While other outlets refrain from uttering the name of the white supremacist behind the New Zealand mosque shooting or sharing his photo, Fox News’ Tucker Carlson did both at the top of his program Friday night as he claimed the real danger is the “ruling class” using the massacre as a pretext to take away citizens’ rights.
Repeating the shooter’s name throughout his five-minute monologue, the embattled Fox News star also read from the killer’s online manifesto to blast the American media, calling it “absurd” that “left-wing commentators” are working hard to tie the shooter to conservatives.
The conservative primetime host asserted that “authoritarian forces within our country would like to seize this moment” to take away the right to privacy and free speech, taking direct aim at Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY).
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“Within hours of the Christchurch shooting Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez blamed the National Rifle Association somehow for the attack,” Carlson exclaimed, referencing an AOC tweet mocking the phrase “thoughts and prayers,” which NRA supporters have frequently resorted to after high-profile gun violence here.
After essentially calling the progressive lawmaker dumb, Carlson proceeded to vociferously defend the NRA while warning viewers that the “ruling class” wants “to increase the power of a few over the many.”
Carlson, who has repeatedly blasted diversity on his show, a central complaint of the New Zealand terrorist, he went on to claim that Western civilization is declining because the “church has died” and its citizens are fatherless and addicted to drugs. Repeating his claim that the political left wants to use the massacre to silence dissent, Carlson read off a full quote from the shooter’s manifesto that explained why he chose firearms.
“So that was the killer's dream,” Carlson said as he again shared the image of the man who murdered worshippers in New Zealand. “Ripping apart America. Destroying it from within.”
Carlson concluded by again naming the shooter before welcoming on an NRATV host to defend the organization.
