One racial attack on civil rights hero Rep. John Lewis and other African Americans on Martin Luther King Day was not enough for the Tucker Carlson Tonight show. So after host Tucker Carlson spent 13 minutes race baiting Lewis and others, he hosted former Black Panther Mason Weaver to stick it to Lewis the way only an African American black attacker can!
Weaver, you may recall, previously smeared Mexicans and liberals on the Fox Business Network when he spoke supportively of Donald Trump’s bigoted attacks on Hispanic immigrants:
WEAVER: Everything he said was true. They are raping, there are gangs, they are bringing in drugs. No one is denying that. What did he say is wrong?
[…]
Liberals hate the truth. The truth is painful. It’s like a brick to their head and they cannot stand you saying the truth.
On Fox, that’s the kind of rhetoric that makes you an authority on civil rights!
Last night, Carlson gave Weaver cred right in the introduction (transcript excerpts via Media Matters):
CARLSON: Well, Congressman John Lewis of Georgia is being cast as the undisputed champion of black America, standing in opposition to Donald Trump on behalf of all African-Americans. But Lewis does not speak for all African-Americans. Mason Weaver used to be a Black Panther, for example. He now says Lewis is a, quote, "Civil rights turncoat who is collaborating with the Democratic Party to oppress black America."
Mr. Weaver joins us now to explain what he means.
Weaver began by rehashing an old GOP chestnut of dishonesty that argues Democrats were the real southern racists during the Civil Rights Era. Carlson did not point out that those Democrats reacted to civil rights legislation by becoming Republicans long ago.
WEAVER: [Lewis] was fighting Democrats, but after they beat his behind on that bridge and ran over him and stomped him on the ground, he got up and turned and joined them. He joined the oppressors and became a stooge for them, where he was now sitting and presided over the destruction of the black community, the destruction of the black man, the destruction of the black woman with drugs and gangs.
Remember how Carlson badgered African American Democrat Jehmu Greene to distance herself from inflammatory anti-white rhetoric in the earlier segment? There was no such concern from the host about Weaver’s anti-black sentiments.
WEAVER: [Lewis] has presided over the worst school system in the world where black people are learning only to be gang-prepped. So I'm just -- I'm outraged that the demonstration that he had early in his life has turned to a subjugation of his rights and authority as a black leader.
[…]
Not just his congressional district but the congressional communist black caucus that has every district they own and control is a ghetto hell-hole. It's a place that no one wants to go to. They're in control of every inner-city school system, every inner-city police, every inner-city jail. They have produced nothing but drugs and misery. Black-owned businesses, black-owned housing has been reduced. They have presided over the destruction of black people. They should be ashamed of themselves. And I don't understand why any black person could be a Democrat.
In fact, Lewis’ district is no “ghetto hell-hole.” But instead of challenging Weaver, Carlson prodded for more.
CARLSON: So you believe that John Lewis, when he gets up and says anything, is already discredited because of what he's failed to do since the civil rights era?
WEAVER: He has done nothing. John Lewis, bless his heart. You know, it took courage to do what he did in his early life. But what he has done now, he has turned himself to his enemy, like a little girl being beaten by daddy and joins daddy. Like an abused woman beaten by her husband, she joins the husband. He has joined the enemy. He has joined the oppressor, and what he should do -- if you are a real man, John Lewis, if you are a real, real hero, you stand up tomorrow morning and you look at the American people and you apologize. You have led them through decades of hell. You should apologize saying you made a mistake, saying he tried to work with them. But the Democratic Party has always been the party of abuse, always been the party of the Klan, the party that went to war to keep slaves, the party that’s always been the destruction of black people. Mr. Lewis, you have presided over the destruction of black America and you owe us an apology. As a matter of fact, you are more concerned -- he is more concerned about Trump being the illegitimate president, but John Lewis is the illegitimate congressman.
That kind of rhetoric should not be part of any responsible news analysis but especially not on Martin Luther King Day. But, sadly, it is perfectly in keeping with Fox News’ “celebration” of the day.
Watch it below, from the January 16, 2017 Tucker Carlson Tonight.