Fox host Pete Hegseth did his best Tucker Carlson imitation last night with a racialized attack on Somali-born refugee Rep. Ilhan Omar that depicted her as “ungrateful,” anti-American, dangerous, and exactly what immigrants will “look like” when President Joe Biden raises the refugee cap from 15,000 to 62,500.
Hegseth began his White Power screed by saying, “What does unchecked illegal immigration and massive waves of refugees look like without assimilation? It looks like this.” A large photo of Omar, wearing a hijab, appeared on the upper left of the screen.
He went on to call “Globalist Joe” Biden’s move to raise the refugee cap “so dangerous.” As if an additional 47,500 refugees are going to change the complexion of the U.S., a country of nearly 330,000,000 people.
In his quest to demonize Biden’s decision, Hegseth used a racist bullhorn to further attack Omar:
HEGSETH: Congresswoman Omar has chosen to return American goodwill with grievance not gratitude. You’ve heard her, she views her time in Somalia as blissful while criticizing the United States as racist, oppressive and torturous. That’s a direct quote. Unlike my good friend Bakhar Ali, Ilhan Omar didn’t choose America, America chose her from the squalor of a refugee camp in Kenya. We opened our doors and welcomed her. The state of Minnesota housed her, educated her, empowered her, enriched her, elevated her, and then elected her. … She wants refugees just like her.
FACT CHECK: The “grievance not gratitude” smear echoes Tucker Carlson’s repeated attacks on Omar. Yet “patriot” Hegseth (who successfully lobbied Donald Trump for pardons of war criminals) conveniently overlooked statements such as this from “ungrateful” Omar:
When I came to this country as a refugee at 12 years old, I never imagined I would one day have the opportunity to preside over the most powerful government body in the world.
— Rep. Ilhan Omar (@Ilhan) July 17, 2019
Grateful every day to get the opportunity to represent the 5th District of Minnesota in the House! 💪🏽 pic.twitter.com/HWGydf9j7c
Only a Fox News propagandist would get away with calling a U.S. Congresswoman “unassimilated,” but painting Omar as dangerously anti-American is a network wide tactic.
Hegseth is guest hosting Fox News Primetime this week. It’s obviously an audition for a permanent hosting gig. So it’s no surprise he’d emulate its biggest star and white nationalism advocate, Tucker Carlson.
You can watch Hegseth channel Carlson below, from the May 4, 2021 Fox News Primetime, via Media Matters.
