Rather than come right out and acknowledge support for far-right Islamophobe Tommy Robinson, Tucker Carlson couched his bigotry as a concern for free speech that just happens to be full of ethnic hate. Ironically, Carlson had just condemned the free speech of an Asian woman’s old tweets mocking white people that were also taken out of context.
Before getting to Robinson, Carlson launched an attack on liberals and The New York Times for not standing up to the anti-white racism Carlson seems to think is the only real race problem in the U.S.
But after holding himself up as a principled defender of someone who believes “bigotry diminishes and hurts people,” his very next segment proved he only thinks certain bigotry is harmful.
For the sake of argument, let’s assume that Carlson’ really was offended, out of genuine concern for equality, by the Times’ hiring of Sarah Jeong despite her old, satiric tweets mocking white people. That just doesn’t square with the Carlson worried about Robinson’s free speech rights.
If you’re not familiar with Robinson, he’s a British right-wing, Islamophobic extremist supported by the likes of Steve Bannon and now, the Trump administration. The group Hope not hate has more on Carlson’s hero, whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon: He has a long police record that includes entering the U.S. illegally (which Carlson claims to oppose), multiple violent crimes and financial fraud. Robinson was most recently in jail for trying to livestream defendants walking into a courthouse, in violation of strict U.K. laws designed to prevent prejudicing a jury.
Hope not hate also describes Robinson as “one of the most high profile anti-Muslim bigots in the UK.” He co-founded the anti-Muslim English Defence League (EDL) which Hope not hate calls “the premier street protest group within the far right.” Their protests “were known for heavy drinking, abuse and outbreaks of violence.”
That’s the guy Carlson lionized right after demonizing Jeong. In the introduction to his interview with Robinson, Carlson portrayed described a free-speech martyr:
TUCKER CARLSON (HOST): The United Kingdom has become a mere shadow of the nation that gave us freedom of speech, freedom of the press, a host of other rights that we take for granted, but probably should not take for granted. Nobody knows that better than Tommy Robinson. In May of this year, he was arrested for attempting to cover the trial of a sexual grooming gang in the U.K.
For speaking out loud on the sidewalk, he was taken to prison, without barely any time to muster a defense. He was tried and sentenced to 13 months in jail. Now, after more than two months behind bars in solitary confinement, during which time he was attacked by journalists in the U.K. -- almost nobody defended him, but tonight he has been released on bail after winning an appeal.
Later, Carlson interrupted Robinson’s whining about his mistreatment in a prison with “the largest Muslim population in the UK” for that type of prison to reiterate the “free-speech martyr” recasting of his criminal behavior and bigotry:
CARLSON: I just want our viewers to understand why this happened to you in the first place. You went to prison in a supposedly free country for expressing unfashionable opinions in public. Did you -- with this last round, you've been in jail for two months -- did you hit anybody? Did you steal anything? Or did you say something the government didn't like?
[…]
I mean, even if people disagree with you, you would think some would say he has a right - this man has the right to express his opinions. Did anybody defend your right to say what you think is true?
Robinson claimed to have been the victim of a “kangaroo court” who had done nothing wrong. Predictably, Carlson didn’t bother to present the other side of the story. “We know that in this country, anyone who speaks about Islam … you can be a complete liberal, the minute you mention, criticize Islam, you are deigned and attacked by everybody,” Robinson claimed. However, he thanked Republican Congressman Paul Gosar, Ambassador Sam Brownback and Carlson for their support.
Carlson closed with more supportive words for Robinson along with an implicit promise of support for similar-minded bigots in the U.S.:
CARLSON: I wish you good luck in recovering from this… And I just want our viewers to understand that this has happened in a country that we believed was free. And without our vigilance, it could happen here. That's not hysteria. It's real.
If Carlson had the courage of his convictions, he’d come right out and explicitly state his support for Robinson’s views without pretending it’s only about free speech – when Carlson obviously only cares about some free speech. Instead, he cowardly sends dog whistles to white nationalists while feigning a stance on high moral ground.
If you ask me, that’s worse than outright bigotry.
Watch Carlson try to cloak himself and Robinson in respectability below, from the August 2, 2018 Tucker Carlson Tonight.
(Transcript excerpts via RealClear Politics and Media Matters)
WTF? That is so not true. Where the hell did he get that idea?
Those things came from the Constitution, and as amendments. The Founders were trying to insure that the U.S. did not have the same kinds of laws the Old Country had.