continuing the Fox "News" brand of feeding the rubes the hateful lies they live on, Putin stooge Tucker Carlson is doing exactly what was predicted with the January 6 insurrection tapes provided to him by Squeaker of the House Kevin "Qevin" McCarthy:

Fox News host Tucker Carlson on Monday released security video from the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, using footage provided exclusively to him by Speaker Kevin McCarthy to portray the riot as a peaceful gathering.

Carlson acquired the tapes as part of a push by McCarthy, R-Calif., to win the speaker’s gavel. When McCarthy was struggling to gather the votes to lead the House, Carlson used his program to list two “concessions” he could make to win over far-right Republicans.  [snip]

Carlson focused Monday’s segment on promoting former President Donald Trump’s narrative by showing video of his supporters walking calmly around the U.S. Capitol. He asserted that other media accounts lied about the attack, proclaiming that while there were some bad apples, most of the rioters were peaceful and calling them "sightseers," not "insurrectionists."

“The footage does not show an insurrection or a riot in progress,” Carlson told his audience Monday. “Instead it shows police escorting people through the building, including the now-infamous ‘QAnon Shaman.’”

He continued: "More than 44,000 hours of surveillance footage from in and around the Capitol have been withheld from the public, and once you see the video, you’ll understand why. Taken as a whole, the video does not support the claim that Jan. 6 was an insurrection. In fact, it demolishes that claim."  (our emphasis)

The hours of violent, deadly combat that the Trumpists engaged in with Capitol and D.C. Police?  Didn't fit Carlson's whitewashing narrative, so cut!  Any broader perspective of the insurrection as the militarized arm of the plan to stop the certification of the electoral votes and overturn the free and fair election?  Didn't fit Carlson's whitewashing narrative, so cut! 

This isn't "opinion";  it's vile, malicious propaganda only serving the interests of the violent, insurrectionist right and their authoritarian heroes, Trump and war criminal Putin.  Carlson's efforts to memory hole the insurrection are just part of the fabric of lies he weaves every weeknight on Fox, whether it's lies about the election results, lies about a "deep state," lies about "woke ideology," etc., ad nauseam.  He's becoming a one- man wrecking crew of American democracy, more dangerous in his own way than the Malignant Loser and his imitators.  But as long as he serves the Murdochs' interest in "green," he'll keep the wrecking ball swinging. 

BONUS:  We heartily endorse what VoteVets is asking the Pentagon to do with this propaganda rat's nest.  It's long overdue --

 

 

BONUS II:  via democraticunderground.com (click on image to enlarge) --

(Image:  The one true thing ever shown on Carlson's lie fest/ screenshot)

The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly

 

The good:

In revealing Friday that it is considering building a U.S. factory for electric vehicles, German automaker Audi became the latest company to signal that the Biden administration’s support for high-tech and green-energy manufacturing is bearing fruit.

The German carmaker joins a string of manufacturers of cars, computer chips, batteries and solar panels that have announced concrete plans or tentative prospects for boosting U.S. production, all drawn at least in part by subsidies and tax breaks rolled out in White House-backed legislation.

Some of the projects could fail to materialize, and there are larger economic factors motivating the investments. But it’s clear that incentives in the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) and the bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) are helping spark the activity, said Willy Shih, a manufacturing expert at Harvard Business School.

“What it’s done is it’s stimulated a huge wave of new capacity building in the U.S. for EVs and EV materials and batteries,” he said. “I used to be a skeptic about the practicalities of bringing manufacturing back to the U.S. Now that I see the impact of the IIJA and Inflation Reduction Act, my observation is, well, that seems to be working.”

Cautious optimism abides.

The bad:

The fiery derailment of a freight train carrying hazardous chemicals in eastern Ohio is coming to represent bigger societal failures. It’s a story about profit-driven rail companies underinvesting in safety, lobbyists weakening rail regulation, and the government’s failure to assure residents’ security from lingering toxins.

But in certain right-wing media precincts, the disaster is about something else: A campaign of discrimination being waged against White people.

“East Palestine is overwhelmingly White, and it’s politically conservative,” Fox News’s Tucker Carlson recently said of the roughly 4,700 residents of the disaster zone. “That shouldn’t be relevant,” he added, but “it very much is.”

