Guno צְבִי
We fight, We win, Am Yisrael Chai
A TV character who exploited the worst impulses of the American right.
The most incisive comment ever made about Tucker Carlson was actually made about Bill O’Reilly, and the person who said it was Tucker Carlson, at the time a lesser cable-television personality gazing upward at the reigning giant of his field.
“O’Reilly’s success is built on the perception that he really is who he claims to be,” Carlson wrote. “If he ever gets caught out of character, it’s over.”
The high-pitched squeals and goofy facial expressions were the superficial expressions. The deeper and more sinister aspect of Carlson’s success was his realization that his audience craved racist and nativist resentment in higher doses than his predecessor had been able to supply.
To be sure, this wasn’t just an act. In 2008, Carlson had gleefully described Iraqis as “semiliterate primitive monkeys,” and he loved to mock the idea that “diversity is our strength.” But this aspect of his thought unlocked new possibilities for his career.
Last year, the New York Times combined behind-the-scenes reporting with close textual analysis to describe the staggering levels of racism Carlson flung at his audience. It found that Fox News, using minute-by-minute ratings analysis, discovered that his embrace of white-nationalist themes landed with the viewers
Carlson’s credibility with the most nativist, paranoid, and bigoted constituents in the Republican Party made him a valuable authenticator for its leaders. Kevin McCarthy leaked footage of January 6 to Carlson, which he shared selectively to claim the insurrectionists had behaved lawfully and peacefully. Ron DeSantis gave Carlson a written statement calling Russia’s invasion of Ukraine a “territorial dispute.”
https://nymag.com/intelligencer/202...ed-fox-news-fake-populist-genuine-racist.html
The most incisive comment ever made about Tucker Carlson was actually made about Bill O’Reilly, and the person who said it was Tucker Carlson, at the time a lesser cable-television personality gazing upward at the reigning giant of his field.
“O’Reilly’s success is built on the perception that he really is who he claims to be,” Carlson wrote. “If he ever gets caught out of character, it’s over.”
The high-pitched squeals and goofy facial expressions were the superficial expressions. The deeper and more sinister aspect of Carlson’s success was his realization that his audience craved racist and nativist resentment in higher doses than his predecessor had been able to supply.
To be sure, this wasn’t just an act. In 2008, Carlson had gleefully described Iraqis as “semiliterate primitive monkeys,” and he loved to mock the idea that “diversity is our strength.” But this aspect of his thought unlocked new possibilities for his career.
Last year, the New York Times combined behind-the-scenes reporting with close textual analysis to describe the staggering levels of racism Carlson flung at his audience. It found that Fox News, using minute-by-minute ratings analysis, discovered that his embrace of white-nationalist themes landed with the viewers
Carlson’s credibility with the most nativist, paranoid, and bigoted constituents in the Republican Party made him a valuable authenticator for its leaders. Kevin McCarthy leaked footage of January 6 to Carlson, which he shared selectively to claim the insurrectionists had behaved lawfully and peacefully. Ron DeSantis gave Carlson a written statement calling Russia’s invasion of Ukraine a “territorial dispute.”
https://nymag.com/intelligencer/202...ed-fox-news-fake-populist-genuine-racist.html
