Fox News anchor Tucker Carlson has come under fire from Democrats after releasing the trailer of a documentary series on the Capitol Hill riots on January 6th earlier this year. The series titled ‘Patriot Purge’ is set to begin airing from the 1st of November on Tucker Carlson Originals on Fox Nation.
Starting Monday pic.twitter.com/MRbx5FKVAc
— Tucker Carlson (@TuckerCarlson) October 28, 2021
However, the trailer itself has angered Democrats and anti-Donald Trump Republicans alike, who are now accusing the Fox News anchor of producing terrorist propaganda. Representative Eric Swalwell accused Carlson of “radicalizing terrorists”. He said that the terrorists are ready to commit violence against “whoever Tucker says the target is.”
Tucker Carlson is radicalizing terrorists. They’re making bombs, loading guns, and sharpening their knives and ready to aim their venom at whoever Tucker says the target is. https://t.co/Wrq7S8l6pT
— Rep. Eric Swalwell (@RepSwalwell) October 29, 2021
Republican Representative Liz Cheney, daughter of former US Vice President Dick Cheney, said that Fox News was providing platform to the same kind of lies that “provoked” January 6 riots. Liz Cheney has not seen the documentary yet, therefore, it is not clear how she can make that claim.
On an unrelated note, her father Dick Cheney was at the forefront of peddling the ‘Weapons of Mass Destruction’ hoax that was used a justification for the US invasion of Iraq. The disastrous war ultimately ended up destabilizing the whole region and fueled the rise of ISIS.
It appears that @FoxNews is giving @TuckerCarlson a platform to spread the same type of lies that provoked violence on January 6. As @FoxNews knows, the election wasn’t stolen and January 6 was not a “false flag” operation. @rupertmurdoch @jayawallace @Suzannescott @SpeakerRyan https://t.co/ODKZFVUFBa
— Liz Cheney (@Liz_Cheney) October 28, 2021
Alexander S. Vindman, an anti-Trump activist and Former Director for European Affairs for the United States National Security Council, claimed Tucker Carlson is an “anarchist” and “an arsonist of American democracy”.
He is an anarchist; an arsonist of American democracy. How is this different than yelling fire in a crowded theater? Carlson is attempting to incite a riotous mob. He should be censured. I’d like to hear the arguments for/against this being protected speech. https://t.co/xHTaxXo2p2
— Alexander S. Vindman (@AVindman) October 28, 2021
Ahmed Baba, co-founder of ‘Rantt media’, claimed that the documentary series “might be the most dangerous piece of content dropped since the insurrection.”
I finally just watched that Tucker Carlson documentary trailer and my god. I won't share it to add more views, but this might be the most dangerous piece of content dropped since the insurrection. Tucker and the Murdochs are tapping into the absolute worst of the American psyche.
— Ahmed Baba (@AhmedBaba_) October 29, 2021
Former Democrat candidate for the House of Representatives Kim Mangone said that Carlson “must be taken off the air immediately”.
Retweet if you think that Tucker Carlson is a national disgrace and must be taken off the air immediately.
— Kim Mangone (@KimMangone) October 28, 2021
CNN reporter Oliver Darcy compared Tucker Carlson to Alex Jones and Infowars.
Tucker Carlson says he is actually doing an entire "week-long event" devoted to 1/6 trutherism.
— Oliver Darcy (@oliverdarcy) October 28, 2021
Again, what is the difference between this stuff and what airs on InfoWars? The only key difference I can think of is that Tucker Carlson has a much larger platform. https://t.co/0iX6bxvQDC
CEO of ADL, Jonathan Greenblatt, went on to write a letter to Fox News asserting that the documentary is absurd.
I wrote to @FOXNews that this “documentary” is nothing short of absurd and it will continue to fan the flames of extremists and conspiracy theorists. This is dangerous, and it’s no surprise that Tucker Carlson is leading the charge bringing fringe ideas to the masses. pic.twitter.com/aSIpHuxz43
— Jonathan Greenblatt (@JGreenblattADL) October 29, 2021
Professor of Constitutional Law at Harvard, Laurence Tribe, said, “Tucker Carlson is a dangerous anti-democracy demagogue who poses as the libertarian voice of ordinary people, a fabricator who wraps himself in a fake flag of truth, a self-promoter whose duplicity is coated in gelatinous unctuousness. And that’s the best I can say about him.”
Tucker Carlson is a dangerous anti-democracy demagogue who poses as the libertarian voice of ordinary people, a fabricator who wraps himself in a fake flag of truth, a self-promoter whose duplicity is coated in gelatinous unctuousness. And that's the best I can say about him. https://t.co/QTNeZP6UxE
— Laurence Tribe (@tribelaw) October 28, 2021
Scott Dworkin, co-founder and Executive Director at The Democratic Coalition, said that the documentary on January 6th must be completely banned from social media.
Tucker Carlson’s Jan 6 propaganda needs to be completely banned from social media forever. Not even the trailer should be allowed to be posted.
— Scott Dworkin (@funder) October 29, 2021
However, Carlson received support amid calls to censor him from conservatives and non-establishment Leftists. Journalist Glenn Greenwald slammed those attempting to censor the Fox News anchor.
Greenwald said, “The reason this Fox program on 1/6 is provoking such fury — aside from the fact that 1/6 has taken on quasi-religious significance for liberals and is the basis for their second War on Terror — is questions about what the FBI knew in advance and what its role was are taboo.”
He explained, “It’s an established fact that the FBI engineered right-wing groups to join a plot to kidnap Gov. Whitmer. It’s an established fact that the FBI had at least two informants at the Capitol (NYT). It’s established fact that FBI had its hooks in the 3 key groups associated with 1/6.”
Greenwald concluded that the only appropriate response to those attempting to censor questions about the FBI’s role in the events of Capitol Hill riots is “to tell them to go f*ck themselves, and then proceed with the journalism.”
There have been attempts recently to censor media coverage that Democrats do not find palatable to their interests. Weeks before election, social media giants had censored a report by the New York Post that revealed some startling details about Hunter Biden since it was believed that it might damage Joe Biden’s chances of becoming President. Since then, the report has been authenticated.
The recent calls for Tucker Carlson to be fired and censored for the documentary is the latest effort to crack down on independent media in the United States of America.
