1 00:00:21,990 --> 00:00:23,990 LAST WEEK TONIGHT WITH JOHN OLIVER 2 00:00:27,910 --> 00:00:32,070 Hi! Welcome to the show. Still taking place in this blank void. 3 00:00:32,150 --> 00:00:35,750 Tomorrow is the void's birthday. So, happy one year, void! 4 00:00:36,150 --> 00:00:38,310 I've never said this to a one-year-old 5 00:00:38,390 --> 00:00:40,910 but I sincerely hope that you stop existing soon! 6 00:00:41,030 --> 00:00:44,230 A busy week. We marked the anniversary of Chet Hanks telling us 7 00:00:44,310 --> 00:00:47,630 that his parents were "not trippin'" over their coronavirus diagnoses, 8 00:00:47,790 --> 00:00:52,030 a bidder spent $70 million on a JPG created by an artist called "Beeple", 9 00:00:52,270 --> 00:00:53,990 a string of words that apparently make sense, 10 00:00:54,070 --> 00:00:57,550 and last Sunday, Meghan Markle and her unemployed husband 11 00:00:57,710 --> 00:01:00,190 opened up about racism in the royal family. 12 00:01:00,350 --> 00:01:03,390 It was an interview so shocking, it merited not one, not two 13 00:01:03,510 --> 00:01:08,350 but three dramatic Oprah "What?"s and of all the idiotic responses, 14 00:01:08,430 --> 00:01:11,710 from Megyn Kelly calling Markle defenders "paternalistic wokesters" 15 00:01:11,830 --> 00:01:14,070 to Piers Morgan walking off set in a huff, 16 00:01:14,190 --> 00:01:16,230 this was perhaps the boldest. 17 00:01:16,750 --> 00:01:20,390 I would put it to you: nobody in the world, in history, 18 00:01:20,750 --> 00:01:24,390 has done more for people of color than the British royal family. 19 00:01:24,790 --> 00:01:29,630 The word "for" there is the absolute worst preposition. 20 00:01:29,710 --> 00:01:32,350 Any other would be better. "Nobody in the world" 21 00:01:32,430 --> 00:01:35,750 "has done more to people of color than the British royal family"? Sure. 22 00:01:35,830 --> 00:01:38,430 "Nobody has done more through people of color" 23 00:01:38,510 --> 00:01:40,670 "than the British royal family"? Absolutely. 24 00:01:40,750 --> 00:01:43,430 Even "Nobody has done more above people of color" 25 00:01:43,550 --> 00:01:46,590 "than the British royal family" would make more sense. 26 00:01:46,670 --> 00:01:49,270 I'm gonna present this picture with no further commentary 27 00:01:49,430 --> 00:01:52,350 and you can tell me whether that sentence stands up or not. 28 00:01:52,430 --> 00:01:55,350 I would say that that was the most ridiculous claim made this week, 29 00:01:55,430 --> 00:01:57,630 but here in New York, Governor Cuomo responded 30 00:01:57,710 --> 00:01:59,950 to the growing number of women accusing him of harassment, 31 00:02:00,070 --> 00:02:02,630 including a new incident that's been referred to police, 32 00:02:02,710 --> 00:02:05,030 by calling a press conference to deny those claims 33 00:02:05,110 --> 00:02:09,270 and speculating about why many in his party have called for his resignation. 34 00:02:09,670 --> 00:02:13,470 Part of this is that I am not part of the political club. 35 00:02:14,430 --> 00:02:16,910 And you know what? I'm proud of it. 36 00:02:17,550 --> 00:02:21,510 That is the former HUD secretary, former New York attorney general, 37 00:02:21,630 --> 00:02:23,870 current chair of the National Governors Association 38 00:02:23,990 --> 00:02:25,870 and son of a three-term governor, 39 00:02:25,950 --> 00:02:28,390 claiming he's not part of the political club. 40 00:02:28,470 --> 00:02:32,030 It's like hearing David Miscavige say he's not part of the Scientology club. 41 00:02:32,230 --> 00:02:34,670 Yes, you are. That's obviously false. 42 00:02:34,790 --> 00:02:36,310 We all know where his heart is, 43 00:02:36,430 --> 00:02:38,390 which is a lot more than we can say about his wife. 44 00:02:38,510 --> 00:02:43,070 Where's Shelly, David? Where's Shelly? Yeah, I'm sure she's fine. 45 00:02:43,630 --> 00:02:45,070 But the biggest news this week 46 00:02:45,230 --> 00:02:48,390 was the passage of the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan. 47 00:02:48,550 --> 00:02:51,910 The passing of it is a very big deal, as it involves, among other things, 48 00:02:52,030 --> 00:02:55,830 direct payments of $1400 to many Americans. 49 00:02:56,190 --> 00:02:59,870 Which is why it is so strange that the communications chair of the DNC 50 00:02:59,990 --> 00:03:02,350 decided to celebrate it by tweeting this. 51 00:03:05,390 --> 00:03:06,470 Hi. 52 00:03:06,750 --> 00:03:09,630 "Democrats just passed the American Rescue Plan" 53 00:03:11,190 --> 00:03:13,710 "With no Republican support, by the way." 54 00:03:15,230 --> 00:03:19,270 "It's one of the most progressive bills în U.S. history." 55 00:03:19,470 --> 00:03:22,870 "2/3rds of payments and tax cuts benefit bottom 60 percent." 56 00:03:23,630 --> 00:03:26,270 "Wanna know how much goes to top one percent?" 57 00:03:26,350 --> 00:03:27,910 "Nothing." 58 00:03:29,630 --> 00:03:30,710 No. 59 00:03:30,910 --> 00:03:34,350 There is simply no thematic or conceptual reason to use that scene. 60 00:03:34,470 --> 00:03:36,750 The video was posted on March 10th, 61 00:03:36,830 --> 00:03:38,430 and depending on which direction you're going, 62 00:03:38,510 --> 00:03:41,950 that's either 290 days before, or 75 days after Christmas. 63 00:03:42,070 --> 00:03:46,230 Also, why would either of these people care about the stimulus bill? 64 00:03:46,510 --> 00:03:47,710 They live in London! 65 00:03:47,790 --> 00:03:49,710 And who are they even meant to represent in regards to it? 66 00:03:49,790 --> 00:03:51,910 Are we supposed to be Keira Knightley? 67 00:03:51,990 --> 00:03:55,710 Is this guy Nancy Pelosi? And if so, who is the husband in the other room 68 00:03:55,790 --> 00:03:58,070 we're supposed to be hiding this interaction from? 69 00:03:58,150 --> 00:04:02,270 I am confident the elected official hounding a staffer is Andrew Cuomo, 70 00:04:02,350 --> 00:04:05,070 but other than that, nothing makes sense here. 71 00:04:05,550 --> 00:04:09,390 And the thing is, the content of this bill is really worth knowing about. 72 00:04:09,470 --> 00:04:12,430 While it doesn't contain a 15 dollars minimum wage 73 00:04:12,510 --> 00:04:16,510 and the stimulus payments are only 14-hundred dollars instead of 2000, 74 00:04:16,590 --> 00:04:18,750 there is still some good stuff in here. 75 00:04:18,950 --> 00:04:21,110 There's money for schools and cities to handle the pandemic, 76 00:04:21,230 --> 00:04:25,110 extended unemployment benefits and for most parents, there is this. 77 00:04:25,510 --> 00:04:28,590 Maybe most critical in here is the child tax credit. 78 00:04:28,750 --> 00:04:32,990 It's a guaranteed income for the year for low-income families. 79 00:04:33,230 --> 00:04:35,510 Regular direct deposits from the government 80 00:04:35,590 --> 00:04:37,830 instead of a lump sum at tax time. 81 00:04:38,270 --> 00:04:42,870 It's up to 36-hundred dollars per child, which is really significant. 