The adoration of this country’s most dedicated racists is well documented on the Daily Stormer, though an exhaustive list of pro-Carlson pieces can’t happen in this space: In many cases, they are so hateful as to violate decency standards at The Post. Anglin, who runs the site, has issued a number of boosterish statements about Carlson, including describing him as a “machine of ultimate destruction” and “a one-man HOLOCAUST!”
Could this be an unfortunate coincidence? Is it possible that these racists aren’t fully understanding Carlson’s message? No, the danger is that they understand it all too well. Media Matters compiled a video of Carlson’s pronouncements about diversity and demographic change alongside those of alt-right/white nationalist figures. The upshot is that the Fox News host dresses his version of this ideology in belletristic flourishes with a shiny television studio backdrop, whereas the other folks are in less artistic formulations in pedestrian settings. For instance, Carlson once said on his program, “Latin American countries are changing election outcomes here by forcing demographic change on this country at a rate that American voters consistently say they don’t want.” White nationalist figure Christopher Cantwell said, “It sounds to me like we got a problem with people who got here illegally altering the landscape politically. I don’t like it. F— you. Stop it.”
The Erik Wemple Blog asked Carlson to respond to the implications of the BuzzFeed analysis. We haven’t heard back. The reason the question needs to be posed to Carlson is that he has deflected the matter with his characteristic extemporaneous brilliance when it has been presented to him in the past. A year ago, the Erik Wemple Blog told Carlson that former KKK grand wizard David Duke had spoken approvingly of his work: “HA HA HA HA HA HA! It’s so stupid! It was like, when you went into journalism, I bet you never thought you’d find yourself in a place where you ask fake questions like that. And I bet your younger self would have hated your current self,” Carlson responded.
In a Columbia Journalism Review profile by Lyz Lenz, Carlson said, “It’s like, ‘Oh, creepy people like your show. Therefore, you shouldn’t have a show.’ What? How could you go along with that? I don’t understand. Like, that’s the lowest form … that’s so contemptible. And it’s, it’s amazing to me that that kind of goes on uniformly. Shut up. You’re a bad person. Go away. You’re fired now. What? Tell me what he did wrong. Speak slowly so that I can understand. What did he say that’s untrue? What did he say that’s not allowed? What’s the right position? Why don’t you explain it to me? Shut up, Nazi.”
And in a recent Playboy interview, Carlson riffed:
Does it bother you when a neo-Nazi website like the Daily Stormer calls you “literally our greatest ally”?
I don’t want to get into it, because it sounds disingenuous, but I’m 49 years old and I don’t think I’ve ever met a white supremacist. I’ve been to every state at least twice. I’ve traveled a lot and talked to everyone. I talk to every Uber driver and every bartender and every lady dropping off the dry cleaning. I talk to everybody all the time. I’ve never met anyone who’s like, “I want a white ethno-state.”Are you saying you don’t think white supremacists exist?
No. I don’t doubt they exist. But the idea that white nationalism is a mainstream position is just absurd. I’m sure there are people who will defend North Korea. I had one on my show. But let’s be real: Neither that nor white nationalism is a relevant position to the current debate. I don’t think I’m an extremist. I’m pretty moderate by temperament.
All of which is to say, no one talks his way around a white-nationalist problem as effectively as Tucker Carlson.
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