After Tucker Carlson's interview with Vladimir Putin The erstwhile FOX News tv presenter (because he does not deserve to be a journalist) has spilled — and rightly so — slop. The details of the statements of the Russian dictator are not to be cited, this gibberish has already been analysed in Polish and global media. It is worth mentioning, however, that for the intrepid writer he wants to appear to be, Carlson looked poor: he did not interrupt the conversational monologues, he was lost in them (why he was making a mimic) and despite his attempts he did not get the clear answers he expected.
It seemed that Carlson, guided by his obsessions, became active in a conversation on which he himself gained nothing and which benefited Russian propaganda. For this reason, Carlson is considered a useful idiot for Putin.
However, this is simply a compliment that Carlson does not deserve. Yeah, Putin utilized him for his purposes. But Carlson besides knew what he was doing: the interview with Putin is the logical consequence of the media individual he built, the journalistic kind he created, and the political attitude (because it's hard to talk about ideology here) he chose.
For respective years in right-wing media Carlson of mainstream conservative-libertarian turned into a sowing disinformation and winking eye towards right-wing extremists of the privileged tribune who does not shun the language of class or race fighting. This transformation mostly illustrates the evolution of the American right—from the fiscal conservatism of the Bushes to the erratic populism of Trump—and explains why the open support of Russia became rather acceptable on this side of the political scene.
Privileged Start
Although Carlson enjoys portraying himself as a defender of average Americans and hitting (liberal) elites, he himself enjoys the privileges afforded by belonging to 1 percent of the richest. To belong to this group in 2022, 1 had to have a luck worth at least $11 million, and Carlson's property is estimated to be at least 30.
Tucker's father, Dick Carlson, started out as a journalist, but got bored of it, and from political broadcasting he was head of, among others, Voice of America and Public Broadcasting Corporation. He was besides the U.S. Ambassador to the taxation haven – in Seychelles. parent left her household erstwhile Tucker was six. erstwhile he was 15, his stepmother was Patricia Caroline Swanson, the heiress of a multimillion-dollar luck struck on frozen food and the niece of J. William Fulbright, 1 of the most influential senators (including creators of scholarship programs bearing his name).
He boasted himself that thanks to inherited money he was “extraordinarily loaded” and never had to work. In addition to his family's money, Tucker besides had another privileges: connections and the fact of being a white, heterosexual man (which in the United States has no tiny meaning). Life rapidly taught Tucker that without these privileges, he would not move.
Carlson's education is simply a number of private schools, including a short adventure with a boarding school in Swiss Geneva. He graduated from the Episcopal Church of St George School in Rhode Island (now tuition plus boarding school to nearly $74,000 a year, more than a year of Harvard undergraduates along with dormitory and wellness insurance).
He was a star of the advanced school debate club, but he had nothing to brag about in his applications for admission to college. For this, he was overwhelmed by the director's daughter, who got him a seat at the alternatively prestigious Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut, erstwhile another top universities rejected his candidacy. If Tucker was a woman, there'd be rumors about him that he got into college through a bed, but that he's a man, he's just being reminded of learning problems.
He didn't shine in college either, but his nature of the alt-right troll became more and more familiar. According to what he wrote in the memorial book, he belonged to the “Dan White Society” and “Jesse Helms Foundation”. Jesse Helms is simply a conservative politician known for his hostile attitude towards civilian rights (in the 1950s he called supporters of the desegregation "komuchs" and "persistents of mixing races"), the rights of persons with disabilities, feminism, environmental protection, gay rights, access to abortion – in the word: everything that designates RAGCz and civilizational progress. Daniel White, in turn, is the name of the murderer Harvey Milk, the first homosexual councillor of San Francisco.
Ultimately, it is not known whether this Dan White is truly about, due to the fact that officially no “Dan White Society” existed at Trinity College, and the name is frequently found. Indeed, Carlson lavender cleverly adequate that he is seldom caught speaking openly racist or anti-Semitic. After all, he has nothing against immigrants, only fears of excessive influx. He is not a racist or anti-Semitic, and he talks about the “big substitution theory” due to the fact that mainstream media censors it – and so on. Its recipients read between the lines, that's rather enough. The similarity of specified tactics to our native “judeo” or “coronasceptics” is not accidental. They're just asking questions, too.
After graduation, Tucker wanted to work for the CIA, but seemingly membership in right-wing organizations bearing the names of known homophobes and bigots is not adequate to become a spy or even an analyst. After his father's proposition – and to the misfortune of the USA – he became a writer (Dick, a erstwhile reporter, was expected to tell him that they take everyone to journalism).
From writer to Propagandist
Carlson became synonymous with lies and racist conspiracy theories due to the fact that he failed in alleged average journalism, although he had everything in the United States that even an average individual could accomplish success: household money, acquaintances, resulting assurance and more happiness than reason, as well as skin color, sex and orientation. 1 of the reasons for his failures was the nature of the troll, a rebellious temperament. This favored being the star of a ellipse of debates and programs spreading nonsense from the deepest depths of the Internet, but not balanced journalism.