82 00:04:43,030 --> 00:04:46,430 It's currently just for the year, but it really should be permanent 83 00:04:46,550 --> 00:04:48,110 because experts say if that happens, 84 00:04:48,270 --> 00:04:51,230 it could actually cut child poverty by more than half. 85 00:04:51,630 --> 00:04:54,430 It's potentially one of the most significant gains in the bill 86 00:04:54,510 --> 00:04:57,750 and it's going to be a huge boost for parents, who deserve it 87 00:04:57,830 --> 00:05:01,030 after spending the past year stuck in the same place with their kids 88 00:05:01,110 --> 00:05:02,310 24 hours a day. 89 00:05:02,670 --> 00:05:06,430 You try being body shamed by a five-year-old who keeps asking you 90 00:05:06,550 --> 00:05:08,470 why your arm hair grows all funky. 91 00:05:08,550 --> 00:05:11,230 It just does. I don't know! It grows that way! 92 00:05:11,550 --> 00:05:14,150 You're making me self-conscious about it now! 93 00:05:14,350 --> 00:05:17,190 While the passing of this bill might now seem inevitable, 94 00:05:17,310 --> 00:05:21,150 because it passed and had 70 percent support from the American people, 95 00:05:21,230 --> 00:05:24,110 it only happened because the Democrats won Georgia 96 00:05:24,190 --> 00:05:25,510 and now control the Senate. 97 00:05:25,670 --> 00:05:27,870 And even then, they had to get parts of it 98 00:05:27,950 --> 00:05:31,030 past diet Republicans Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema. 99 00:05:31,110 --> 00:05:34,430 Republicans themselves were heavily against this. 100 00:05:35,230 --> 00:05:37,910 This isn't a rescue bill. It isn't a relief bill. 101 00:05:38,710 --> 00:05:41,510 It's a laundry list of left-wing priorities. 102 00:05:41,590 --> 00:05:45,910 It is a Trojan horse for socialism. It is everything Democrats have wanted, 103 00:05:46,030 --> 00:05:50,790 wrapped and branded in coronavirus so that people are scared into voting. 104 00:05:51,110 --> 00:05:54,590 This is a waste of money and a complete waste of time. 105 00:05:54,870 --> 00:05:57,790 I think this is one of the worst pieces of legislation 106 00:05:57,870 --> 00:06:00,390 I've seen pass here in the time I've been in the Senate. 107 00:06:00,790 --> 00:06:04,350 What? I know that you've been in the Senate for 600 years, 108 00:06:04,470 --> 00:06:07,550 but giving struggling Americans barely enough rent money 109 00:06:07,670 --> 00:06:11,390 after a year of a pandemic is one of the worst pieces of legislation 110 00:06:11,510 --> 00:06:13,270 that you have ever seen? 111 00:06:13,630 --> 00:06:15,910 Are you absolutely sure about that, Mitch? 112 00:06:16,030 --> 00:06:19,230 Not the knee-jerk post 9/11 panic passing of the Patriot Act? 113 00:06:19,310 --> 00:06:23,150 Or, the 1986 drug bill that made a 100 to one sentencing disparity 114 00:06:23,230 --> 00:06:24,950 between crack and powder cocaine? 115 00:06:25,030 --> 00:06:29,510 Or the joint resolution in 1987 designating a "National Catfish Day"? 116 00:06:29,830 --> 00:06:33,070 That was a total disgrace! Fuck you, catfish! 117 00:06:33,150 --> 00:06:37,230 Which are you, cat or fish? Pick a lane, you whiskery assholes! 118 00:06:37,990 --> 00:06:41,310 It is not news that Republicans would oppose this bill. 119 00:06:41,390 --> 00:06:44,670 What is slightly more surprising though, is that some have had the gall 120 00:06:44,830 --> 00:06:46,630 to go out and do things like this. 121 00:06:46,790 --> 00:06:50,590 Shortly after the bill's passage, Republican Senator Roger Wicker 122 00:06:50,710 --> 00:06:53,510 tweeted: "Independent restaurant operators" 123 00:06:53,630 --> 00:06:57,430 "have won 28.6 billion dollars worth of targeted relief." 124 00:06:57,590 --> 00:07:02,950 Yet, Wicker was one of 49 Republican senators who voted no on Saturday. 125 00:07:03,670 --> 00:07:07,310 Yeah, he did that. And you don't get credit for something 126 00:07:07,390 --> 00:07:09,950 that everyone knows you didn't want to happen. 127 00:07:10,070 --> 00:07:12,470 It's the exact same reason that Prince Charles doesn't get to tweet: 128 00:07:12,550 --> 00:07:16,510 "Great interview, Oprah! You tell'em, Meghan! Hashtag #MarkleHive." 129 00:07:16,790 --> 00:07:20,110 The fact is, this bill is gonna help millions of Americans, 130 00:07:20,190 --> 00:07:24,030 and it is worth remembering that every single Republican opposed it. 131 00:07:24,150 --> 00:07:27,310 If any of them ever come back around trying to take credit, 132 00:07:27,390 --> 00:07:30,790 to put this in the form that I guess political messages are delivered now, 133 00:07:30,870 --> 00:07:34,230 the response has to be simply this. Christmas music, please! 134 00:07:35,590 --> 00:07:37,470 Nope. 135 00:07:37,750 --> 00:07:40,070 Absolutely not. 136 00:07:40,670 --> 00:07:43,750 No fucking way. 137 00:07:43,990 --> 00:07:46,310 And now, this... 138 00:07:47,190 --> 00:07:52,390 Local News Bothers 100-Year-Old Women On Their Birthdays. 139 00:07:53,230 --> 00:07:55,830 - Do you have any advice? - Advice? 140 00:07:57,230 --> 00:07:59,030 Don't take any baloney. 141 00:07:59,590 --> 00:08:02,390 - You're a hundred today. - I don't eat vegetables. 142 00:08:02,470 --> 00:08:03,990 - You don't? - None. 143 00:08:04,230 --> 00:08:08,510 I don't eat much candy. I used to eat a lot of candy, no more now. 144 00:08:08,870 --> 00:08:11,950 Eating correctly and behaving yourself and... 145 00:08:12,910 --> 00:08:15,270 - And a little bit of bourbon, right? - Yes. 146 00:08:15,750 --> 00:08:19,510 Just be yourself, that's all. I've always been just me. 147 00:08:19,990 --> 00:08:22,710 If they want to laugh at ya, laugh back at them. 148 00:08:22,910 --> 00:08:27,070 Anything that you're looking forward to in this next century of life? 149 00:08:27,710 --> 00:08:28,790 Breathing. 150 00:08:28,870 --> 00:08:31,910 You say you're a little tired this morning, is that right? 151 00:08:31,990 --> 00:08:33,230 I am tired. 152 00:08:33,510 --> 00:08:37,150 - Are you excited for your party? - Not one bit. 153 00:08:38,710 --> 00:08:42,910 Moving on. Our main story concerns, I'm sorry to say, Tucker Carlson, 154 00:08:43,190 --> 00:08:46,430 a man who gives "Tuckers" an even worse name than they already have. 155 00:08:46,510 --> 00:08:48,310 This week, as he now seems to every week, 156 00:08:48,430 --> 00:08:50,390 Tucker set off a bit of a firestorm. 157 00:08:50,630 --> 00:08:54,190 We've got new hairstyles and maternity flight suits, 158 00:08:54,390 --> 00:08:56,190 pregnant women are gonna fight our wars. 159 00:08:56,270 --> 00:09:00,390 It's a mockery of the U.S Military. While China's military 160 00:09:00,470 --> 00:09:04,110 becomes more masculine as it's assembled the world's largest Navy, 161 00:09:04,670 --> 00:09:07,390 our military needs to become, as Joe Biden says, "more feminine", 162 00:09:07,470 --> 00:09:10,870 whatever "feminine" means anymore, since men and women no longer exist. 163 00:09:11,190 --> 00:09:15,070 What are you talking about, you performatively outraged wedge salad? 