Tucker Carlson added “mock a coronavirus victim” to his pro-death agenda of cheerleading for others to defy stay-at-home orders while he safely broadcasts from a remote studio and without saying a word about patronizing any of those open businesses, himself.
Last night, Carlson joined his coronavirus victim-mocking colleagues with his own sneering attack on CNN's Brooke Baldwin.
The excuse was Carlson’s latest poster child for his culture of death, a lawbreaking, public-health-risking barber who is defying a California order to stay closed. The barber, Juan Desmarais, told CNN’s Brooke Baldwin the day before that he didn’t care if he caught COVID-19 (nor whether he spread it, apparently) and he seemed willing to bankrupt his own business with fines just to own the libs/Democratic government (trying to save lives).
Despite her somewhat contentious interview, Baldwin remained civil and sympathetic to Desmarais’ severe economic pain. She wished him luck and noted how the situation is “just tough all the way around.” She added, “I understand. I hear you” at the end of the interview.
Carlson couldn't be bothered with anything like understanding or well-wishing for someone he disagrees with. He went straight to exploiting the virus for his divisive, hate-mongering purposes. He never let the fact that Baldwin suffered greatly from the virus herself, while acknowledging she was still one of the lucky ones, temper his smears.
Nor could Carlson be bothered with concern for Desmarais spreading the infection to others. In fact, Carlson seems ghoulishly eager for others to die of coronavirus, while he remains safe at home.
Trustfund baby Carlson sneered that Desmarais was “lectured by someone with a guaranteed income, some airhead,” meaning Baldwin, of course. He prodded Desmarais to attack her, too with this “question”:
CARLSON: I’m not just saying this because CNN is another channel but I was really struck by the pompous lecture that you received by one of their anchors yesterday. Someone who will not be out of work when you are out of work. How did you feel about that?
Desmarais complained that Baldwin “definitely had a, like she was somehow better-than-me tone.” Saying that Baldwin has a secure job and “her hair looked amazing,” he added, that while we’re all in the same storm, she’s in a different boat.
Carlson agreed “we’re not all in the same boat,” as if Mr. Trust Fund working at home, with his own guaranteed cushy salary on top, is anywhere near the struggling Mr. Desmarais’ boat.
But there’s more ways Carlson wants to exploit the virus to further his malice. He closed by suggesting viewers should stop paying taxes.
CARLSON: It’s very confusing to me that so many Americans are continuing to pay their taxes after how they’ve been treated by their government.
Do you think privileged Tucker wouldn’t be the first one to start whining if his trash wasn’t collected, his roads weren’t maintained or if the police weren’t there when he panicked over a small group of Antifa demonstrators protesting at his house?
You can watch this stain on the U.S. (and I include Fox News in that description because it pays this guy millions to spew his anti-American venom) below, from the May 1, 2020 Tucker Carlson Tonight.
(H/T reader Eric Jefferson)
As you say, Der Furor has gone from his magical thinking nothing bad will happen and mocking models to assuring us 100,000 deaths is bigly #winning. Why? Because flashback to when the UK’s model initially predicted 2-3 million American deaths in a context of no mitigation strategy and little data to the complete derision of the MAGA cultists. It was all a liberal lie! The models are ridiculously inflated! All a liberal conspiracy to make POTUS look bad! Now Mango Mussolini is inflating those numbers bouncing in his hollow head and thumping his chest over saving 3 million lives… no 4 million… no 5 million! WTF? All because he ordered the border closed to China and let the states take over from there.
The only thing to come out of the White House craziness and chaos worth a s—t was the 3-phase guidelines. Within hours he undermined them with his Liberate posts because, as we just learned, his staff intervened in horror his poll numbers were showing a sure loss in November. The only thing to save him is to return to his #winning economy model so now it’s jobs over lives. I’ll resurrect a term I overused in the past. Trump and his MAGA Death Cult pals are back to their Social Darwinism roots.
By Wednesday over 70,000 Americans will be dead while Donnie sits in bed eating a McDonald’s Happy Meal® watching Fox News in bed, iPhone in right hand.
Another example is his insistence that his closing off air travel from China saved millions of American lives. COVID is definitely the pits, but it doesn’t kill anything like the numbers the great blob pulls out of his arse. The USA has 4.2% of the world’s population and right now, has 27.2% of COVID deaths. If 3 million Americans have been saved by Trump’s actions, it would have been 94.4%. (Yes, I’m the kind of annoying nerd who has to work these things out).
From the start, Trump got it into his head that his fate would be decided by the number of people infected – hence the “15, soon zero” idiocy and his resistance to the plague ship docking. That’s why he went out of his way to ensure there would never be enough testing. He’s a very, very sick individual.
The nub of the problem now? Republicans want to force a rush to normalcy to save Trump. Though, to be frank, they’re probably less cynical than that with a bigger issue being their pro-business ideology, social support be damned, it only encourages sloth. Moscow Mitch, who really only risks lives to reconvene the Senate to shove more crazy judges through appointment, says protecting businesses from liability is a minimum requirement for further bills indicating he’s merely setting up an end to lockdowns, body counts don’t matter.
Speaking of body counts, did anyone catch Trump’s Fox News Bret Baier interview? Where our midget Dear Leader sat in a high chair to improve his stature with the Lincoln Memorial in the background. Asked about the 60,000 death model estimate being exceeded Dear Leader claimed (lied) he said 65,000 all along, like it mattered. Then said he’s thinking it’s 80,000 or 90,000 now but will keep going upward from there rapidly – but even 100,000 dead is a Republican bigly “incredible” win. What a f—king sociopath!
