Tucker Carlson of Fox News has a lot of explaining to do lately, as do many of his colleagues.
Will Carlson ever make up his mind? Does he admire Donald Trump or does he hate him? Apparently, he wants it both ways.
In a text Carlson sent on Jan. 6, 2021 (the day of the National Capitol riot), he called Trump “a demonic force, a destroyer.” In another text, he wrote, “I hate him (Trump) passionately.” What a switcheroo from Carlson’s lovey-dovey on-air valentines to The Donald.
Carlson’s anti-Trump texts were among thousands of communications released in the “discovery” phase of a $1.6-billion defamation lawsuit filed against the Fox News network. Brought by Dominion Voting Systems, the lawsuit alleges Fox commentators repeatedly made claims and/or hosted guests who insisted Dominion’s voting machines had been rigged to favor Joe Biden, all the while knowing or not caring their claims were false.
On election night 2020, Fox News announced Biden had won in Arizona (tsk, tsk, for shame, how dare they name a winner other than Trump?). That announcement enraged the president, his fans and many Fox News viewers who, in anger, quickly turned to other news sources to hear what they wanted to hear, that Trump had won, not Biden.
At Fox and at the White House, the scurrying to-and-fro became as madcap as an old Marx Brothers movie.
Trump’s son-in-law rushed to the phone to call his friend, Fox Chairman Rupert Murdoch, to complain about the on-air announcement that Trump had lost Arizona.
In panic, Fox News, its ratings suddenly sinking, decided to double-down on the election-fraud baloney, even though its staff did not believe it. They hoped to regain all of their millions of viewers by telling them what they longed to hear and wanted so badly to believe – that the election had been “stolen.”
One week after the election, Jacqui Heinrich, a White House correspondent, sent a message to Fox News that double-checking had proven that Biden had, in fact, won, fair and square.
Carlson’s reaction to that “bad” news? “Please get her fired,” he texted. “Seriously. What the f…? I’m actually shocked. It needs to stop immediately, like tonight. It’s immeasurably hurting the company (Fox). The stock price is down. Not a joke.”
Thus, at Fox, it was all cheers for the Big Lie. Rah-rah-rah, shish-boom-bah!
Fox Chairman Murdoch recently acknowledged the hypocritical duplicity: “Yes,” he said, “the election was not stolen, calling the Trump fraud claims “stupid and damaging,” making him a “danger” as president. Murdoch also testified he knew Fox commentators were lying, but he was unable to stop it. Those Fox headliners included Carlson, Maria Bartiroma, Sean Hannity, Laura Ingraham, Jeanine Pirro and Lou Dobbs.
Finally, the Big Lie (“Stolen Election!”) is unraveling, not just at Fox News but just about everywhere else. The following are just three examples:
Sidney Powell. Powell, an attorney, cooked up crackpot theories about corrupted voting machines (Dominion is suing her, too.) She spouted her lunatic notions as a guest at least 12 times on Fox News and elsewhere. Under lawsuit pressure, she said no “reasonable person” would necessarily believe what she’d said. Translation? She had lied. Even Tucker Carlson, to his credit, said “Sidney Powell is lying,” then described her with an obscene word. Oh well, never mind – she kept appearing on Fox.
Rudy Giuliani. The former New York City mayor made a total fool of himself, getting tangled up, then tongue-tied, by his own overlapping pro-Trump schemes, lies and delusions. He, too, is being sued by Dominion.
Mike Lindell. Another lawsuit defendant, Lindell the “Pillow Guy” pushed air-headed election-fraud claims, shamelessly pitching his fluffy accusations the way he pitched pillows.
Some politicians, legal aides and other high-and-mighty hotshots are, at long last, now admitting (sort of) they were mendacious hypocrites trapped in a love-hate vice grip by their “hero,” The Donald.
As so often happens these dark days, a lawsuit is about the only way truth and justice finally emerge.
