By Jose Nino
Fox News commentator Tucker Carlson was recently called out by Jeet Heer of The Nation.
Tucker drew criticism about his recent comments on congresswoman Ilhan Omar and her ungratefulness as an immigrant.
He specifically said “Ilhan Omar is living proof that the way we practice immigration has become dangerous to this country.”
Carlson added, “A system designed to strengthen America is instead undermining it.”
In response to Carlson’s comments, Heer opined that “There’s nothing new about racism from either Fox News or Carlson’s mouth.”
In Heer’s view, Carlson’s supposedly “toxic” behavior has “reopened a debate about whether progressives, either leftists or liberals, should appear on the right-wing network.”
Certain leftists such as Glenn Greenwald of The Intercept and independent journalist Michael Tracey have been on Carlson’s show. In response to Carlson’s choice words for Omar, author Molly Crabapple commented, “Self identified leftists, stop going on Tucker’s White Power Hour to agree with him.”
Heer identifies Tucker’s strategy in trying to appeal to the Left:
Carlson is as insidious as he is odious and therefore very cunning in trying to channel popular anti-war sentiment into a right-wing unilateralism, as well as recasting grassroots anti-business sentiments into a conservative opposition to the supposed cosmopolitan elitism of woke capitalists.
By having leftists like Greenwald and Tracey on his show, Heer argues that “Carlson is trying to co-opt aspects of their anti-establishment message for his own project.”
The anti-war causes that Tucker promotes draw leftists like Greenwald and Tracy to his show to discuss issues that otherwise get ignored by the mainstream media. However, many leftist gatekeepers like Heer want to make sure that so-called “white supremacy” be stopped at all costs.
That usually means that contrarian voices like Carlson should be completely disavowed regardless of what is brought to the table. People can’t agree on everything, but there should at least be a consensus that the never-ending wars must go away.
For too long, concentrated interests have made a killing off of the suffering of foreigners and have completely turned the U.S. into an overstretched empire.
Fretting about comments in the distant past seems petty, especially when we have the opportunity to move forward on an issue like foreign policy intervention. Calling for the isolation and ostracization of people like Tucker Carlson does us no good.
If we want to progress on these issues, we need to avoid the toxic nature of identity politics and actually work together to move forward.
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