Tag: Tucker Carlson replacement rhetoric

With Murdoch’s Encouragement, Carlson Promotes White Nationalist ‘Replacement’ Theory

National Memo logo

When Fox Corp. CEO Lachlan Murdoch replied in April to the firestorm caused by his star Fox News host, Tucker Carlson, passionately invoking the “great replacement” conspiracy theory favored by white nationalists, Murdoch chose to lie. 

“A full review of the guest interview indicates that Mr. Carlson decried and rejected replacement theory,” Murdoch wrote. This was obviously and insultingly false. Carlson had explicitly endorsed its core tenets during the April 8 segment, saying that “the Democratic Party is trying to replace the current electorate, the voters now casting ballots, with new people, more obedient voters from the Third World.” White nationalists themselves knew better: They praised the Fox host for bringing their talking points to his massive audience.

His boss’ dishonest comment was a green light for Carlson to continue to promote that conspiracy theory — and the host took it as such. Over the past two months, as Carlson became the face of Fox, “replacement” has proven a dominant theme of his program. It also spread to other Foxpersonalities and, increasingly, to Republican political operatives and politicians as well. Given Carlson’s sway over both his network and the GOP, that trend is likely to continue. Continue reading.

Tucker Carlson’s toxic ‘replacement’ rhetoric gets picked up in the House

Washington Post logo

From the moment Fox News’s Tucker Carlson explicitly advocated the idea that immigrants are “replacing” real Americans — a rhetorical construct popular among self-proclaimed white nationalists — the danger was obvious. Carlson and allies such as author J.D. Vance like to position the outcry over his comments as being centered on his purported willingness to speak truth to power. The reality, though, is that Carlson is espousing an obviously false line in an effort to both denigrate Democrats as desperate and to cast immigrants as a dangerous force aimed at toppling America as we know it. The more this dishonest rhetoric spreads, the more risk it poses.

On Wednesday morning, it was offered by a sitting member of the House.

A subcommittee of the House Foreign Affairs Committee was meeting to examine the root causes of migration from Central American countries that make up a disproportionate portion of migrants seeking to cross the U.S.-Mexico border. The State Department’s envoy to the region, Ricardo Zúniga, was offering testimony on the subject when Rep. Scott Perry (R-Pa.) was given the floor. Continue reading.