While Lachlan Murdoch claimed not to notice that Tucker Carlson explicitly promoted and endorsed white supremacist ideology, white nationalists are not only taking note, they’re applauding.
As I’ve previously written, the Anti-Defamation League called for Carlson to be fired after he endorsed the white supremacist "Great Replacement" theory on the air. Fox Corp. Lachlan Murdoch responded by laughably claiming to share that organization’s values - then claiming, “Carlson decried and rejected replacement theory.” (Carlson followed up by doubling down after that vindication by the boss.)
White nationalists know what Carlson is up to and they are cheering it.
Media Matters summarized a roundup of white nationalist responses to Carlson, saying, “racist and extreme far-right media personalities and social media accounts” have been “celebrating him for broadcasting ‘what nationalists have been talking about for decades’ and defending him against criticism.” The examples are vile and disturbing, so I’ll just include one:
Vanity Fair also caught the extremists' admiration:
[S]trangely, despite Fox News’s and Murdoch’s insistence that Carlson’s focus on this topic has to do with voting rights, and not racist conspiracy mongering, he appears to have drawn praise from a certain segment of adoring fans. “Holy shit, I just watched Tucker’s replacement segment. This is a turning point in the program,” wrote one user on 4chan's /pol/ board––one of the few remaining online platforms that hosts self-described Nazis––in a thread praising Carlson for naming “the jew on national television.” Others on the thread shared their praise by posting a meme depicting Carlson as the far right’s cartoon frog mascot, Pepe, urging fellow 4chan-ers to “get your parents to watch right now to boost tucker’s ratings so murdoch doesn’t get cold feet,” and declaring, “HEIL TUCKER!”
Salon’s Zachary Petrizzo has more:
Leading white nationalist Nicholas Fuentes, whose "Groyper Army" appeals to disaffected young white men, also offered Carlson praise. "I have been skeptical of Tucker ever since his coverage (or lack thereof) of the stop the steal movement after the election, but tonight he really brought it all together & spelled out explicitly what is happening to the country," Fuentes wrote on Twitter. "Unironically huge victory in the battle of ideas." Fuentes went on to call Carlson "based" (a term of praise) and claim that the Fox News post had just "red-pilled 4 million people, and there is nothing liberals can do about it."
...
In a Telegram message, Newsmax host and far-right pundit Michelle Malkin weighted in on Carlson's comments: "Glad to see Tucker Carlson step up now and finally name names of America's enemies. Hope he pays homage to those who came before him and have had the courage to name them and fight them, long before our generation did."
Petrizzo also included this tweet from Media Matters’ Eric Hananoki:
The white nationalist site VDare called Tucker Carlson's monologue last night "one of the best things Fox News has ever aired" and praised it for being filled with "ideas and talking points" that VDare "pioneered many years ago." pic.twitter.com/7Jmx1Dr7gI
— Eric Hananoki (@ehananoki) April 13, 2021
(Top Carlson image via screen grab)