Carlson's media career began with the press – after college he worked as an information verifier and then as an information journalist. erstwhile Rupert Murdoch competed with the neoconservative weekly “The Weekly Standard” in 1995, Carlson, as he himself admitted, called all his relatives and acquaintances to convince the editor of Bill Kristol's fresh writing to hire Tucker. Friends one more time worked and Carlson got a job.
In the late 1990s, he began looking for something better paid. He explained this with financial reasons: he had 3 children who, as is known, cost – especially if they are sent to private boarding schools. By the way, he frequently utilized this excuse, although as he admitted, there was always quite a few money in the house.
In 2000, he began co-hosting on CNN talk-show Crossfire. The expression of the program can be summarized with 1 word: a hammer. The rightist with the leftist argued in the studio on various topics. It wasn't about reaching an agreement or lighting a problem from different sides, it was about arguing. Crossfire was buried by John Stewart in 2005. The comedian as a guest of the program clashed with Carlson, reminding him that the expression of the program is harmful to public debate: it fosters polarization, discourages the knowing of the another side and promotes an approach that is alien to catching nuances. Stewart said that as a comedian he could afford to overshadow, but a serious tv writer should stick to higher standards.
Carlson was not only ridiculed live on his own show (Stewart at 1 point called him "the dick"), but besides dropped out of CNN due to the fact that the station manager acknowledged Stewart's right. It seemed that after this public humiliation Carlson's career would not rise. His program on MSNBC, although aired for 3 seasons, was not a success.
In 2009, Tucker yet took on FOX News television, first as a commentator, then as co-leader, among others. Fox and Friends. Carlson sometimes replaced Sean Hannity as the programme manager Hannity. Despite increasing designation he was only 1 of the many faces of the right-wing station.
An unexpected change came after Trump's win in 2016. Tucker got his own show then. Tucker Carlson Tonight and erstwhile Megyn Kelly said goodbye to the station after an open conflict with Donald Trump, Carlson's show began to air at 21, between the programs of 2 FOX stars, Bill O'Reilly and Hannity. Even more unexpected was success Tucker Carlson Tonight. It was the most watched show in its time band, and yet became the most popular show broadcast by news stations. At the highest of the evening, more than 3 million people watched it.
Tucker's position in FOX News has already been so strong that despite repeated calls for boycotts for increasingly scandalous statements, tv has signed him for 2 first programs, aired on the FOX streaming platform.
FOX did not get free of Carlson until late 2023, erstwhile his lies and conspiracy theories became besides costly for the station: Carlson He was knowingly lying on the air. on alleged electoral forgerys in 2020, claiming that machines counting Dominion Voter System's votes played an crucial function in this process. Dominion sued the station, but it didn't happen due to the fact that FOX paid as part of the settlement over $787 million.
Apologist of Privileges
Contrary to the image he builds himself, Carlson is not a bleacher of the excluded, but of the privileged who lose these privileges—and a defender of the privileges he himself enjoys. erstwhile he began his career in the media, he was a typical typical of the conservative mainstream: in economical matters he considered himself libertarian (which was not unusual after Reagan), and in the worldview he opposed abortion (which does not surprise cultural wars). erstwhile George W. Bush invaded Iraq in 2003, Carlson initially supported the invasion. On the latter, however, he changed his head rather rapidly and began to criticise interventionist abroad policy.
He was cured of economical libertarianism – reportedly – of the 2008 crisis and trips to the mediocre western part of the state of Maine. His views evolved so much that during Trump's presidency he criticized Republicans for failing to act on the case student loans overwhelming the American mediate class. He stressed that this debt prevented young people from settling down and starting families, and the national student debt program itself criticized for de facto forcing taxpayers' money into pockets earning more and more university departments of the administration.
All these issues relate to problems that affect millions of Americans. Although Carlson’s changed views may sound acquainted to those with leftist views, they are futile to search sensitivity to another people’s harm. Although Carlson abandoned marketplace fundamentalism, he was fascinated with privileges and strength from libertarianism.
The criticism of the Iraq War was not about the Iraqis. He had compassion for American mercenaries. (called “civilian safety contractors”), which the U.S. business authorities mostly guaranteed immunity to kill civilians and whose earnings amounted to $250,000 a year. This immunity ended only erstwhile in 2007 Blackwater mercenaries opened fire on civilians in Baghdad and murdered 17 people, wounding 20 others. The circumstances of the massacre were so outrageous that even the State Department agreed to abolish immunity, the U.S. prosecution launched an investigation into the case, and the court sentenced 5 people to prison, including 1 for life). Convicted in 2020 was pardoned by Trump. Of course, this does not bother Tucker in inviting the founder of Blackwater as a commentator on military matters.
Carlson's isolationism is inextricably linked to racism: the problem with Iraq's war depended from his position on how He said it himself. – these “unlearned, primitive monkeys” from “a culture in which no toilet paper or fork is used” (it was about Iraqis), “were not worth raiding”. The Americans, he thought, were drawn into a war they had nothing from.