It very much isn’t. But ever since the Feb. 3 disaster, Carlson and his comrades have sought to transform East Palestine’s plight into a tale about “woke” Democrats abandoning White communities in the virtuous, forgotten heartland.

What this illustrates is how the right uses race-baiting to deceive people into forgetting that Democrats are now the far more committed party when it comes to investing in such left-behind communities.

Central to Carlson’s insinuation about the “relevance” of East Palestine’s Whiteness is the conduct of Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg. Carlson cites recent remarks by Buttigieg about the construction industry’s racial makeup, sneering that Buttigieg has been neglecting East Palestine specifically to focus on a more “pressing problem,” that “we have too many White construction workers.”

Two-legged rat Carlson, in particular among fascist screechers, is functioning nightly almost exclusively as a rabid, pro-Putin racist perfectly happy to see America burnt to the ground if it accomplishes his cherished goal of a Christofacist autocracy.

The ugly: 

Twitter and Tesla chief Elon Musk defended Scott Adams, the under-fire creator of “Dilbert,” in a series of tweets Sunday, blasting media organizations for dropping his comic strip after Adams said that White people should “get the hell away from Black people.”

Replying to tweets about the controversy, Musk said it is actually the media that is “racist against whites & Asians.” He offered no criticism of Adams’s comments, in which the cartoonist called Black people a “hate group” and said, “I don’t want to have anything to do with them.”

Musk previously tweeted, then later deleted, a reply to Adams’s tweet about media outlets pulling his comic strip, in which Musk asked, “What exactly are they complaining about?”

The billionaire’s comments continue a pattern of Musk expressing more concern about the “free speech” of people who make racist or antisemitic comments than about the comments themselves. Musk’s views on race have been the subject of scrutiny both at Twitter, where he has reinstated far-right accounts, including those of neo-Nazis and others previously banned for hate speech, and at Tesla, which has been the subject of multiple lawsuits alleging a culture of rampant racism and sexual harassment in the workplace.

Private companies are under no obligation to run Adams' comic strip.  They're free to drop it if they believe its author is a racist slug, or for any other reason.  Adams is also free to make racist comments; it's just the consequences he and Musk don't like.  As for noted American history and constitutional law expert Musk?  Well, what else would you expect from that p.o.s.?

The Extreme Right's Pro-Kremlin Fifth Column

 

The Guardian has a lengthy and important story about the pro-Kremlin right in this country, and how they are taking war criminal and thug Vladimir Putin's talking points to an American audience. The first paragraphs of the story are disturbing:

"Ever since Russia launched its brutal war in Ukraine the Kremlin has banked on American conservative political and media allies to weaken US support for Ukraine and deployed disinformation operations to falsify the horrors of the war for both US and Russian audiences, say disinformation experts.

Some of the Kremlin’s most blatant falsehoods about the war aimed at undercutting US aid for Ukraine have been promoted by major figures on the American right, from Holocaust denier and white supremacist Nick Fuentes to ex-Trump adviser Steve Bannon and Fox News star Tucker Carlson, whose audience of millions is deemed especially helpful to Russian objectives.

On a more political track, House Republican Freedom Caucus members such as Paul Gosar, Marjorie Taylor Greene and Scott Perry – who in May voted with 54 other Republican members against a $40bn aid package for Ukraine, and have raised other concerns about the war – have proved useful, though perhaps unwitting, Kremlin allies at times."  (our emphasis)

Tucker "Mothertucker" Carlson in particular has been an avid disseminator of Putin's messaging on Ukraine. Carlson sees Putin's interference in the 2016 and 2020 elections on the Malignant Loser's behalf, as well as his Christofascist policies, as the mark of an ally. Russian state television has made Carlson one of the most popular media personalities (also see here and here), as they play clips of his attacks on Ukraine and our policies.

Led by unhinged right-winger Marjorie Taylor "Traitor" Greene (Insurrection-GA), the House Republican Freedom Fascist Caucus is rife with fifth columnists who want to undermine our support of a democratic Ukraine, in favor of Russia's brutal and illegal invasion. They've ignored (or worse, adopted) Putin's numerous statements that he wants to destroy the U.S.'s influence in the world, and his April, 2005, annual message in which he declared that the fall of the Soviet Union to be the greatest political catastrophe of the 20th century. Putin's on a mission to recreate the geographic footprint of the Soviet Union, but as a anti-American fascist / imperialist entity, one that clearly has the support of some of the U.S.'s most prominent right-wingers.

