Tucker Carlson came up with a preposterous new excuse for demonizing Mexicans: that because they are eligible to vote in the upcoming Mexican presidential election, they are only pretending to assimilate here.
Think it was a coincidence that Carlson decided to smear Mexican immigrants as some kind of Trojan horses just as Donald Trump is facing a huge backlash over his inhumane treatment of migrant families? Nah, me neither.
Carlson even echoed Trump’s notorious, racist rhetoric (Mexico doesn’t send “their best” but people with “lots of problems”) and also did Trump a solid by suggesting that Russia’s meddling in our elections was insignificant in comparison to Mexico’s offenses:
CARLSON: You’ve heard a lot recently about the sinister influence of foreign countries on our government. Our enemies abroad, we are told, take advantage of our political system to hurt us and help themselves. Well, we’re right to be worried about that. It’s actually happening . The chief offender is not Russia, though, it’s Mexico.
Mexican authorities encourage illegal immigration into our country. They publish instructions showing illegal aliens how to evade deportation from here. They guide migrant caravans north on their way to America. They send their poorest people here because it’s cheaper than taking care of them there. America is now Mexico’s social safety net and that’s a very good deal for the Mexican ruling class.
That was the opening for Carlson to launch a racially-tinged attack on the likely next president of Mexico, Andrés Manuel López Obrador. To hear Carlson tell it, López Obrador is ready “defend all the migrants in America,” give amnesty to drug cartel members and believes it’s “a human right to enter our country.” Rather than actually explore López Obrador’s far-more complicated history, Carlson sent a dog whistle to his white-nationalist fans to hate Mexicans even more (and, probably, stop worrying about their children being ripped from parents at the border).
And just in case Carlson’s white-nationalist fan base didn’t hear his dog whistle, he began bogus attacks on the immigrants already here based on the fact they can still vote in Mexico. “I only vote in this country, I only can," Carlson said. "I’m only a citizen of this country and so why would I or any of the other American citizens watching tonight think that it’s a good thing that a president of another country is declaring that the world has a right to move here? That’s a hostile act aimed at us. Why would we be for that?”
We never saw a clip or the exact quote of López Obrador saying “the world has a right to move here” but what we do know is that there is nothing unusual about citizens of another country being allowed to vote in that country whether they live there or not. U.S. citizens are allowed to vote in our elections even if they live abroad with no intention of returning.
Univision anchor Jorge Ramos, the guest for the segment, told Carlson that López Obrador wants to protect the millions of Mexicans living here and that he thinks the Trump policy of family separation is racist.
“So we’re getting another racism lecture from a rich, white Mexican ruling-class member,” Carlson sneered. Because, apparently, he only believes in racism lectures from rich, white American ruling-class members such as himself or his white, racist pals who hate brown people.
But that was a distraction from Carlson’s real mission of whipping up more fear and loathing of Mexican immigrants by virtue of the fact that they may still vote in Mexico.
CARLSON: You wouldn’t participate in an election unless you had skin in the game, unless you felt that that politician was representing you. But if you were an American and you really identified with the United States, then what they do in Mexico doesn’t really concern you. So I’m confused. You can’t be assimilated in America and still be voting in a foreign election. That’s just – it doesn’t make any sense.
If you believe that Carlson was really confused and did not know exactly what he was doing, then I’ve got a bridge in Brooklyn to sell you.
Watch Carlson’s latest dog whistle below, from the June 21, 2018 Tucker Carlson Tonight.
This *ucker Carlson is sure acting like he has extra special reasons to double down on his ridiculous support for everything Trump.
There’s a lot of poverty and violence in Mexico, Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala driving desperate people to our borders. That doesn’t mean they have no stake in the nation they left. Many may hope to return. So why is it so strange that they may still care to vote in the elections of their native land?
Then there’s the separate issue of migrant workers who probably never will “assimilate” as Tucker puts it by definition.
Can we look at letting these people in as charitable? Certainly. But it’s also mutual beneficial as they’re fuel to our economy. It’s not just the well trod argument they fill jobs Americans won’t do, they’re cheap labor adding to middle class America’s standard of living. Hispanics cut my neighbor’s yards. They replace their roofs. Clean their houses, offices and hotel rooms. Much of the fruits and vegetables they eat were picked by them. If my neighbors could find Americans to fill these jobs they couldn’t afford to cost of these goods and services.
Not to mention in my area there is an entire infrastructure of businesses catering to their unique needs adding to the economy.
We’re also in a time of full employment with an aging, stagnant population in need of growth. Who’s going to be a better more motivated worker than someone who risks all to walk up to 1,500 miles to work here?
Why is any of this strange or, as Tucker implies, evil in a nation of immigrants going back to its founding as a colony?
