Media Matters’ Kat Abughazaleh: Dominion filings show Tucker Carlson “doesn’t like his audience”
Abughazaleh: “He doesn't like his audience. He doesn't like the people he works with. He doesn't believe almost anything he says”
Published
Media Matters’ Kat Abughazaleh: Dominion filings show Tucker Carlson “doesn’t like his audience”
Citation
From the March 15, 2023, edition of The Daily Beast's Fever Dreams
KAT ABUGHAZALEH (GUEST): I remember the first time [Tucker Carlson] mentioned QAnon, and that was a big deal because he hadn't said it on air. Now, he says it pretty much almost every day in kind of a joking way trying to underscore the craziness of QAnon.
And so then in 2022, he took all of that election misinformation and disinformation that he'd been peddling since Biden was inaugurated, and used that to say the elections are rigged, all the stuff -- all the stuff that you're seeing in the Dominion case that Tucker, we now know, does not believe.
And then he went into overdrive on attacking trans people. So during the midterms, his main things were Democrats are trying to break the election, trans people are trying to cut your child's penis off, and there's a race war coming.
And you kind of hit a ceiling on cable news once you start citing a race war.
Once you start saying that there's a race war on the horizon, there aren't a lot of places you can go from there unless you're just straight up Alex Jones -- who granted, Tucker likes.
KELLY WEILL (HOST): So, it's interesting. We've got all these revelations coming out of the Dominion lawsuit about Tucker's real contempt for his audience. He's calling them morons. He's says, "I can't believe these people believe it."
What do you make of these texts and messages that are coming out in discovery now?
ABUGHAZALEH: On Friday, my manager Andrew Lawrence and I were talking about this. He seems kind of depressed right now.
On Friday, it really seemed like he was just trying to get through the hour because it's so -- his whole facade is gone now. But it's not gone for his audience. Fox hasn't mentioned the Dominion case at all.
If you only watch Fox News, you have no idea that these texts exist. But really, they're just confirming what I and my coworkers already knew. He doesn't like his audience. He doesn't like the people he works with. He doesn't believe almost anything he says, he spreads hate for the money and for fun.
But yeah, he's just -- he's two- faced, and it's interesting to see that revealed. I can't imagine what it's like to be an assistant on his show right now.
I assume that he is very angry.