 

Tool Talk With Trump And Tucker

The Malignant Loser and testicle- toasting frozen fish twit Tucker Carlson have a completely normal conversation about Ohio Republican Senate candidates:

In the days before Donald Trump endorsed J.D. Vance in Ohio’s Republican Senate primary, the former president huddled with his son, Don Jr., and several staffers at Mar-a-Lago. On the phone was Fox News host Tucker Carlson, a major ally of Vance’s.

After promising Trump that Vance was with him on the issues despite the candidate’s past anti-Trump comments, Carlson — according to three sources familiar with the matter — turned to a lurid closing argument. “You can’t trust” David McIntosh, the president of the conservative Club for Growth and a top backer of Vance’s rival Josh Mandel, Carlson claimed. McIntosh had just concluded his own phone call with Trump during that same midday meeting. The reason, Carlson asserted, is that McIntosh has an embarrassing and “chronic” personal sexual habit.

Rolling Stone cannot confirm the claim and will not repeat it. But during that phone call, the twice-impeached former president spent a notable amount of time gossiping and laughing about the prominent Republican’s penis and how “fucking disgusting” and “fucking gross” he allegedly was.

Trump had already displayed a long, abiding interest in Mandel’s own sex life, having spent months privately regurgitating and spreading salacious, unverified rumors that he’s heard about “fucking weird” Mandel’s supposed debauched ongoings. Carlson’s comments about the proclivities of Mandel’s patron threw both Trump and his son into fits of laughter.  (our emphasis)

It's bringing coals to Newcastle to point out how the lurid, sexually explicit rumors -- here being shared by the gossip guys (notably the Malignant Loser, credibly accused of 25 sexual assaults over time) -- are part and parcel of a long tradition of Republican sexual perversity attempting to hide behind the party's veneer of "traditional family values."  (You can search "Republican family values" on this website for examples of hypocritical Republican perverts and sexual assaulters.*  Jordan Weissmann compiled a list of notable Republicans involved in sex crimes against minors, just going back to 2006.)

It's a powerful testament to the rot and overwhelming sickness in our country that these bottom- feeders have cult followings in the many millions, and that they continue to be treated as serious leaders and influencers by their rotted out party and by our broken political media.

* Or, look here for one just convicted.

(Image:  Brandon Celi, New York Times)

Tucker Carlson's Cockumentary

 

If you've seen the recently- released trailer for Fox "News" fascist frozen fish heir Tucker "Mothertucker" Carlson's upcoming documentary cockumentary, "The End of Men," your first reaction might have been, "WTF, is this for real?"  The answer is yes!, and it has everything repressed- homoerotic art could provide and more (specifically, in the form of what appears to be a penis charging station):

I promise you are not prepared for Tucker's latest montage pic.twitter.com/8tdvYTW2cn

— nikki mccann ramírez (@NikkiMcR) April 16, 2022

 

In case you missed any of the blatant clues, here's Wonkette's brief synopsis of the trailer:

This week, Carlson dropped the trailer for his upcoming documentary "The End of Men," which I guess is supposed to be a montage of all of the things we are missing out on by murdering masculinity all the time.  

These activities include: muscled men doing pushups, muscled naked men shooting at bottles of canola oil, muscled men milking cows without a bucket (buckets are for ladies and girly men — real men just squirt the milk directly on the ground and lick it up), muscled men rasslin' ... and then a naked man charging his dick at a power station? I guess? Unless he's tanning his testicles, which is apparently also a thing for Tucker. Then half-naked muscled men flip some big tires, cut down a tree, and take a bath outside at what I am like 90 percent sure is the same terrible spa they went to on Real Housewives of Salt Lake City.

Then there is a manly bearded man standing outside at night gulping down a bunch of raw eggs, which I know from Rocky Horror is supposed to be a very manly thing to do, and after that I think it's another guy going into some kind of tanning situation.

For us, the trailer suffices as ample evidence of the rot between Tuck's ears.  He's an undeniably bizarre person, who unfortunately has a large and dedicated following that believes his dangerous, fascistic, cartoon-ish formulations.  But, of course, he's a ratings star for Fox, so even an embarrassment like his forthcoming cockumentary won't be "The End of Tucker."