164 00:09:15,470 --> 00:09:17,710 He's packed a lot in there, from transphobia, 165 00:09:17,790 --> 00:09:20,550 to weirdly extolling the masculinity of China's Navy, 166 00:09:20,670 --> 00:09:23,950 to his completely misplaced outrage at Joe Biden over those flight suits, 167 00:09:24,070 --> 00:09:26,670 which were part of an initiative that started when Trump was president, 168 00:09:26,750 --> 00:09:30,830 and also included ensuring that body armor fits women service members, 169 00:09:30,950 --> 00:09:32,910 which is obviously a good idea. 170 00:09:33,390 --> 00:09:36,550 Those comments sparked an all too familiar sight of condemnation, 171 00:09:36,670 --> 00:09:38,110 defensiveness and hype. 172 00:09:38,230 --> 00:09:39,910 It seems like every week now, 173 00:09:40,070 --> 00:09:42,390 Tucker has another one of these mini-controversies. 174 00:09:42,470 --> 00:09:44,630 Last week it was the Dr. Seuss bullshit. 175 00:09:44,710 --> 00:09:46,230 I would like nothing more 176 00:09:46,350 --> 00:09:49,190 than to not play into his wildly offensive shtick. 177 00:09:49,310 --> 00:09:50,590 You might even be thinking: 178 00:09:50,670 --> 00:09:53,550 "Why give him the attention that he's so clearly trolling for?" 179 00:09:53,670 --> 00:09:57,910 We're not giving Tucker any attention he's not already getting a lot of. 180 00:09:58,230 --> 00:10:00,230 The night he made those flight suit remarks, 181 00:10:00,350 --> 00:10:02,590 he was the most watched show on cable. 182 00:10:02,870 --> 00:10:05,150 He averages over three million viewers a night 183 00:10:05,230 --> 00:10:07,830 and does well in the key 25 to 54 demo, 184 00:10:07,910 --> 00:10:09,670 meaning that young people are watching him, 185 00:10:09,790 --> 00:10:13,910 as well as the normal Fox audience of retirees and their sad pets. 186 00:10:14,390 --> 00:10:18,230 He is so important to the network that they are expanding Tucker's presence, 187 00:10:18,310 --> 00:10:21,430 launching a new video podcast and long-form documentary series. 188 00:10:21,550 --> 00:10:24,030 And if that wasn't enough, Tucker's also been floated 189 00:10:24,150 --> 00:10:26,510 as a potential future presidential candidate, 190 00:10:26,590 --> 00:10:30,470 which should be seriously alarming, because of all the things he is, 191 00:10:30,550 --> 00:10:33,710 a conspiracy theorist, a misogynist, Islamophobe, a troll, 192 00:10:33,790 --> 00:10:38,310 one of the most dangerous is that he is the most prominent vessel in America 193 00:10:38,430 --> 00:10:40,310 for white supremacist talking points. 194 00:10:40,430 --> 00:10:42,590 I already know what Tucker will say about this, 195 00:10:42,710 --> 00:10:46,070 because whenever this topic comes up, he has the exact same reaction: 196 00:10:46,150 --> 00:10:47,710 "What does that even mean?" 197 00:10:47,950 --> 00:10:50,990 White nationalism. Let's be literal for a minute. 198 00:10:51,470 --> 00:10:52,830 What is that, exactly? 199 00:10:52,910 --> 00:10:55,990 I don't even know what white nationalist means... 200 00:10:56,310 --> 00:11:00,230 Why doesn't anyone ever define what is white supremacy? 201 00:11:00,350 --> 00:11:03,710 Can somebody tell us in very clear language what a white supremacist is? 202 00:11:03,950 --> 00:11:07,750 Okay, first: "very clear language" seems like a high bar to clear, 203 00:11:07,830 --> 00:11:10,830 for a man who spends 85 percent of his time making the befuddled face 204 00:11:10,950 --> 00:11:13,670 of a 13th century farmer learning about bitcoin. 205 00:11:13,750 --> 00:11:15,710 I promise that we're gonna give Tucker 206 00:11:15,790 --> 00:11:18,750 a pretty clear definition of white supremacy later in this piece. 207 00:11:18,910 --> 00:11:21,470 And he does seem to need one, because whenever he tries 208 00:11:21,590 --> 00:11:24,950 to define it himself, it tends to be self-servingly narrow. 209 00:11:25,270 --> 00:11:27,150 This show was not on the air for six months 210 00:11:27,270 --> 00:11:29,910 before there was an organized and highly aggressive campaign 211 00:11:29,990 --> 00:11:33,630 by prominent Democrats to denounce us as white supremacists. 212 00:11:34,190 --> 00:11:36,670 The first time it happened, the people who work on this show, 213 00:11:36,750 --> 00:11:39,750 many of them kids, were shocked and horrified by that. 214 00:11:40,110 --> 00:11:42,670 White supremacists? What's worse than that? 215 00:11:43,230 --> 00:11:47,270 The phrase evokes images of burning crosses and lynchings. It's awful. 216 00:11:47,670 --> 00:11:49,790 Okay, first: I'm so sorry, Tucker. 217 00:11:49,950 --> 00:11:53,270 I didn't realize that your show was staffed entirely by children. 218 00:11:53,390 --> 00:11:56,030 I certainly never intended for them to get caught up in all of this. 219 00:11:56,110 --> 00:11:59,030 So, my sincere apologies, you tiny little rascals. 220 00:11:59,270 --> 00:12:03,550 But, "I don't burn crosses or lynch people, I can't be a white supremacist" 221 00:12:03,670 --> 00:12:05,470 is a pretty weak argument. 222 00:12:05,790 --> 00:12:06,910 It's like saying: 223 00:12:06,990 --> 00:12:09,510 "I can't be an anti-Semite because I didn't do the Holocaust" 224 00:12:09,590 --> 00:12:12,870 or "I can't be a sexual predator 'cause I didn't produce 'Good Will Hunting.'" 225 00:12:12,950 --> 00:12:15,670 There is more than one way to be a terrible person. 226 00:12:16,030 --> 00:12:19,070 And Tucker, conveniently for him, doesn't fit neatly 227 00:12:19,150 --> 00:12:21,910 into a lot of people's perception of "white supremacist". 228 00:12:22,030 --> 00:12:25,590 Especially if they share his definition that it must require burning crosses, 229 00:12:25,670 --> 00:12:29,270 Klan hoods, and a name tag that says: "Hello, my name is A Racist." 230 00:12:29,790 --> 00:12:31,230 You might even have friends who think: 231 00:12:31,310 --> 00:12:34,310 "Tucker can't be racist. I've never heard him say the N-word." 232 00:12:34,390 --> 00:12:37,350 As if that is the fucking bar. But for the record: 233 00:12:37,590 --> 00:12:41,910 white supremacists seem to be big fans of what Tucker's been doing. 234 00:12:42,350 --> 00:12:44,830 Listen to Derek Black, a former white supremacist 235 00:12:44,950 --> 00:12:49,710 whose father started Stormfront, the largest white supremacist site, 236 00:12:49,790 --> 00:12:53,230 talk about just how much his family likes Tucker's show. 237 00:12:53,550 --> 00:12:57,190 My family watches Tucker Carlson's show once 238 00:12:57,390 --> 00:13:00,550 and then watches it on the replay because they feel that he is making 239 00:13:00,670 --> 00:13:02,790 the white nationalist talking points better than they have. 240 00:13:02,910 --> 00:13:07,110 And they're trying to get some tips on how to advance it. 241 00:13:07,270 --> 00:13:11,310 They watch it once to enjoy it, and a second time to learn from it. 242 00:13:11,590 --> 00:13:14,670 They watch Tucker the same way I watch "The Drew Barrymore Show". 243 00:13:14,750 --> 00:13:18,390 First for fun, second to figure out how she can possibly pull off 244 00:13:18,470 --> 00:13:20,550 a segment in which a child makes a Shirley Temple 245 00:13:20,630 --> 00:13:24,190 while Stanley Tucci drinks a glass of wine on a screen in the background. 