Tucker Carlson did a great Glenn Beck imitation last night as he weaponized the homelessness and misery of some poor people in California to claim that San Francisco is becoming unlivable “by the hour,” ditto for Los Angeles, and since Democrats only care about improving the lives of Central Americans, we may well be on the verge of a collapse of civilization.

Although the segment was part of the "Tucker investigates" series, I have yet to see a single episode where Carlson does any actual investigating. He certainly didn't in this one. It very quickly became clear in this five minute segment that Carlson didn’t have any interest in any of the problems he was purporting to investigate - except in exploiting them for his poisonous political theater.

Right in the introduction, Carlson clued us in that he was concern trolling, not concerned. He had no interest in questions of affordable housing or providing more shelters. Nor could he be bothered with reporting, much less investigating, the various measures California's governor and localities are taking to address the problem. Who has time for that when you only have five minutes to hate monger?

As a large graphic blared, “CALIFORNIA SCREAMING,” Carlson said, “More tonight in our ongoing look at the sad but continuous disintegration of the state of California. Last night, we showed you the map of human waste on the streets of San Francisco. Tonight, we have another map for you.” This map was of hypodermic needles found on the streets of San Francisco since 2011. If only you could tie them to undocumented immigrants, eh, Tuck?

“Believe it or not, things can get even worse,” Carlson said. Although I’m sure he wanted to break into a jig, Carlson put on his serious face, looked into the camera and intoned, “San Francisco is literally becoming unlivable by the day, even by the hour.”

That was it for Carlson’s interest in the problem. Time to start politicizing! “Do California lawmakers care?” Carlson asked rhetorically. “No, they really don’t. Where’s Nancy Pelosi in this? She lives in Pacific Heights, right in the middle of San Francisco. You wouldn’t know it, she never mentions any of these things.”

Finally, Carlson found a way to work in some of his trademark bigotry!

“When California politicians want to solve problems, they go on trips to Central America because they care about the people who live there. They don’t care about their own people, obviously.”

Next, Carlson showed some footage of downtown Los Angeles which, he claimed, “has been turned into an immense and repulsive homeless encampment.” We saw footage of a block or so of tents. Which is not to minimize the problem but it hardly looked like all of downtown L.A. has been subsumed.

Carlson introduced guest Karen Hix who, it appears, got on Carlson’s radar screen by copying the show in an email with her complaint(s). Hix seemed to have a legitimate issue that she was legitimately trying to address. Carlson clearly only cared about exploiting it. Before she said a word, Carlson told us Hix believes “the city is becoming unliveable.” He also made sure to tell us twice that her family has owned a business in L.A. for over 100 years. Translation: she’s not an immigrant.

While they chatted, Carlson posted photos Hix had provided of the filth and debris. “Some of these pictures are almost too disgusting to put on the screen,” Carlson said. He couldn’t have sounded more chipper.

Hix said that people are living in RVs whose sewage goes into the gutters, then into the oceans. She called it “more than an environmental crisis” but a “health crisis.” Hix told her story of reaching out to various local politicians to no avail.

Carlson didn’t ask a single question about the facts of the problem, such as how many homeless people are there, why the numbers have grown so large recently, what services might be available and what more the city and/or state can do for them. No, Carlson’s only interest was whipping up animosity for political exploitation. These comments were the rest of his "investigation":

CARLSON: What does it say about your lawmakers that they don’t even respond to you?

[…]

CARLSON: Do they not know? So, Garcetti, your [Democratic] mayor lives there and the city is falling apart as you’re – again, on the screen, raw sewage in the street! I mean, what’s their explanation for this?

[…]

So your family’s been there for over a hundred years, providing jobs and paying taxes, you’re in for the long haul, you own all this infrastructure in the middle of Los Angeles and yet you’re the one they’re ignoring and they’re catering to people who aren’t even from there who are relieving themselves in the streets. I mean, how insulted do you feel?

As the discussion closed, Carlson assured Hix she had every reason to be angry and he invited her on for an update. “Let’s get louder, because this is totally – this is when civilization collapses and you have every right to be heard by them. So I hope you’ll keep in touch with us.” Apparently, "investigator" Carlson couldn't be bothered to do his own follow up with his guest.

Carlson didn’t say a word about hoping the problem gets solved. 

See the ugliness of Carlson’s true colors as he pretends to care about an issue below, from the April 24, 2019 Tucker Carlson Tonight.