In defending protests against social distancing, Tucker Carlson takes Democratic lawmakers out of context

Written by John Whitehouse

Published

As a rule of thumb, the more smarmy that Tucker Carlson is in any given segment, the more he’s trying to compensate for something. So warning bells went off when Carlson on Thursday night went to near-maximum levels of smarm to defend people in Michigan who congregated in protest of the state's social distancing rules.

Sure enough, in attacking comments about the gathering by the state’s Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and Rep. Debbie Dingell (D-MI), Carlson felt it unimportant to note that protests delayed a shift change at a hospital, blocked an ambulance (though the Lansing Fire Department later downplayed it), and featured people not wearing masks while packed in fairly close together.

In addition to commenting on the economic catastrophe in the state, both Whitmer and DIngell touched upon these issues in their responses, as well as others (both mentioned seeing people with bare hands giving candy to children); however, Carlson cut their remarks so that only Dingell’s concerns about handing candy and protesters not wearing masks made it to air on his show.

Instead of providing context for his viewers about why Whitmer and Dingell were concerned (or at all engaging with the concerns of Dingell that he did air), Carlson instead just spoke sarcastically for nearly four minutes, saying that Whitmer was “power-hungry” and Dingell had “loathing for the people of Michigan.”

From the April 16, 2020, edition of Fox News' Tucker Carlson Tonight

TUCKER CARLSON (HOST): Gretchen Whitmer has spent most of her working life in the grubby small-bore confines of Michigan state politics. That is not a training ground for excellence. So when she was elected governor a little over a year and half ago, nobody expected that Whitmer would suddenly morph into a wise and inspired chief executive. And indeed, she hasn't. When the coronavirus hit Michigan in force last month, Whitmer had no clue what to do. So she responded with a mixture of comical ineptitude and a weird kind of arbitrary fascism.

...

When you disagree with Gretchen Whitmer, you endanger the public. That's the new standard in Michigan. Debbie Dingell supports that standard. Dingell is a long time GM lobbyist, a car lobbyist, who inherited her congressional seat from her husband who in turn inherited it from his father. A Dingell has represented Michigan in the U.S. House of Representatives continuously for 88 years, since 1932. The family business is politics but it's really a form of monarchy. So you won't be surprised to learn that Debbie Dingell is very popular socially in Washington. She shares with her neighbors there an undisguised loathing for the people of Michigan. She expressed that contempt this morning on NBC. 

...

Oh, sad. Debbie Dingell is sad. She’s sad that people are expressing inconvenient political beliefs when they should be drinking alone at home or obediently buying more state sponsored lotto tickets. Why can’t they hit Michigan’s entirely essential weed stores and numb out as their benevolent leader Gretchen solidifies her control over their lives? Why do they have to complain all the time? Saying unapproved things is racist. It inspires fear and hate. Stop it right now you proles. How dare you. Fire up a bowl and accept your fate.