BONUS:  Steve M. at No More Mister Nice Blog has more background on this.

 

Fox "News": Vaccines For Me, Not For Thee

Fox "News" (a.k.a Bullshit Mountain) has been in the forefront of vaccine disinformation and fear- mongering, especially after President Biden took office and began the historic push to vaccinate Americans against COVID.  It's prime time anchors -- notably Tucker Carlson and Laura Ingraham -- have railed against getting vaccinated, even though they won't say whether they've been vaccinated or not (spoiler alert: they have).  Rupert Murdoch was one of the first to get a shot in his withered arm.

The disregard for the lives and well- being of their devoted audience, while making sure they're protected, is part of the Fox culture, though, as made clear by a corporate policy that none of the shitmongers is willing to discuss:

Hypocrisy, spreading lies, and fear-mongering are all well-known staples over at Fox. But Monday’s news about how Fox Corporation has already implemented a vaccine passport-type program for its own employees that is similar to what hosts like Tucker Carlson and Laura Ingraham have loudly railed against is a window into how little they actually care about the well-being of the people who watch their shows.

Businesses that require employees to provide proof of vaccination, commonly referred to as a “vaccine passport,” have been slammed frequently on the network. Tucker Carlson has called the idea of issuing vaccination passports the medical equivalent of “Jim Crow” segregationist laws. Another host compared the requirements to communist East Germany, and Laura Ingraham has falsely claimed that such programs are akin to tracking mechanisms.

But so far not one host has told their audience about “FOX Clear Pass,” which works for Fox employees the same way most “vaccine passports” systems do in other businesses.

An internal Fox email, which was first reported by Ryan Grim and was also obtained by Rolling Stone, spells out how Fox employees were instructed how to enter their vaccination information into the company’s passport program called “FOX Clear Pass” in order to avoid Fox’s mandated requirements to social distance and wear masks while at work.

"Vaccines for me, not for thee" is what this collection of sociopaths masquerading as a news organization is saying.  Stirring up their viewers for political points, in this case in a self- defeating effort to foil the Biden Administration's efforts to save the lives of their own audience, is what they've always been about.  It's all part of the malignant former guy's attempts to tie doubts about the vaccine, to doubts about the Biden Administration, to doubts about the 2020 election. 

But this isn't about hypocrisy and lying to score points over immigration, or the economy, etc. This is hypocrisy and lying that has deadly consequences. And every day and every night, it takes hold deeper and deeper.

Off-The-Rails: Carlson Says NSA Monitoring Him

 

Listening to himself talk

You can add "clinically paranoid" to the list of descriptors of Fox "News" poo-flinger, white supremacist, cowardly demagogue, and misogynist twit Tucker "Mothertucker" Carlson, the Swanson food heir, fresh off of his smear of the U.S. military's top officer. Last night, according to reports (because we don't watch him), Carlson alleged that a "whistleblower" said the National Security Agency, America's signal intelligence crown jewel, was "monitoring" his "electronic communications, and is planning to leak them in a effort to take this show off the air."  NSA experts beg to differ with Carlson's tin foil nuttery:

I was technical director of NSA's largest operational division. There is 0% -- yes, ZERO -- chance that the Agency was spying on a major US media figure unless it involved incidental collection with a legitimate HoIS target @TuckerCarlson was talking to.https://t.co/fhUT0MO6H8

— John Schindler (@20committee) June 29, 2021

This isn't the first time recently that Carlson's paranoia has raged:

"Carlson has long stirred fears that US intelligence and law enforcement agencies are seeking to persecute ordinary conservatives. But has offered scant evidence in support of the claims and has been accused of seeking to whitewash violent right-wing extremism. 

In the wake of the January 6 riot Carlson claimed that a law-enforcement drive against white nationalist groups and other figures on the far right was part of the covert plot. 

In recent weeks he has spread the conspiracy theory that the FBI may have instigated the January 6 riot in order to entrap and discredit Trump supporters."  (our emphasis)

Of course, as John Schindler notes, there's a possibility that Carlson's communications could have been intercepted by the NSA, which monitors the communications of hostile foreign actors, if Mothertucker were in contact with them, which opens up a new field of inquiry. 

