Fox News host Tucker Carlson tore into White House senior adviser and presidential son-in-law Jared Kushner on Monday night, blaming him for leading the president astray and having “contempt” for Trump’s voters as violent protests rage across the country.
Kicking off Tucker Carlson Tonight by raging against the increasingly chaotic demonstrations that have flared up over George Floyd’s death, Carlson first took issue with Republican leaders sympathizing with peaceful protesters.
“Who are you talking about?” Carlson growled. “Is it the people spitting foam as they scream ‘F the police’? Is it the one sitting next to the arsonist doing nothing as they set fire to buildings? Is it the kids laughing as they filmed the looting and the beatings on their iPhones?”
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After wondering aloud why he should be “required to be upset about” an unarmed black man’s death at the hands of police, Carlson then turned his attention to the president, whom he has almost never personally criticized on his show.
Noting that Fox News anchor Leland Vittert was harassed by protesters outside the White House on Friday night, Carlson asked Trump: “If you can’t keep a Fox News correspondent from getting attacked directly across from your house, how can you protect my family? How are you going to protect the country? How hard are you trying?”
The right-wing Fox host went on to grumble that Trump declared the following day that he and his family were safe, complaining that the president “seemed aware only of himself” before warning Trump that he could lose his voters for not taking action, likening him to the infamous Roman emperor Nero.
“You can regularly say embarrassing things on television,” Carlson said. “You can hire Omarosa to work at the White House. All of that will be forgiven if you protect your people. But if you do not protect them... then you’re done.”
The Fox star then applauded the president for his Monday evening statement threatening to deploy the military to tamp down the protests, which Trump delivered as Washington, D.C., police tear-gassed peaceful protesters.
“Good for him,” Carlson said before turning his attention to Kushner.
Claiming Trump will lose in November if he doesn’t ratchet up his response to the protests, Carlson blamed Kushner for not understanding the gravity of the situation and advising Trump not to address the situation.
“No one has more contempt for Donald Trump’s voters than Jared Kushner and no one expresses it more frequently,” Carlson said.
Adding that Trump’s “law and order” worldview remains “fundamentally unchanged” since he first ran for president, Carlson insisted that the president’s “famously sharp instincts” have been “subverted at every level” by Kushner.
While Trump appears to sense that Kushner is leading him in the “wrong direction,” Carlson said, Kushner convinced the president to pass criminal justice reform in order to win over black voters.
“Several times over the past few days, the president signaled he was very much liking to crack down on rioters,” he continued. “That is his instinct. If you watch it—you believe it. But every time he’s been talked out of it by Jared Kushner and by aides that Kushner has hired and controlled.”