246 00:13:24,270 --> 00:13:26,830 I don't know how you work your magic, Drew, but I want to learn. 247 00:13:26,910 --> 00:13:28,550 You're advancing this form! 248 00:13:28,870 --> 00:13:31,470 So, given that Tucker has the admiration of white supremacists, 249 00:13:31,550 --> 00:13:35,470 the ear of millions of your relatives, co-workers, and elected officials, 250 00:13:35,550 --> 00:13:37,750 we thought, tonight, it would be worth talking about him, 251 00:13:37,870 --> 00:13:39,830 where he came from, what his tactics are 252 00:13:39,910 --> 00:13:42,230 and why what he represents is so dangerous. 253 00:13:42,350 --> 00:13:45,670 Let's start with some backstory. Tucker grew up in La Jolla, California, 254 00:13:45,790 --> 00:13:48,870 where his dad married an heiress to the Swanson TV dinner fortune. 255 00:13:48,990 --> 00:13:50,430 Which is already interesting 256 00:13:50,550 --> 00:13:53,990 because if Tucker's got sad '70s single man frozen food money, 257 00:13:54,070 --> 00:13:56,030 that means he's been doing groundbreaking shows like 258 00:13:56,150 --> 00:13:59,430 "Cuckolding is When a Humiliated Man Watches His Wife Have an Affair", 259 00:13:59,550 --> 00:14:00,950 for the love of the game. 260 00:14:01,270 --> 00:14:04,430 Now, to hear Tucker tell it, he grew up in a simpler, better time. 261 00:14:04,550 --> 00:14:07,830 He once wistfully claimed: "Racial solidarity wasn't a working concept" 262 00:14:07,950 --> 00:14:09,630 "in my southern-California hometown." 263 00:14:09,710 --> 00:14:13,590 "Most people barely had last names, much less ethnic identities." 264 00:14:13,750 --> 00:14:15,150 Which is a pretty weird thing to say 265 00:14:15,230 --> 00:14:18,230 if your full name is Tucker Swanson McNear Carlson 266 00:14:18,430 --> 00:14:20,630 and your ethnic identity can best be described as: 267 00:14:20,750 --> 00:14:23,910 "My brother's name is Buckley Swanson Peck Carlson." 268 00:14:24,150 --> 00:14:26,950 The only way he could get any more ethnically white 269 00:14:27,070 --> 00:14:28,710 is if he jizzed mayonnaise. 270 00:14:29,150 --> 00:14:33,190 Tucker was sent to boarding school, where he promptly did two things: 271 00:14:33,350 --> 00:14:36,230 fail to impress any number of prestigious universities 272 00:14:36,350 --> 00:14:38,270 and start dating the headmaster's daughter, 273 00:14:38,390 --> 00:14:41,790 a headmaster who, in return, arranged to get him into Trinity College. 274 00:14:41,990 --> 00:14:43,590 He then became a print journalist, 275 00:14:43,670 --> 00:14:46,870 reportedly after his father told him that journalism will "take anybody". 276 00:14:46,990 --> 00:14:49,990 Which, to his dad's credit, did kind of turn out to be true. 277 00:14:50,150 --> 00:14:53,230 Tucker's leap to TV, though, came as an accident. 278 00:14:53,390 --> 00:14:54,830 Supposedly, back in the '90s, 279 00:14:54,910 --> 00:14:57,110 Dan Rather's show called the magazine where Tucker was working, 280 00:14:57,190 --> 00:14:59,230 looking for somebody to talk about the O.J. trial. 281 00:14:59,350 --> 00:15:00,790 The receptionist there told him: 282 00:15:00,950 --> 00:15:03,830 "Everyone else is still at lunch. Can you do it?" 283 00:15:03,950 --> 00:15:08,190 Which might be the single whitest origin story I have ever heard. 284 00:15:08,350 --> 00:15:10,830 "You! Yeah, you with the skin and face!" 285 00:15:10,950 --> 00:15:13,950 "We've got an extra career lying around. Are you interested?" 286 00:15:14,270 --> 00:15:17,830 Despite his total lack of preparation, Tucker was almost immediately hitting 287 00:15:17,910 --> 00:15:20,910 on themes that he'd be echoing for the next 25 years. 288 00:15:21,150 --> 00:15:23,670 Here is one of his very first TV appearances, 289 00:15:23,750 --> 00:15:25,790 in the aftermath of the O.J. verdict. 290 00:15:25,990 --> 00:15:29,310 Mr. Carlson, do you think we're honest with each other, race to race? 291 00:15:29,390 --> 00:15:34,670 No, of course not. I mean, everybody is terrified of one thing. 292 00:15:34,830 --> 00:15:37,150 Whites are, of course, terrified of being called a racist, 293 00:15:37,230 --> 00:15:39,590 Blacks are terrified of being belittled. 294 00:15:39,710 --> 00:15:43,990 I think we need probably less conversation about race. 295 00:15:44,070 --> 00:15:46,790 I think it might do us good were we to ignore the subject a little bit 296 00:15:46,910 --> 00:15:50,910 and treat each other as if there were no color boundary separating us. 297 00:15:51,350 --> 00:15:54,750 I think that might be helpful. We talk about it too much. 298 00:15:55,230 --> 00:16:00,150 I'm pretty sure that Black people are less terrified of being belittled 299 00:16:00,270 --> 00:16:03,270 than of being killed, jailed, economically exploited, or indeed, 300 00:16:03,430 --> 00:16:07,230 denied access to healthcare after their heads literally explode 301 00:16:07,310 --> 00:16:10,390 from hearing someone in a bow tie and plaid blazer suggest 302 00:16:10,470 --> 00:16:13,670 being called racist is as bad as actually experiencing racism. 303 00:16:13,790 --> 00:16:16,990 I do want to quickly come back to that specific bow tie. 304 00:16:17,110 --> 00:16:19,270 I'm not knocking bow ties in general, 305 00:16:19,350 --> 00:16:21,950 they're perfectly fine for a child attending his first communion, 306 00:16:22,030 --> 00:16:24,910 or a Hanna-Barbera animator who can't draw necks, 307 00:16:24,990 --> 00:16:29,190 but that bow tie is too small. Either commit to it or don't. 308 00:16:29,270 --> 00:16:32,750 Don't just put on a tiny bow tie and hope that no one notices. 309 00:16:33,350 --> 00:16:37,830 Tucker bounced around, with canceled shows on CNN and MSNBC. 310 00:16:37,910 --> 00:16:40,470 Although, in his time at CNN, he did manage to produce, 311 00:16:40,590 --> 00:16:45,110 and I don't say this lightly, the most 2003 clip of all time. 312 00:16:45,710 --> 00:16:49,270 You worked with Pepsi for a long time. Candidly, just between you and me, 313 00:16:49,350 --> 00:16:51,510 how much Pepsi do you think you drink on an average day? 314 00:16:51,630 --> 00:16:54,110 - I really do like Pepsi. - Really? What's your favorite kind? 315 00:16:54,230 --> 00:16:56,070 My favorite kind of Pepsi? Pepsi's Pepsi. 316 00:16:56,230 --> 00:16:58,750 You don't drink Diet Pepsi or Pepsi Vanilla? 317 00:16:58,830 --> 00:17:00,470 No, just regular Pepsi. 318 00:17:00,910 --> 00:17:05,350 I cannot stress this enough: leave Britney alone! 319 00:17:05,830 --> 00:17:09,150 Don't do gotcha journalism about her Pepsi consumption. 320 00:17:09,390 --> 00:17:12,430 Not only has she been through a lot, she's a stone cold legend. 321 00:17:12,550 --> 00:17:14,350 She's the definitional diva of the 2000s 322 00:17:14,430 --> 00:17:16,830 and I guarantee you: there is not a human being on earth 323 00:17:16,950 --> 00:17:20,110 who doesn't perk up when that violin hook from "Toxic" comes on. 324 00:17:21,510 --> 00:17:25,110 Exactly! Put some motherfucking respect on her name, Tucker, 325 00:17:25,190 --> 00:17:27,390 and, of course, hashtag #FreeBritney. 