The Murdochs And Racist "Replacement Theory"

In subtle ways over time, but overtly in the past couple of months, the prime time crew at the Fux propaganda channel, led by malevolent frozen food heir Tucker "Mothertucker" Carlson, have been pushing the racist "Great (or white) replacement theory" to its radical right-wing audience. The "theory," popular with white supremacists, is that there is a conscious effort by Dems and the "deep state" to replace white populations with non-whites and change the demographics in their favor. That's textbook racism and more (recall the chant of the KKK / Nazi marchers in Charlottesville of "Jews will not replace us").

If they wanted to, the sinister Murdoch klan could halt Carlson' spread of that racist "theory" which has been pointed out by multiple sources (here, here, here and here by the Anti-Defamation League). Specifically, Lachlan Murdoch, the CEO of Fox Corp., has not only chosen not to sanction Carlson (who is their most popular evening propagandist), he's voiced support for him. As Media Matters notes in a lengthy analysis of Fux coddling the purveyor of racist speech, with Murdoch's tacit backing, other Fux propagandists have incorporated "white replacement theory" in their nightly diatribes. Of course, once it's aired on the Fux Channel, that is the "Bat signal" for Rethuglican hacks and all varieties of white supremacists to echo and spread the "theory."

If the FCC were less afraid of the Murdochs and intent on keeping racist and anti-Semitic garbage off the airwaves, the Murdochs might think twice about what their propagandists spew. Better still, advertisers might want to know that their products are being pushed at the same time racist memes are. That's "consequences culture."

(photo: Asked and answered)

What's That Trapped In Tucker Carlson's Head?

 

Jimmy Kimmel covers some of the right's bizarros, ranging from the Pillow Guy and Roger Stone, to Tucker Carlson and Ted Nugent.  Funny, as usual.

 

BONUS: More on that Carlson cackle --

The frozen fish heir is a dystopian villain

pic.twitter.com/QS2Q9jN9Z6

— Molly Jong-Fast🏡 (@MollyJongFast) April 22, 2021

 

 

ADL Letter To Murdoch: Time To Take Action Against Tucker Carlson

 

 

A portion of the letter sent to Fox Corporation's CEO Lachlan Murdoch from Jonathan A. Greenblatt, CEO and National Director of the Anti-Defamation League on April 12, reiterating that action needs to be taken regarding trust fund troll Tucker Carlson's bald- faced white supremacist "replacement theory" rants:

When Mr. Carlson says, "No country can import large numbers of people who hate it and expect to survive," he paints the plight of the white race as existential to his audience, telling them to view their neighbors as enemies and to fight against them for survival.  

When Mr. Carlson attacked the media for highlighting the replacement tweets of disgraced Representative Steve King, Fox didn’t act. When 23 people were killed in El Paso, shot by an avowedly white supremacist gunman trying to prevent "a Hispanic invasion" of the state, Mr. Carlson acted as an apologist, claiming that white supremacy in America was "not a real problem" and that the accusations against it were a "hoax." Fox still didn’t act.  

On Thursday Mr. Carlson lifted the already thin veil and embraced a foundational theory of white supremacy. At a time of intense polarization, this kind of rhetoric galvanizes extremists and lights the fire of violence. As a news organization with a responsibility to the public and as a corporation with a responsibility to its shareholders, it is time for you to act.

Make no mistake -- Carlson's fellow white supremacists are gleeful that he's broadcasting their odious beliefs:

 

The white nationalist site VDare called Tucker Carlson's monologue last night "one of the best things Fox News has ever aired" and praised it for being filled with "ideas and talking points" that VDare "pioneered many years ago." pic.twitter.com/7Jmx1Dr7gI

— Eric Hananoki (@ehananoki) April 13, 2021

 

Carlson is the top- rated hatemonger in the racist, nativist Fox "News" lineup.  Besides bringing in the rubes, he clearly represents the corporate culture at Fox.  Our replacement theory is that he won't be replaced.

(Image:  Asked and answered.)

Senior Military & Vets Slam Tucker Carlson For Misogynist Remarks

Fox "News" trust fund troll (Swanson's) Tucker Carlson, who never served a second in the military, reacted to President Biden's promotion of two women to four- star rank the other day by mocking pregnant women in service and whining that the military was becoming "more feminine" under Biden and was losing ground to the Chinese. Then he got his large, soft ass scorched.

