Tucker Carlson just can’t stand the idea of an American president looking out for his own and other people’s health in the middle of the coronavirus pandemic.
On Thursday night (before the CDC made the latest changes to its mask guidance – which Carlson still found a way to hate monger about), Carlson teamed up with a fellow Murdoch-employed public-health enemy, Miranda Devine, to take potshots at President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris for wearing face masks after vaccinations.
Carlson opened with an over-the-top smear, by "just asking" if Biden has declared he "somehow has the power to decide what you wear? Hmm, that’s never happened before.”
Carlson followed up by pretending to ask “a totally sincere question as most of the questions on this show are.” He “asked,” “How are maskless people or any people, regardless of infection status, a threat to you if you’ve been fully vaccinated? Honestly.”
If Carlson “honestly” wanted to know the answer, he’d have asked a health professional, not the venom-spewing Devine, from Murdoch’s New York Post. She doesn’t seem to have a single credential in public health but that has not stopped her from declaring that older and “neurotic” people were “just incredibly selfish” in “frightening” others into quarantine during the pandemic. (Media Matters has a good roundup of answers to Carlson’s “questions,” which, despite his multimillion-dollar compensation, he can’t be bothered to research.)
Devine sneered, “This administration has done such a terrible job of selling the vaccine. You know, the science hasn’t changed for this, you know, miraculous hallelujah moment today where suddenly we’re told the bleeding obvious, which is if you’re vaccinated, you don’t need to wear a mask.”
She added that Biden has “been clinging to his mask like a security blanket ever since,” and that “he just sends the message with everything he’s done that he doesn’t believe the vaccines work.” Actually, Biden is sending the message that despite vaccines, the pandemic still rages and caution is still needed.
“Well, right,” Carlson agreed. Then he piled on the hate: “[Biden] and his ridiculous vice president kissing her husband while they’re both wearing masks outside, after they’ve been vaccinated - displays like that have done more than any anti-vaxxer forbidden figures like Robert Kennedy Jr.”
Then, with unintentional irony, the guy whose attacks on vaccines prompted his own colleagues to speak out against his disinformation, continued, “Kamala and Joe Biden have undermined confidence in the vaccines.” (Notice how Carlson called VP Harris “Kamala.” It’s a common Tuckums tactic for demeaning people.)
“They did it from day one,” Devine said contemptuously. She ridiculously claimed, “They don’t believe in the vaccine, and yet they’re forcing everybody to wear masks, it makes no sense.”
Tuckums found a new way to disrespect Harris, this time mispronouncing her name as “Camel-a.” He said, “If the Kamala lady is kissing her husband while wearing a mask outside after she claims to be vaccinated, that doesn’t inspire confidence at all, and it’s weird too. Weird, really weird.”
You can watch the hate, division and disinformation Lachlan Murdoch calls "center right," below, from the May 13, 2021 Tucker Carlson Tonight.
I, for one, am disappointed that the CDC caved in on mask-wearing. The available evidence says it’s still too early and doing so won’t change the minds of the die-hards who repeat the talking points. The only thing that can change the minds (perhaps the majority) is for them to catch the virus and end up in the ICU. For some, even that hasn’t been convincing.