Tucker Carlson Tonight, increasingly referred to by the nickname “The White Power Hour” by those familiar with its execrable content, is perhaps the vilest program on Fox News, a somewhat impressive distinction given the absolute filth that populates Donald Trump’s favorite propaganda network. Carlson regularly targets immigrants and people of color, sometimes using coded language about “demographic changes” and other times employing far more overt racism.
His most recent bout of bigotry took the form of an attack on Representative Ilhan Omar (D-MN), who is both Muslim and Somali-American. He smeared her by saying she has “undisguised contempt” for the United States and those who live here. Astonishingly, he claimed that she is “living proof that the way we practice immigration has become dangerous to this country.”
Carlson went to spew more alarmist, xenophobic nonsense, rounding out his despicable spiel by calling Omar a “living fire alarm” that immigration practices must change. There was nothing subtle at all about his racism this time.
An absolutely stunning racist attack on @IlhanMN from Tucker. I'm shocked
She is "living proof that the way we practice immigration has become dangerous to this country"
She "is a living fire alarm. A warning to the rest of us that we better change our immigration. Or else" pic.twitter.com/p2IQWsqP5Q
— Andrew Lawrence (@ndrew_lawrence) July 10, 2019
Omar, never one to ignore bad faith attacks, took to Twitter to mock Tucker, correctly labeling him a racist and laughing at him for “weeping” about her presence in Congress. She reaffirmed that she loves this country despite Tucker’s lies and that she simply wants to improve it and build a more perfect union. She ended the tweet on a defiant note, saying that Tucker and his ilk will simply have to get used to calling her Congresswoman.
https://twitter.com/IlhanMN/status/1148783761124941824
Now, Omar has doubled down on her characterization of Tucker. The Hill reports that while leaving a Democratic caucus meeting today the Congresswoman told reporters “I truly believe he is a racist fool.”
She went on, adding that the Fox host is “weeping about the fact that we have an African-born member of Congress, the type of people that the likes of him think come from shithole countries,” referring to previous racist remarks from President Trump. She added that Tucker must be angry that he can’t ban her from the United States and instead must call her a Congresswoman.
Clearly, Carlson is outmatched here. He would be wise to keep Omar’s name out of his racist mouth.