326 00:17:27,870 --> 00:17:31,550 While Tucker failed upwards into a primetime Fox show in 2016, 327 00:17:31,630 --> 00:17:35,110 the fascinating thing is, if you go back and watch his earlier clips, 328 00:17:35,230 --> 00:17:38,670 you can see him learning the tricks of his trade, right in front of you. 329 00:17:38,950 --> 00:17:40,510 Watch him talk about Pat Buchanan, 330 00:17:40,590 --> 00:17:43,190 the Republican firebrand and noted anti-immigrant crusader, 331 00:17:43,310 --> 00:17:45,510 and break down one of Buchanan's go-to moves, 332 00:17:45,590 --> 00:17:47,950 with the precision of a dedicated student. 333 00:17:48,510 --> 00:17:53,030 Pat does raise issues that I think are important. 334 00:17:53,190 --> 00:17:55,750 Unfortunately, Pat Buchanan raises them in a way 335 00:17:55,830 --> 00:17:59,030 that I think is discredited and when attacked, 336 00:17:59,190 --> 00:18:01,550 he can always fall back on the line: 337 00:18:01,910 --> 00:18:05,150 "The tiny cabal that controls American politics" 338 00:18:05,270 --> 00:18:07,710 "doesn't like me because I speak truth to power." 339 00:18:07,870 --> 00:18:10,990 This is incidentally almost verbatim what he said the other day, 340 00:18:11,070 --> 00:18:13,550 that I "offend the plutocracy", 341 00:18:14,470 --> 00:18:17,630 that I'm a "wanted man by the Inside the Beltway people." 342 00:18:17,750 --> 00:18:21,470 In every sense cast himself as a victim 343 00:18:21,590 --> 00:18:24,310 who is sort of a Karen Silkwood of politics, 344 00:18:24,390 --> 00:18:28,150 someone who's so truthful that he's being hunted down 345 00:18:28,310 --> 00:18:32,750 by the conspiracy that runs Washington, it's all a bit much. 346 00:18:33,070 --> 00:18:38,150 Yeah, you're right, Tucker, it is! That is a pretty salient point there. 347 00:18:38,270 --> 00:18:41,430 It's just incredibly hard to take, given who's making it. 348 00:18:41,550 --> 00:18:43,990 In the same way it'd be hard to listen to a lecture on gun safety 349 00:18:44,070 --> 00:18:46,750 and overall life choices from Tekashi69. 350 00:18:46,950 --> 00:18:50,910 I don't care how good your advice is, I'm not taking it from you. 351 00:18:51,590 --> 00:18:54,350 "The tiny cabal that controls American politics" 352 00:18:54,430 --> 00:18:58,750 "doesn't like me 'cause I speak truth to power" is Tucker's signature move. 353 00:18:59,030 --> 00:19:02,070 He does it all the time, whenever he's criticized. 354 00:19:02,350 --> 00:19:05,150 A few years ago, he lost advertisers after saying, and I quote, 355 00:19:05,270 --> 00:19:09,470 that immigrants make our country "poorer and dirtier and more divided." 356 00:19:09,870 --> 00:19:11,550 And this was how he fired back. 357 00:19:11,750 --> 00:19:15,750 Those who won't shut up get silenced. You've seen it a million times. 358 00:19:15,830 --> 00:19:19,070 It happens all the time. The enforcers scream, "Racist", 359 00:19:19,150 --> 00:19:21,270 on Twitter until everybody gets intimidated. 360 00:19:21,350 --> 00:19:24,510 It's a tactic, a well-worn one. Nobody thinks it's real. 361 00:19:25,230 --> 00:19:27,950 And it won't work with this show. We're not intimidated. 362 00:19:28,070 --> 00:19:30,630 We plan to try to say what's true until the last day. 363 00:19:31,070 --> 00:19:35,230 And the truth is unregulated mass immigration has badly hurt 364 00:19:35,310 --> 00:19:37,110 this country's natural landscape. 365 00:19:37,470 --> 00:19:41,190 Fuck off, Tucker, you relentlessly indignant picket fence. 366 00:19:41,750 --> 00:19:45,470 How did you go from criticizing Pat Buchanan for that precise tactic, 367 00:19:45,550 --> 00:19:46,990 to basically imitating him? 368 00:19:47,070 --> 00:19:49,390 It's all, to borrow a phrase, "a bit much." 369 00:19:49,870 --> 00:19:53,030 That technique gets to the absolute heart of Tucker's show: 370 00:19:53,110 --> 00:19:56,950 so often, he positions himself as someone asking the hard questions, 371 00:19:57,030 --> 00:19:59,390 the ones that "they" don't want you asking. 372 00:19:59,470 --> 00:20:01,950 Questions like: "Is affirmative action racist?" 373 00:20:02,030 --> 00:20:04,510 and "Should America be selective with immigrants?" 374 00:20:04,590 --> 00:20:07,790 and "Has the Democratic Party become anti-white and anti-male?" 375 00:20:07,870 --> 00:20:12,670 Just asking questions, while heavily implying that the answer is "Yes." 376 00:20:13,190 --> 00:20:17,550 When, in turn, anyone questions him, they're not just censoring free speech, 377 00:20:17,630 --> 00:20:20,670 they are launching an attack on the foundations of our democracy 378 00:20:20,750 --> 00:20:22,190 and the vast working class 379 00:20:22,310 --> 00:20:25,950 who this humble TV dinner princeling somehow represents. 380 00:20:26,470 --> 00:20:29,590 And the most telling thing about Tucker's framing of himself 381 00:20:29,670 --> 00:20:32,270 as the scourge of the elites and the hero of the common man 382 00:20:32,350 --> 00:20:36,950 is that, for Tucker, who constitutes the common man is very selective. 383 00:20:37,390 --> 00:20:40,670 Take Ilhan Omar. Just watch him lose his shit 384 00:20:40,750 --> 00:20:43,270 over a clip that he's about to play of something she said. 385 00:20:43,670 --> 00:20:46,310 If anyone should love America, it's Ilhan Omar. 386 00:20:46,590 --> 00:20:49,750 This country rescued her from a squalid Kenyan refugee camp 387 00:20:49,830 --> 00:20:51,870 and made her a national figure. 388 00:20:52,590 --> 00:20:55,390 But Ilhan Omar is not grateful. She hates us for it. 389 00:20:55,910 --> 00:20:59,030 Watch Omar tell us it is time to dismantle our country. 390 00:21:00,030 --> 00:21:05,430 As long as our economy and political systems prioritize profit 391 00:21:06,510 --> 00:21:11,430 without considering who is profiting, who is being shut out, 392 00:21:12,190 --> 00:21:14,510 we will perpetuate this inequality. 393 00:21:15,550 --> 00:21:18,310 So, we cannot stop at criminal justice system. 394 00:21:19,230 --> 00:21:23,750 We must begin the work of dismantling the whole system of oppression 395 00:21:24,230 --> 00:21:25,710 wherever we find it. 396 00:21:27,510 --> 00:21:31,990 Dismantle the American economy and the American system of government, 397 00:21:32,390 --> 00:21:37,030 that generations of Americans built over hundreds of years. 398 00:21:37,510 --> 00:21:41,270 There is already enough there in the sneering condescension 399 00:21:41,350 --> 00:21:45,030 that Ilhan Omar should be quietly grateful her entire life 400 00:21:45,190 --> 00:21:47,590 because she was granted asylum when she was a child. 401 00:21:47,670 --> 00:21:52,030 Let's just consider the vast distance between what you just heard her say 402 00:21:52,390 --> 00:21:53,870 and what he seemed to hear. 403 00:21:54,270 --> 00:21:57,030 According to Tucker, dismantling the system of oppression 404 00:21:57,190 --> 00:22:00,950 means dismantling the entire American economy and system of government. 