Pentagon spokesperson John F. Kirby (Adm./USN/Ret.):

"What we absolutely won't do is take personnel advice from a talk show host or the Chinese military. Maybe those folks feel like they have something to prove — that's on them. We know we're the greatest military in the world today and even for all the things we need to improve, we know exactly why that's so."

 

Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-IL):

 

F*ck Tucker Carlson. While he was practicing his two-step, America’s female warriors were hunting down Al Qaeda and proving the strength of America’s women.

Happy belated International Women’s Day to everyone but Tucker, who even I can dance better than. pic.twitter.com/E4wchht9lA

— Tammy Duckworth (@TammyforIL) March 11, 2021

 

Vote Vets:

 

Women have laid down their lives for our military since before we were a nation. They have fought, bled, and died for @TuckerCarlson’s pathetic prep school ass to sit in that chair and mock them. We’re not gonna stand for it, and neither should you.#TraitorCarlson pic.twitter.com/0qeYpjkwir

— VoteVets (@votevets) March 11, 2021

 

 MGS Scott Stalker (USMC/Space Command): 

 

Drama TV - my response to Mr. Carlson’s comments on women in the Armed Forces. @TuckerCarlson pic.twitter.com/acix7CFLO9

— U.S. Space Command, Command Senior Enlisted Leader (@US_SpaceComCSEL) March 11, 2021

 

Maj. Gen. Patrick Donohue (USA):

 

This is me, yesterday, conducting a re-enlistment for one of the tens of thousands of women who serve in our Army. Just a reminder that @TuckerCarlson couldnt be more wrong. https://t.co/M1MHe5zHrf

— Patrick Donahoe (@PatDonahoeArmy) March 11, 2021

 

More here, here, and here. 

(Photo:  That punchable face...)

Fox "News" Hosts Hit With Rape And Sexual Misconduct Complaint

There may be more extended "vacations" announced at Fox "News":

Fox News has been hit with a kitchen sink suit, replete with trigger warning, as a complaint was filed on Monday in New York federal court alleging sexual misconduct by some of its top hosts including Sean Hannity and Tucker Carlson.

Jennifer Eckhart, a former associate producer on Fox Business Network, is a co-plaintiff in the suit. The most serious claim pertains to Eckhart's allegation that she was raped by former White House chief correspondent Ed Henry, who earlier this month was fired by Fox News as a result of the charge. [snip]

Cathy Areu is the other co-plaintiff in this case, which also asserts Fox News subjected women to a hostile workplace.

Once an on-air regular on Fox News, Areu says she was victimized by Henry through a "slew of wildly inappropriate sexual images and messages." The complaint details the contents of these messages.

Additionally, Areu targets several of Fox News' other stars. She alleges that Hannity once threw $100 on the desk of his set and called for the men around to take her on a date for drinks. She says that Carlson once probed to see whether she'd be interested in a sexual relationship. She accuses Howard Kurtz of inviting her to a hotel room. After allegedly spurning advances or enduring comments, Areu says she stopped being invited to appear on each of their respective programs. The three Fox News hosts are co-defendants in the suit and face claims of retaliation.

The full complaint is at the link above.

For years, any sentient person could see Hannity and Carlson were smarmy, toxic personalities in more ways than one.  Hopefully, women aren't letting them get away with their behavior anymore, and Fox won't be able to pay for their silence as they once did.

Reactions:

Two former Fox employees have filed a sexual misconduct lawsuit against Sean Hannity, Tucker Carlson, Ed Henry, and others.

The lying and misogyny are "Fair & Balanced" across the whole network!

— Brian O'Sullivan (@osullivanauthor) July 21, 2020

The details in this lawsuit, which accuses Ed Henry of brutally raping former Fox News employee Jennifer Eckhart, are extremely brutal and horrific.

The text messages included in the suit are really jawdropping.https://t.co/ixharnUKRJ

— Justin Baragona (@justinbaragona) July 20, 2020

 

You have reached the Fox News Sexual Assault Hotline.

If you were assaulted by Sean Hannity, press 1.

If you were assaulted by Tucker Carlson, press 2.

If you were assaulted by Ed Henry, press 3.

Otherwise, stay on the line for the operator and tell them who assaulted you.

