For most of the day on Wednesday, #CNNisTrash was among the top trending topics on Twitter thanks to Bernie Sanders supporters unhappy with the way their candidate was treated at the previous night’s debate. Fox News host Tucker Carlson is right there with them.
Carlson opened his show Wednesday night by warning of the “chaos” that will ensue in the Democratic Party if Sanders gets the presidential nomination this summer. If the Vermont senator does win the primary, Carlson said it will have “all started” at the Des Moines debate when CNN President Jeff Zucker “decided to destroy the Sanders for President campaign.”
The host went on to argue that Zucker is working on behalf of the “Democratic establishment, which has dispatched him to crush Bernie Sanders before he can take control of the party.”
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His evidence had something to do with the story that CNN reported before the debate about an alleged 2018 conversation in which Sanders told Elizabeth Warren he doesn’t believe a female candidate can beat Trump. Carlson accused CNN of running the story “without any proof at all,” apparently discounting their multiple unnamed sources.
“Sanders denied that charge vigorously,” Carlson said, “but the message was unmistakable and crystal clear: ‘He’s a sexist, don’t vote for him!’” He also criticized “Zucker’s hand-selected moderator” Abby Phillips for not taking Sanders’ denial at face value. “Just more ‘journalism’ from our friends on cable news,” he added without any sense of irony.
“Suddenly, in weed-scented apartments around Brooklyn and the Bay Area, legions of Bernie supporters understood for the very first time why Donald Trump is always attacking CNN,” Carlson continued. “Why? Because CNN deserves it.” He predicted that CNN’s “stupid” and “unfair” hit on Sanders would ultimately help him more than it hurts.
And why, exactly, does Carlson believe that Zucker and CNN have it out for Sanders? Because the candidate released a statement in support of unionized workers—or as Carlson called them, the “oppressed and miserable workforce”—who received a labor dispute settlement from the media company. He believes it’s “personal.”
“Jeff Zucker was not amused by that,” Carlson said. “He readied his troops for battle. But in the end it didn’t work. And by the way, it won’t work. Americans may dislike politicians, but they hate the media more. If forced to choose between Bernie Sanders and CNN, most people will go with Bernie.”