My point is that are far as possible, every American and every New Zealander, employer, worker or lender, would be ‘on holiday’ while they could not function normally, and all would receive the same level of support. It’s hardly fair that the government pays companies the normal wage of every employee, never mind that one might be earning $50,000 a month and their neighbour $2,000.
In the end, the government would carry the burden of ‘keeping the lights on’ and ensuring everyone had sufficient income to eat, go to the doctor and drive around. (In my piece earlier, I should have specified that government would also pick up the tab for utility charges).
That way, they could ensure the economy could pick up almost exactly where it left off once the all clear was given, even if the restart had to be staggered due to varying health risk factors. As it is, the whole applecart has been overturned and tens of thousands of businesses will be gone forever, while others will profit enormously through the lack of competition – and the overall economy will be crippled for god knows how long due to lack of consumer activity.
My cluelessness is understanding government aid, not fundamental economics. I watched “AM Joy” on MSNBC yesterday morning and she was pushing a similar argument, albeit using an existing bailout of banks. The nub of her argument is let the banks bear the financial burden because Joy claimed they got over a trillion dollars in relief (I thought Reid said $1.7 trillion but don’t quote me). I just find that figure astonishing and can’t confirm it. Other than the grossly underfunded $600 billion Main Street loan package targeting small businesses, not mortgage holders, I don’t know exactly the extent of Federal Reserve intervention. I do know they’ve dropped the Fed rate to near zero percent but does that solve anything? Anyhow, her argument was stiffed landlords receiving no payments would simply dump their losses onto banks.
There is a #nomoneynorent movement in America. There are localities who have suspended rent like New York City but not nearly long enough, IMHO, to get us through this mess. However, I don’t think it’s a federal jurisdiction because I don’t know if they can constitutionally control local rent. It doesn’t smell like interstate commerce to me. I dunno.
The problem with sticking it to landlords is most of them are small fries, not huge corporations with deep pockets of endless cash sitting around managing massive apartment complexes (and even corporations work on thin margins). Forgetting mortgages, they can’t eat insurance costs, maintenance costs, heat/air/electricity/water bills, taxes, etc.. If you suspend all that someone has to pay. In this case utility companies, insurance companies, government municipal water boards, trash collectors, commissioners of revenue, etc. who see their income dry up but not costs. So they cry for a bailout.
If we just let everyone non-essential including bank employees (who currently manage bailouts to small businesses) just go on the dole, which I believe is extended by the CARES Act until the end of the year with a $600 sweetener, the government pays out of the Unemployment Insurance program, a patchwork quilt of federal and state regulations. If you notice, some Republican states controlling theirs don’t want to pay out unemployment insurance so as they open back up they’re requiring people on the program to go back to work or lose benefits. Never forget America is an often an incohesive union of 50 states (plus territories and DC). States rights and all that.
And, of course, lots of people aren’t covered by unemployment insurance because you have to look at the definition of “employee”. Contractors don’t count. Small business owners don’t count hence our barber buddy’s upset. America has a rapidly growing gig economy, a tenuous situation for workers without employer benefits.
For example, I think gig economy Uber drivers are still considered contractors, not employees. Though California tried to pass a law changing that and there have been failed lawsuit attempts to reclassify them. People correct me I’m wrong about Uber.
Money has to come from somewhere. Which gets back to my question can the government plug the hole long enough to get us through this crisis?
Delegating the power to hand out relief to banks, federal agencies, state authorities and god knows who else seemed to me a recipe for chaos, grossly uneven treatment and unbridled fraud. Why could the government not have simply stepped in and frozen both the markets and the banking industry for as long as necessary?
My scheme would have had all rent and utility payments suspended as well as all loan servicing. Affected businesses would furlough non-working employees without pay, keeping their jobs open for as long as necessary. Those businesses not unduly affected would continue to trade as usual, paying working employees as per normal.
Everyone in the country would be provided with a reasonable (and equal) living allowance which would mainly be needed for food and medical costs. Landlords and lenders would not be entitled to compensation for lost rental income or interest payments, as the weeks/months where the economy was frozen would have effectively not existed. They would receive the same living allowance as everyone else in the community and could apply for compensation for actual expenses. While banking activity would be generally stopped for the duration, provision could be made for genuine emergencies.
As far as I can see, citizens and businesses could pretty well pick up where they left off when the time was right, and there would be no need to rush the restarting process dangerously. The government would be on the hook for the equable living allowances and would need to make provision for international loan obligations as necessary.
Please someone who knows stuff – tell me why an approach like this could not have been considered.
I also laughed because this is the second business owner I’ve seen on Fox mouthing a “I run the cleanest…” delusion. Gee, if I can’t see COVID Tucker it ain’t there!
The tragic side is, as Ellen points out, this guy’s dangerous. The last businesses phase to open should involve non-medical physical contact.
Though I empathize on two counts.
The guy needs financial assistance. I won’t get into to the tangled mess of federal small business relief where the program runs out of money immediately upon opening. I’ll avoid a Trump’s incompetent rant as well and move onto my recent puzzlement is the government capable of filling the yawning private sector financial gap until we sound the COVID all clear?
I also in principle support civil disobedience. But despite my empathy he violates my exception it can’t be violent or risk lives.