— Middle Age Riot (@middleageriot) July 20, 2020

 

Fox News was run by Roger Ailes, employed Bill O’Reilly, and literally doesn’t allow women to wear pants, so I’m not sure how anyone is surprised that other men who work there are sexual predators.

— The Volatile Mermaid (@OhNoSheTwitnt) July 21, 2020

 

Monday Reading

As always, please go to the links for the full articles/ op eds.

Brian Resnick writes as more and more states reopen, what many have predicted about a Covid-19 surge is coming true:

One month ago, I asked epidemiologist Tara Smith if she was worried about states loosening their stay-at-home orders, despite most not meeting the government’s criteria for doing so.

“I am really fearful that by June 1 or June 15, after we’ve seen a couple weeks to a month of [state reopenings], that our cases are going to be climbing,” said Smith, a professor at the Kent State University College of Public Health.

Well, here we are. It’s June 12, and Covid-19 hospitalizations are rising in Arizona, the Carolinas, Utah, Arkansas, Texas, Tennessee, and perhaps Florida. Those states are also seeing higher numbers of positive Covid-19 tests, as well as increases in the percentage of tests that come back positive. This indicates that the higher case counts aren’t simply due to more widespread testing finding milder cases.

Call it a reopening backfire. But really: No expert thought that reopening this quickly was going to work in the first place. [snip]

Many states opened up in early May, hoping the economy would recover while a winning battle against Covid-19 continued apace.

Unfortunately, it’s now clear that in the areas where the virus has come roaring back, few gains against it were made in the last month.

"We managed to disrupt our economy [and] skyrocket unemployment, and we didn’t control the damn virus,” said Jeff Shaman, an infectious disease modeler at Columbia University.  (our emphasis)

Bunker Boy walked away from the battle with his impeccable lack of courage, judgement and accountability, and most states were hard pressed to resist the pressure.  So, here we are with the virus still not contained.

David Von Drehle revisits one of Bunker Boy's biggest promises during the 2016 campaign, that he would "bring back" the coal industry.  How's that working out for Mr. Fix-It?

Peabody (formerly Peabody Energy) is by far the largest coal producer in the United States, according to the federal Energy Information Administration. With mines throughout the country, the company suffered under the anti-coal policies of the Obama administration and entered bankruptcy in 2016.* Trump was speaking Peabody’s language when he pledged to end “the war on coal.” Under the new administration, the reorganized company roared out of bankruptcy and back into the Fortune 500.

Initially, things looked good. By June 2018, Peabody’s stock was selling for nearly $47 per share. But now that Trump has had more time to work his magic, Peabody is hemorrhaging, and its share price has plunged to less than $3.50.

Arch Coal is the next largest outfit, with 13 percent of the U.S. market in 2018. Its share price has fared better than Peabody’s, despite losing more than 60 percent of its value during Trump’s time in office.

The No. 3 and No. 4 producers in the EIA rankings, Cloud Peak Energy and Murray Energy, are both in bankruptcy. Fifth on the list is Alliance Resource Partners (ARP), headquartered in Tulsa, where Trump plans to hold his first covid-era rally on June 19 [now 20th]. ARP chief executive Joe Craft is a product of impoverished Eastern Kentucky who bootstrapped his way into the billionaire class. He donated $1 million for the Trump inauguration festivities, and his wife, Kelly Craft, is now U.S. ambassador to the United Nations.

Craft’s company has not fared well, either.

Not that any of that matters to the "economically anxious" voters in Coal Country, who continue to support him.  It's much more important that they hate the same people Bunker Boy does than that they're the continuing victims of his lies.  [*Ed.--  see comments by Mart.]

Media critic Erik Wemple dissects Fox "News" trust fund baby Tucker "Mothertucker" Carlson's style of attack and his unraveling during the Black Lives Matter protests:

As long as there was violence associated with the protests, there was a segment for “Tucker Carlson Tonight.” By last weekend, however, the clashes and violence had diminished.

A change of gears, accordingly, was in store for “Tucker Carlson Tonight.” On Monday, he denounced the growing cultural influence of the Black Lives Matter movement: “America went insane over the weekend. ... This was without precedent in the modern era, a small group of highly aggressive, emotionally charged activists took over our culture. They forced the entire country to obey their will. It all happened so fast and with such ferocity that virtually no one resisted it.”