Similarly, it is simply a substance of paying off student loans. erstwhile Biden offered to cancel those debts, Carlson called the president's plan “class war”, led against the average Americans: "They want to reward those at the very top and those at the very bottom—people who either do not request it, or do not effort at all—and crush everyone in the middle, those decent people who are truly hard and who effort to do what is right."
And although the full section of the program was maintained in a speech of outrage over the transfer of money to rich universities, the main enemy did not turn out to be at all privileged, only employees of the higher education sector and graduates of courses who vote for democrats much more frequently and are usually in the "real America" unnecessary. Carlson “remarked” Biden's thought as a plan for the remuneration of loyal voters and donors of democrats and was outraged at the transmission of “the wealth of America” to those who hatred America, “supporting smoke Black Lives Matter” and consider the U.S. to be a systemic racist country. Thus, even in a racially neutral context of student loans, Carlson managed to wink at the far right, calling public money to cancel debts "repairs".
Right-wing Extremity Favorite
If the above quotes are disturbingly akin to the complaining drunk uncle-racist during Thanksgiving, it is due to the fact that they are a variation on them. But it's not just hidden racists who like Carlson. He's got a crush on guys like Former Head of the Clan and associate of American Nazi organization David Duke.
Why do racists, fascists and neo-Nazis love Carlson? Because he says what he wants to say, but better and more effective than them. – it reaches not only the convinced, but besides the normal. His statements are right-wing bingo extremes. He claims that White nationalism and suprematism is simply a fantasy (although even the FBI admits that the biggest interior threat in America is the utmost right), but Kamala Harris called “a associate of a fresh breed of gentlemenIt’s okay. ” Immigration in turn makes the US a country "Poorer, dirtier and more divided“ and is simply a step towards multiculturalism that undermines the foundations of Western civilization.
It was thanks to him that the most detached conspiracy theories went to mainstream. For example, he claimed that there was genocide on white farmers in South Africa. Biden's immigration policy called "a large replacement“ openly referring to the anti-Semitic explanation of neo - Nazis, according to which the planet conspiracy of Jews and globalists seeks to replace white people with darker skin color.
In 1 of the programs prepared for the streaming platform, he claimed that Americans would shortly gotta eat worms. Together with right-wing politician and commentator Tulsi Gabbard, there are American bioweapon laboratories in Ukraine – this is part of the American right-wing's long-standing obsession around the alleged vague and corrupt links between Hunter Biden and the government of Volodymyr Zelenski.
All these theories are built on the “you” versus “they”. "You" are Carlson's viewers, good, hard-working Americans who have had adequate of this #MeToo (it's not even a compliment to be given?), nonsense about climate change (it's cold in winter!) or about white privilege (And Obama is not a black one?). “They” are closer to unprecise, but they include global and American elites, left and Democrats. “They” want to force “you” to do something, they want to control “you” and they want to gain “you” and they want to ban “you” again. “They” are powerful on the 1 hand due to the fact that they have influence in mainstream media, universities, global institutions, business and government. On the another hand, they are wimps who apologize for their privileges, subject to different groups of influence and intellectual fashions.
On a akin split, Carlson is based on knowing American democracy erstwhile he creates himself as her protector. This democracy does not have much to do with typical institutions or collective decision-making mechanisms. Democracy is simply a state where “you” – or “we” in this case – are in power and we make decisions good for us, not “they” linked to global elites ignoring the good of Americans. In the background of this concept is delirious idealized image of the good old daysWhen no white men charged with having privileges they didn't really know they had, which were Tucker's days. Remembers erstwhile I was a kid in the beautiful nearly white town of La Jolla, confederate California.
From this position Carlson's interview with Putin and later licky clips about the Moscow subway or about fresh bread in the store are not surprising. On the 1 hand, there is an component of trolling: Carlson interviewed many cursed leaders, from Viktor Orbán, to Andrzej Duda, to Javier Mileia. Putin for this collection fits as well. On the another hand, he feels and can take advantage of the admiration that a large part of his audience has for Putin. Even though Carlson Putin himself despises— Just as the talks revealed any time ago, he was to despise Trump. – it understands perfectly that on the American right is simply a symbol of a hard leader who thinks about the strength of his country and does not succumb to external influence. Putin, like Orbán, Duda or Bolsonaro (who Carlson did not talk to, but whom Fate Failed supported) represent the hardness Carlson and his counterparts felt was lacking in American politicians in general and Democrats in particular.
Importantly, for Carlson, et consortes Putin symbolizes an alternate he lacks in American politics, which he thinks is very much needed. Carlson Open up to Putin – even against the president of his own country – due to the fact that he believes that Joe Biden does not represent “real Americans” and leads the country towards the abyss, Putin, in turn, points to a possible way of salvation.
This road is to take the clock back about 70 years, erstwhile it was a social and political order that was clear adequate that everyone knew who mattered and who, again quoting Carlson, "should shut up and follow orders." In this order, Tucker sees himself, of course, at the top.