405 00:22:01,030 --> 00:22:04,510 Did he inadvertently make a nuanced point about how systemic oppression 406 00:22:04,590 --> 00:22:08,430 is baked into every level and facet of that very same system? 407 00:22:08,590 --> 00:22:09,670 Yes, he did. 408 00:22:09,830 --> 00:22:12,590 Am I gonna give him credit for doing that? Fuck no! 409 00:22:12,750 --> 00:22:15,270 Especially not when this is what he said next. 410 00:22:15,630 --> 00:22:19,510 The problem is, there are many of us here who do like this country. 411 00:22:19,870 --> 00:22:22,150 We live here. We don't want to destroy it. 412 00:22:22,550 --> 00:22:24,150 We have every right to fight 413 00:22:24,270 --> 00:22:27,470 to preserve our nation and our heritage and our culture. 414 00:22:28,030 --> 00:22:32,750 "Preserve our heritage and culture." That is direct. 415 00:22:33,150 --> 00:22:34,870 In fact, his pre-written caption there, 416 00:22:34,990 --> 00:22:37,870 "We Have To Fight To Preserve Our Nation And Heritage" 417 00:22:37,990 --> 00:22:40,790 drew a lot of comparisons to the "Fourteen Words", 418 00:22:40,870 --> 00:22:43,030 the famous white supremacist slogan that says: 419 00:22:43,190 --> 00:22:47,030 we must secure the existence of our people and a future for white children. 420 00:22:47,230 --> 00:22:51,430 When you put the two together, there is a slight similarity there. 421 00:22:51,950 --> 00:22:55,070 If you typed Tucker's quote into a blank Word document, 422 00:22:55,230 --> 00:22:57,510 nine times out of 10, Clippy is gonna ask: 423 00:22:57,590 --> 00:22:59,870 "Are you trying to recite the Fourteen Words?" 424 00:22:59,950 --> 00:23:02,030 Of course, Clippy has been asking that a lot more 425 00:23:02,110 --> 00:23:04,510 ever since he started spending so much time on YouTube. 426 00:23:04,590 --> 00:23:06,430 Careful how much time you spend on there, Clippy, 427 00:23:06,510 --> 00:23:08,390 it's turning you into an asshole. 428 00:23:08,830 --> 00:23:11,510 And if you're thinking: "That seems like a bit of a stretch." 429 00:23:11,630 --> 00:23:15,350 "You can't know what Tucker means by 'our heritage and culture.'" 430 00:23:15,430 --> 00:23:19,110 He hasn't always been that disciplined about his messaging. 431 00:23:19,550 --> 00:23:21,870 In the late 2000s, he used to call into a radio show 432 00:23:21,950 --> 00:23:24,550 hosted by shock jock Bubba the Love Sponge. 433 00:23:24,950 --> 00:23:27,990 And in those calls, the thin veil covering his racism 434 00:23:28,070 --> 00:23:31,030 would occasionally get thrown off, in moments like this. 435 00:23:31,430 --> 00:23:32,830 Iraq is a crappy place 436 00:23:32,910 --> 00:23:36,350 filled with a bunch of semi-literate primitive monkeys. 437 00:23:36,750 --> 00:23:40,150 But I just have zero sympathy for them or their culture. 438 00:23:40,390 --> 00:23:42,710 A culture where people just don't use toilet paper or forks. 439 00:23:43,190 --> 00:23:46,230 Okay. That isn't just incredibly offensive. 440 00:23:46,510 --> 00:23:49,230 It's also the kind of fact-free cultural hot take 441 00:23:49,310 --> 00:23:52,110 that is the essential Tucker Carlson experience. 442 00:23:52,190 --> 00:23:55,470 While it is clearly by no means the most important thing there, 443 00:23:55,590 --> 00:23:59,110 for the record: table forks were apparently first used 444 00:23:59,230 --> 00:24:01,150 in the Middle East and Byzantine Empire 445 00:24:01,230 --> 00:24:04,190 and was still conspicuously absent in Europe until centuries later. 446 00:24:04,270 --> 00:24:07,870 When the niece of a Byzantine emperor brought a case of forks to Venice 447 00:24:07,950 --> 00:24:09,830 for her wedding feast in the 11th century, 448 00:24:09,910 --> 00:24:12,950 she was "roundly condemned by the local clergy for her decadence", 449 00:24:13,030 --> 00:24:14,070 with one saying: 450 00:24:14,150 --> 00:24:17,430 "God in his wisdom has provided man with natural forks, his fingers." 451 00:24:17,510 --> 00:24:18,990 "Therefore it is an insult to Him" 452 00:24:19,110 --> 00:24:22,190 "to substitute artificial metal forks for them when eating." 453 00:24:22,270 --> 00:24:23,870 Which is fascinating. 454 00:24:23,950 --> 00:24:27,190 It's not just a full refutation of Tucker's lazy racism, 455 00:24:27,310 --> 00:24:29,230 it's also a very fun fork fact. 456 00:24:29,870 --> 00:24:31,030 Fork Fact. 457 00:24:31,190 --> 00:24:32,510 Fork facts are fun! 458 00:24:33,230 --> 00:24:37,510 When you know how Tucker speaks when he speaks freely, 459 00:24:37,830 --> 00:24:40,990 the filter through which he processes the world for his audience 460 00:24:41,070 --> 00:24:42,710 becomes painfully apparent. 461 00:24:42,790 --> 00:24:45,950 Because he is smart enough not to openly say into a camera 462 00:24:46,030 --> 00:24:50,510 that certain races are more deserving of scorn, or less worthy of respect. 463 00:24:50,630 --> 00:24:54,190 He will just heavily imply that, depending on who he's talking about. 464 00:24:54,310 --> 00:24:57,910 Take the Capitol riots. Tucker said that he deplored the violence, 465 00:24:57,990 --> 00:25:01,710 but repeatedly compelled his viewers to try and understand 466 00:25:01,830 --> 00:25:04,190 where the demonstrators were coming from. 467 00:25:04,710 --> 00:25:08,470 On January 6th, we had a riot at the U.S. Capitol. Why did that happen? 468 00:25:08,910 --> 00:25:11,910 It happened because millions of American voters were convinced 469 00:25:11,990 --> 00:25:13,990 that the last election was not fair. 470 00:25:14,710 --> 00:25:16,070 Where did they get that idea? 471 00:25:16,510 --> 00:25:19,310 It wasn't simply because the last president told them so. 472 00:25:19,430 --> 00:25:23,630 You're hearing that now, as if they're animals who do what they're told, 473 00:25:23,710 --> 00:25:25,670 but they're not animals, they're people. 474 00:25:25,750 --> 00:25:27,790 They're American citizens who can see what's happening 475 00:25:27,990 --> 00:25:29,590 and come to their own conclusions about it. 476 00:25:30,390 --> 00:25:34,470 They saw the radical increase in mail-in voting, millions did 477 00:25:34,550 --> 00:25:39,350 and it corroded the public's faith in our systems of election. 478 00:25:39,590 --> 00:25:42,630 Hold on. People didn't think the election was rigged 479 00:25:42,710 --> 00:25:45,430 because they saw an "increase in mail-in voting." 480 00:25:45,550 --> 00:25:46,590 They thought that 481 00:25:46,670 --> 00:25:50,470 because people like you repeatedly told them the election was rigged. 482 00:25:50,870 --> 00:25:53,910 And that plea for understanding there is especially hard to take 483 00:25:54,030 --> 00:25:58,350 when you contrast it with how he reacted to the BLM protests. 484 00:25:58,910 --> 00:26:01,030 People like this don't bother to work. 485 00:26:01,150 --> 00:26:04,670 They don't volunteer or pay taxes to help other people. 