CNN’s Brian Stelter tore into Tucker Carlson on Sunday as he pronounced the Fox News opinion host a successor to former President Donald Trump.
“Tucker Carlson is the new Donald Trump,” Stelter declared on Reliable Sources. “Tucker has taken Trump’s place as a right wing leader, as an outrage generator, as a fire-starter. And it is all happening on Fox just like Trump’s campaign did. Which means Rupert and Lachlan Murdoch are ultimately responsible.”
Stelter argued that Carlson and Trump have numerous similarities, including that they operate by “tapping into white male rage and resentment” and “setting the GOP’s agenda.” He also cycled through various comments Carlson made in the past week, such as the Fox host dismissing Meghan Markle’s bombshell claims, mocking New York Times reporter Taylor Lorenz, and saying, “Pregnant women are going to fight our wars. It’s a mockery of the U.S. Military.”
“What Tucker wants is attention. What Rupert and Lachlan Murdoch want for him is attention,” Stelter said. He went on to argue that Carlson is unquestionably “the number one star on Fox News,” and that Fox is shaping itself to expand Carlson’s “radicalized content” even further.
During the panel discussion, S.E. Cupp said Fox has become “the 24-hour Tucker channel,” and that the Murdochs have determined that “the GOP no longer wants to tackle substance and policy and wants to live in the culture wars.”
April Ryan accused Carlson of putting “a lot of people’s lives on the line for his entertainment purposes,” pointing to Lorenz as an example.
Stelter and The Baltimore Sun’s David Zurawik briefly mocked Fox for what Stelter called a “pathetic” display when the network aired Carlson’s live reaction to President Joe Biden’s coronavirus address.
Finally, The Washington Post’s Erik Wemple said that while Carlson and Trump “both traffic in hatred and lies,” Carlson is a bigger challenge because “he lies [more] strategically and carefully” than the ex-president.
Watch above, via CNN.