As the host decried this new and “insane” America, he himself sounded more and more unhinged. Republican Sen. Mitt Romney of Utah had taken part in a D.C. protest and declared that we need to find "a way to end violence and brutality and to make sure that people understand that black lives matter.” Carlson couldn’t handle it: “Mitt just wants to make sure that Americans understand, get through their thick heads that black lives matter, as if Americans didn’t know that.”

That's when Mothertucker went for the "they're coming for you" racist bullhorn and the sponsors started bailing.

American Paul Whelan was sentenced today in Russia for espionage:

Former Marine Paul Whelan was sentenced to 16 years of hard labor in a Russian prison for espionage Monday, the conclusion to a case that has added tension to already strained relations between the United States and Russia.

Whelan, 50, said throughout the trial that he was framed. His lawyer, Vladimir Zherebenkov, said his client was unwittingly handed a flash drive containing “state secrets” while visiting Russia for a wedding in late 2018. Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Whelan was caught “red-handed.”

As these games are played, an exchange with a Russian asset held in the U.S. is expected.  May we suggest Bunker Boy for Whelan?

We close by recommending a visit to Infidel 753's link round- up to posts from around the internet. Every week, he assembles an impressive array of links on various topics.  (While you're there, check out his list of essential books -- good companions for these times.)

BONUS:  Time for one more acknowledgement of Bunker Boy's birthday yesterday (h/t Mock Paper Scissors) --

Right-Wing Smear Mystery Deepens

The intrigue surrounding the Dominican prostitution smear of New Jersey Sen. Robert Menendez is expanding to implicate the right-wing web site The Daily Caller, run by bow-tied B.S.-er  Tucker "Mothertucker" Carlson.  A prosecutor in the Dominican Republic is saying that the attorney representing the prostitutes that Menendez was accused of procuring said that he was offered money by someone claiming to represent The Daily Caller to plant the story.

Mothertucker, of course, is denying any involvement in the alleged payments.  If his outfit is proven to have been involved, it would fit the pattern of right-wing media organizations (Breitbart and James "G. Gordon Diddy" O'Keefe come to mind) that will lie and fabricate to bring political opponents down.  This time, however, the FBI is on the case for possible criminal violations, so stay tuned.

(photo:  Pee-Wee Herman called and he wants his bow tie back)

Department of Unintentional Hilarity

It appears that failed TV wingnut pundit Tucker "Mothertucker" Carlson has launched a new web "venture" -- if by venture you mean something destined to end in the toilet. He's calling it "The Daily Caller" and it's supposed to be about "covering the people in power", i.e. another right-wing smear site.

Mothertucker claims that the site will play it straight, but what does his venture look like? His partner is a former aide to The Dick, his opinion editor is a former Rethuglican National Committee press secretary, and his web is receiving major funding from a big-time Wyoming Rethuglican donor. (The subheading to Zowie Howie Kurtz's WaPo piece in the print edition is "Tucker Carlson and company say their site will maintain nonpartisan civility." Yes, and Jesus rode dinosaurs.)

"The Daily Caller:" we're betting most people won't be answering the calls.

More Hilarity: Read James Wolcott's take on Mothertucker's money pit.

(photo: Ta-da! Mothertucker announces his new web site with uncustomary fanfare)

*ucker Carlson Getting the Ax

Another wanker bites the dust! News that *ucker Carlson's teevee show is being canceled can only bring smiles to our faces. The "show" hosted by the preppy beneficiary of wingnut welfare (daddy's connections) has been tanking in the ratings for some time. It's believed that MSNBC is looking for a more "newsy" program, but we're hoping it gives (gasp!) a progressive a chance to fill the time slot before Tweety comes on to foul the airwaves. John Ridley? Mika Brzezinski? Rachel Maddow? Just not another former country club towel boy.

UPDATE: It looks like David Gregory, famous for his dancing with Karl Rove at a recent White House Press Correspondents' dinner, is replacing *ucker. Dancin' Dave, the tap dancing "journalist."

Ta Ta, Tucker?

The New York Observer is reporting that right wing preppy pundit Tucker "Mothertucker" Carlson may be on the way out at MSNBC. At least MSNBC is being very noncommittal about Mothertucker's future there.