486 00:26:05,390 --> 00:26:09,390 They live for themselves. They do exactly what they feel like doing. 487 00:26:09,750 --> 00:26:12,190 They say exactly what they feel like saying. 488 00:26:12,390 --> 00:26:14,910 They spray paint their opinions on buildings. 489 00:26:15,750 --> 00:26:18,590 On television, hour by hour, we watch these people, 490 00:26:18,710 --> 00:26:21,910 criminal mobs, destroy what the rest of us have built. 491 00:26:22,590 --> 00:26:24,230 They have no right to do that. 492 00:26:24,550 --> 00:26:27,430 They don't contribute to the common good, they never have! 493 00:26:28,110 --> 00:26:30,510 Yet, suddenly they seem to have all the power. 494 00:26:30,990 --> 00:26:34,550 That's quite a different tone. And it is interesting to see 495 00:26:34,630 --> 00:26:38,110 who gets to be "American citizens who came to their own conclusions" 496 00:26:38,230 --> 00:26:41,950 and who gets to be "criminal mobs who destroy what the rest of us built." 497 00:26:42,390 --> 00:26:45,430 And it does seem like the dividing line for Tucker on that question is: 498 00:26:45,550 --> 00:26:47,430 "How easily can you sunburn?" 499 00:26:48,070 --> 00:26:50,910 My point here isn't that Tucker is inconsistent 500 00:26:50,990 --> 00:26:53,870 in addressing two violent protests in vastly different ways. 501 00:26:53,950 --> 00:26:58,150 It's that he's incredibly consistent, 'cause in both instances, 502 00:26:58,270 --> 00:27:02,270 his clear takeaway is that white people should be terrified at the idea 503 00:27:02,550 --> 00:27:05,110 of any situation where they aren't in power. 504 00:27:05,270 --> 00:27:06,950 The main narrative of Tucker's show 505 00:27:07,110 --> 00:27:10,190 is that power is being taken away from "you", his viewer, 506 00:27:10,270 --> 00:27:12,190 and that this needs to be resisted. 507 00:27:12,270 --> 00:27:14,670 He's run segments, just asking questions, remember, 508 00:27:14,830 --> 00:27:17,830 like: "How Exactly is 'Diversity' Our 'Strength'?" 509 00:27:18,030 --> 00:27:20,510 and has argued not just that it isn't, 510 00:27:20,590 --> 00:27:24,230 but that "it's a threat to our existence as a cohesive country." 511 00:27:24,350 --> 00:27:28,550 He'll often call to resist that threat with an interesting choice of phrase. 512 00:27:28,990 --> 00:27:33,790 Western civilization is our birthright. It makes all good things possible. 513 00:27:34,190 --> 00:27:37,510 Undefended, it collapses. We've got to fight to preserve it. 514 00:27:37,670 --> 00:27:42,190 It's a war, with one side trying to erase all remnants of its opponent. 515 00:27:42,270 --> 00:27:44,030 In this case, western civilization. 516 00:27:44,110 --> 00:27:46,470 Is the culture into which they're coming, 517 00:27:47,230 --> 00:27:49,470 the western civilization we're talking about, 518 00:27:49,550 --> 00:27:53,910 superior to the culture that these immigrants are bringing? 519 00:27:53,990 --> 00:27:58,110 Do you think it's possible to move a large Muslim population into the west 520 00:27:58,270 --> 00:28:01,510 and successfully integrate them into western culture? 521 00:28:01,990 --> 00:28:04,630 Yeah. For Tucker, it seems western civilization 522 00:28:04,750 --> 00:28:07,030 is somehow both the mighty and essential bedrock 523 00:28:07,150 --> 00:28:10,110 upon which all modern human existence is built, and also, 524 00:28:10,190 --> 00:28:13,830 a delicate house of cards that will collapse if you look at it wrong. 525 00:28:13,910 --> 00:28:18,390 And again: he will be careful not to verbally link race and civilization, 526 00:28:18,550 --> 00:28:22,070 like he's calling into a Love Sponge's radio show in 2006. 527 00:28:22,390 --> 00:28:25,590 But he will occasionally dance incredibly close to it. 528 00:28:26,150 --> 00:28:30,830 I'm for getting along. I'm for tolerance a hundred percent. 529 00:28:30,910 --> 00:28:33,870 But I also think that if things radically change in your country, 530 00:28:33,950 --> 00:28:35,670 it's okay for you to say: "What is this?" 531 00:28:36,030 --> 00:28:37,390 Maybe I don't want to live 532 00:28:37,470 --> 00:28:39,590 in a country that looks nothing like the country I grew up in. 533 00:28:39,710 --> 00:28:40,790 Is that bigoted? 534 00:28:41,150 --> 00:28:44,310 Yeah, it is. That's like saying: 535 00:28:44,390 --> 00:28:47,430 "I've got 10 fingers and toes, a pointy face with a little pink rosebud mouth," 536 00:28:47,550 --> 00:28:49,910 "a cat-sized body, a long weird tail and I eat garbage." 537 00:28:49,990 --> 00:28:52,830 "Does that make me a possum?" Yes, it does. 538 00:28:53,150 --> 00:28:56,630 That's the literal definition of the thing you just described. 539 00:28:57,390 --> 00:29:01,030 That is the whole thing with Tucker. He might not say "Black" or "white." 540 00:29:01,110 --> 00:29:03,390 He'll insist that he's "for colorblindness". 541 00:29:03,470 --> 00:29:06,270 He'll build in deniability by phrasing things as a question, 542 00:29:06,390 --> 00:29:10,230 like "What does racism look like?" While kind of embodying the answer. 543 00:29:10,510 --> 00:29:13,430 When you put all of this together, the pattern is clear: 544 00:29:13,670 --> 00:29:17,070 he is scared of a country that looks nothing like the one he grew up in, 545 00:29:17,190 --> 00:29:19,510 because diversity isn't our strength, 546 00:29:19,670 --> 00:29:22,990 immigrants make our country poorer, dirtier and more divided, 547 00:29:23,110 --> 00:29:27,230 and any attempt to change that culture is an attack on western civilization. 548 00:29:27,350 --> 00:29:30,630 All of which is really just a long way of saying that when Tucker asks: 549 00:29:30,750 --> 00:29:34,670 "What is white supremacy?" The answer is "Basically that." 550 00:29:35,270 --> 00:29:37,950 It's a belief that, in a country where white people are dominant, 551 00:29:38,070 --> 00:29:41,110 that's all down to their natural and innate abilities, 552 00:29:41,270 --> 00:29:45,430 and any effort to change that is an affront to the natural order of things. 553 00:29:45,750 --> 00:29:50,430 It's frankly no wonder that that guy's family watches Tucker twice a night. 554 00:29:50,550 --> 00:29:53,510 Of course, Tucker has been endorsed by white supremacists. 555 00:29:53,670 --> 00:29:57,270 James Allsup, a far-right activist who marched in Charlottesville, 556 00:29:57,390 --> 00:30:01,350 once said this to a conference room full of fellow white supremacists. 557 00:30:01,750 --> 00:30:04,550 An example of someone engaging in very effective rhetoric 558 00:30:04,630 --> 00:30:06,390 is, of course, Tucker Carlson. 559 00:30:06,510 --> 00:30:10,230 He is helping mainstream conservatives change how they think about politics 560 00:30:10,310 --> 00:30:13,910 and causing a massive swath of Trump voters to look deeper 561 00:30:13,990 --> 00:30:16,510 into many of the issues that we already talk about. 562 00:30:16,870 --> 00:30:19,910 The left is aware of what he's doing and he's aware of what he's doing, 563 00:30:19,990 --> 00:30:21,470 so it works phenomenally. 