Tucker Carlson’s dodgy response as to whether he’s been vaccinated points to only one conclusion. UPDATED.
I previously wrote about why I think New York Times media columnist Ben Smith’s revealing article about Carlson shows he’s even more dangerous than I knew (and I already thought he was extremely dangerous). However, I thought this eye-opening bit deserved a separate post. It’s from the opening of Smith’s piece (my emphases added):
Last month, I texted Tucker Carlson to ask him a question that was on my mind: “Did you get vaccinated?”
“When was the last time you had sex with your wife and in what position?” he replied. “We can trade intimate details.”
Then we argued back and forth about vaccines, and he ended the conversation with a friendly invitation to return to his show. “Always a good time.”
Smith moves on from that anecdote to talk about how Carlson “spends his time when he’s not denouncing the liberal media trading gossip with them,” which is the focus of the piece.
In my earlier post, I discussed how I believe Smith fails to adequately acknowledge the sinister ends to which Carlson plays the press like a fiddle. Here, Smith moves right along without acknowledging that anti-vaxxer Carlson has, essentially, just admitted he’s been vaccinated. After all, if he hadn’t been, wouldn’t a guy who suggested the vaccine is “the single deadliest mass vaccination event in modern history,” just come out and say, “of course I haven’t?”
That is, unless, as we have long suspected, Carlson has been vaccinated and nothing terrible has happened to him as a result.
Telling his viewers he’s been vaccinated to no ill effect could save their lives. 41% of Republicans refuse to get vaccinated. Cases are rising in red states and falling in blue ones. In 2018, Tucker Carlson was Republicans’ favorite news host. People he criticizes get death threats. Presumably, speaking well of the vaccine could cause changes in behavior for good.
The fact that Carlson would rather see his viewers get sick and even die than reveal his vaccination status is just one more despicable element of his deceitful schtick.
You can watch Carlson “just ask” how much harm the COVID vaccines have caused, while suggesting that the government is covering up that harm, below, from the May 6, 2021 Tucker Carlson Tonight, via Media Matters.
Updated 10/27/21, as per comments below, to note that Carlson did not explicitly say that the COVID vaccine is "the single deadliest mass vaccination event..." but was quoting a doctor he gave credence to.
UPDATE: Carlson has since stated he "skipped" the COVID vaccines.
“We spoke to one physician today who actively treats COVID patients. He described what we are seeing now as the single deadliest mass vaccination event in modern history. Whatever is causing it, it is happening as we speak.”
However, for the sake of accuracy, I will change the wording to say Carlson “suggested” it.
My niece is a nurse in Philly and at the height of the pandemic she was being run ragged. I was so pissed off. I told her that she and the other nurses should go to the hospital administrators and tell them to change their Covid admitting policies in the ER to asking just one question: Have you at least been trying to keep yourself and others around you well and safe by wearing a mask out in public?
If they answered yes they they got in. If they answered no, they went to the bottom of the waiting list for a bed and a ventilator.
She said she and the other nurses already had thought of that.
Similarly, I can’t help but trust (aka hope, with all my heart) that only the unvaccinated will wind up in hospital and/or ICUs in future. Although I consider myself to be harsh in wishing that, I can’t help but think they will have deserved what they got.