Tucker Carlson addressed the snowballing controversy surrounding a recently unearthed photo from Virginia Governor Ralph Northam’s 1984 yearbook. However, it’s not the picture of the Democrat in either blackface or a Ku Klux Klan hood that has the Fox News host up in arms.
Instead, Carlson focused on Northam coming out in favor of “infanticide,” with the host insisting that he’s “not exaggerating” when he uses that word. Carlson was referring to comments Northam made about what would happen if a baby was born alive after a failed abortion attempt.
“The infant would be resuscitated if that’s what the mother and the family desired, and then a discussion would ensue between the physicians and the mother,” the governor said in a radio interview. A spokesperson later clarified that he was discussing the “tragic and extremely rare case in which a woman with a nonviable pregnancy or severe fetal abnormalities went into labor.”
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“The press covered all of this, of course, but not in the way you’d imagine,” Carlson added, arguing that “to the reporters at the Washington Post the real crime here was Republicans complaining about Ralph Northam.” He pointed to a headline that read, “Abortion bill draws GOP outrage against Va. Gov. Northam, Democratic legislators,” or as he put it, “Republicans whine too much! Infanticide? Not a big deal!”
After all of this, Carlson finally arrived at the yearbook photo that has caused a growing number of prominent Democrats to call for Northam’s resignation. The host used the photo to attack Northam not for the racist display itself but for the hypocrisy of characterizing his 2017 Republican opponent Ed Gillespie as racist.
“The closing of that campaign was an unending flurry of ads putting his Republican opponent up against pictures of what happened at Charlottesville,” Carlson said. “There was no evidence that his opponent was racist, but Northam said it a lot.” While Gillespie did denounce the white nationalists marching in Charlottesville, Northam’s campaign attacked him for refusing to condemn President Trump’s “both sides” response.
Despite the many calls from Democrats for Northam to step down, Carlson highlighted the handful of Virginia officials who are so far standing by him.
“Those Democrats personally oppose blackface and Klan robes as a matter of conscience, but they don’t want them relegated to some back alley,” the host said, drawing a deliberately provocative abortion analogy. “They want blackface and Klan robes to be safe, legal and rare. A private matter between a politician and his donors.”
Carlson ended by predicting that for now, Northam will be “kept comfortable” and “resuscitated if that’s what his party desires.”