564 00:30:24,070 --> 00:30:27,990 That might be the single worst laugh I have ever heard. 565 00:30:28,230 --> 00:30:31,630 I say that as someone who has almost forgotten what human laughter sounds. 566 00:30:31,750 --> 00:30:35,550 I've been stuck inside Casper's asshole for 12 long months now. 567 00:30:35,630 --> 00:30:38,710 I'm so desperate to hear the response of a live audience, 568 00:30:38,790 --> 00:30:40,590 but if it is a neo-Nazi chuckle 569 00:30:40,750 --> 00:30:43,030 ping-ponging off the walls of a hotel ballroom, 570 00:30:43,230 --> 00:30:44,630 I think I might be out. 571 00:30:45,350 --> 00:30:49,350 If everything I've shown you tonight somehow still isn't enough, 572 00:30:49,550 --> 00:30:53,950 let's hear from a former grand wizard of white supremacists, David Duke. 573 00:30:54,230 --> 00:30:57,150 He's not only tweeted approvingly about Tucker in the past, saying: 574 00:30:57,230 --> 00:30:59,910 "Tucker is RIGHT!" and "Can't cuck the Tuck!", 575 00:31:00,150 --> 00:31:01,710 which, as all Tucker viewers know, 576 00:31:01,830 --> 00:31:05,310 refers to when a humiliated man watches his wife have an affair. 577 00:31:05,390 --> 00:31:08,750 Duke even has a podcast, where he sometimes just recaps 578 00:31:08,830 --> 00:31:10,910 Tucker's segments from the night before. 579 00:31:10,990 --> 00:31:13,110 Last year, when endorsing Trump for president, 580 00:31:13,190 --> 00:31:16,310 Duke even suggested that Tucker Carlson should be his VP, 581 00:31:16,390 --> 00:31:20,230 explaining Tucker's value to the white supremacist cause like this. 582 00:31:20,470 --> 00:31:22,590 He doesn't use the word "white" very often, 583 00:31:22,670 --> 00:31:25,710 but that's the underlying message that he's showing. 584 00:31:25,870 --> 00:31:28,910 He shows that there is massive racism in America against white people, 585 00:31:29,070 --> 00:31:31,830 while at the same time saying there's no systematic racism. 586 00:31:32,230 --> 00:31:33,750 But people get the message. 587 00:31:34,110 --> 00:31:37,830 Yeah, people do get the message. Although, to be fair, 588 00:31:37,910 --> 00:31:39,910 it's not like it's written in a complex code. 589 00:31:39,990 --> 00:31:43,390 It's a walking yacht club scrunching his face up for an hour every night 590 00:31:43,470 --> 00:31:46,630 and saying to a conservative audience, "they" are coming for "you" 591 00:31:46,710 --> 00:31:47,950 in modulating tones. 592 00:31:48,070 --> 00:31:50,950 We're not exactly in riddle of the Sphinx territory here. 593 00:31:51,030 --> 00:31:54,630 And all of this is why, as tempting as it is to dismiss the controversy 594 00:31:54,710 --> 00:31:58,510 that follows Tucker every week as one more artifact of our outrage culture, 595 00:31:58,670 --> 00:32:03,270 it's important to remember that what Tucker is saying is outrageous. 596 00:32:03,710 --> 00:32:07,630 No one in their right mind would sit down, pop in their headphones, 597 00:32:07,710 --> 00:32:12,470 fire up David Duke's podcast and think: "I'm not a white supremacist." 598 00:32:12,990 --> 00:32:16,350 But millions of people watch Tucker on TV every night, 599 00:32:16,470 --> 00:32:19,670 spouting well-laundered versions of pretty much the same talking points, 600 00:32:19,790 --> 00:32:21,590 and there is real harm in that. 601 00:32:21,950 --> 00:32:23,270 While white supremacy 602 00:32:23,350 --> 00:32:26,950 is dangerous when promoted by self-avowed white supremacists, 603 00:32:27,070 --> 00:32:29,950 it can actually be even more dangerous when it isn't. 604 00:32:30,390 --> 00:32:35,190 And what Tucker Carlson's show sells, in addition to terrible pillows, 605 00:32:35,590 --> 00:32:36,950 is very seductive. 606 00:32:37,390 --> 00:32:40,310 It's the idea that this country is fundamentally colorblind, 607 00:32:40,430 --> 00:32:43,390 that anyone who mentions race is just trying to start trouble, 608 00:32:43,470 --> 00:32:45,870 that historic oppression is no longer relevant, 609 00:32:45,990 --> 00:32:49,950 and that in fact you, his viewers, are the ones currently being oppressed. 610 00:32:50,150 --> 00:32:53,670 And if he can sell his audience on his white identity politics, 611 00:32:53,830 --> 00:32:55,070 if he can persuade them 612 00:32:55,190 --> 00:32:58,630 that the big existential threat to America is diversity, 613 00:32:59,110 --> 00:33:00,510 it sort of doesn't matter 614 00:33:00,630 --> 00:33:03,870 if he says aloud what his preferred solutions to that might be. 615 00:33:04,230 --> 00:33:07,750 While it's bad enough to hear that white supremacist families 616 00:33:07,830 --> 00:33:10,030 gather around to watch Tucker twice, 617 00:33:10,150 --> 00:33:13,310 the fact is, millions of viewers a night watch him once, 618 00:33:13,670 --> 00:33:16,110 and once is already more than enough. 619 00:33:16,750 --> 00:33:17,870 And now this. 620 00:33:18,270 --> 00:33:23,990 A Look Back at One Year of TV News with Pandemic Precautions. 621 00:33:24,350 --> 00:33:27,670 You may have noticed something a little different about tonight's newscast. 622 00:33:27,750 --> 00:33:31,430 Like many of you, everyone at CBS 17 is practicing social distancing. 623 00:33:31,590 --> 00:33:34,150 We are standing six-feet apart here on the set. 624 00:33:34,310 --> 00:33:36,030 Yeah. It's social distancing. 625 00:33:36,150 --> 00:33:38,150 So, this is six-feet right here. 626 00:33:38,510 --> 00:33:42,590 It feels like I have to shout at you. But we have microphones and we don't. 627 00:33:42,670 --> 00:33:46,550 I'm coming to you live this morning from my own home in Boardman. 628 00:33:46,710 --> 00:33:49,990 You look great sitting there, all set up at a studio at home. 629 00:33:52,190 --> 00:33:53,350 What's happening? 630 00:33:53,470 --> 00:33:55,830 Olivia is calling. Somebody answer Oliva. 631 00:33:56,510 --> 00:33:57,790 Someone answer that. 632 00:33:57,990 --> 00:34:03,470 At I-65. Gonna go ahead and apologize, my Alexa is going off. Alexa, off. 633 00:34:03,710 --> 00:34:05,950 A downstream effect across the system. 634 00:34:06,070 --> 00:34:08,430 You're hearing my dog bark at the mailman. 635 00:34:08,630 --> 00:34:10,670 It's been a week since I've seen her. 636 00:34:10,830 --> 00:34:13,270 Hi, this is my cat. That is the perks of working from home. 637 00:34:13,510 --> 00:34:16,750 The maps aren't gonna move because he whacked the computer with this head. 638 00:34:16,870 --> 00:34:20,030 So, let me, let me just verbalize the forecast. 639 00:34:20,270 --> 00:34:22,910 62 in Pasadena. We'll talk about this storm... 640 00:34:22,990 --> 00:34:25,950 He walks now, guys. I've lost all control. 641 00:34:26,030 --> 00:34:30,350 Hold on one second. You can have two biscuits. 642 00:34:32,870 --> 00:34:34,030 Sorry about that. 643 00:34:34,190 --> 00:34:38,270 And run to the Supreme Court as they've indicated, clearly that's failed. 644 00:34:38,350 --> 00:34:42,550 They've refused to intervene. Those ballots are gonna be counted. 645 00:34:45,070 --> 00:34:47,710 That's our show. See you next week. Good night!