Critics blast Tucker Carlson’s immigration remarks amid border surge
Fox News host Tucker Carlson again sparked an angry backlash from critics who argued his monologue on Wednesday evening, centered on the surge of Haitian migrants at the southern border, smacked of racism and white supremacy.
“An unrelenting stream of immigration. But why? Well, Joe Biden just said it, to change the racial mix of the country,” Carlson said after playing a clip of Biden speaking in 2015 about immigration policy.”That’s the reason, to reduce the political power of people whose ancestors lived here, and dramatically increase the proportion of Americans newly-arrived from the third world.”
Carlson quoted Biden in the 2015 remarks as saying that non-white DNA is the “the source of our strength.”
“Imagine saying that. This is the language of eugenics, it’s horrifying. But there’s a reason Biden said it,” Carlson continued. “In political terms, this policy is called ‘the great replacement,’ the replacement of legacy Americans with more obedient people from far-away countries. They brag about it all the time, but if you dare to say it’s happening they will scream at you with maximum hysteria.”
U.S. immigration authorities have been struggling in recent days to contain and process a massive group of Haitian migrants gathered under a bridge in Texas. Republicans have used the episode as a cudgel to slam Biden’s immigration agenda.
Carlson’s assertions on the situation at the border were met with scorn from fellow cable news hosts, civil rights organizations and many social media users.
“By openly embracing the white supremacist ‘great replacement’ theory, which numerous mass murderers have cited in their manifestos, Tucker Carlson once again proved that his program poses a grave danger to our society. Fox News should fire Mr. Carlson and any other host who promotes these racist, dangerous conspiracy theories,” Edward Ahmed Mitchell, the national deputy director of the Council on American Islamic Relations, said in a statement on Thursday.
“And for the record, this country does not belong to any racial group, nor does greater diversity harm any racial group. When America welcomes immigrants and embraces diversity, that’s a good thing for everyone,” he added.
John Berman, who hosts CNN’s “New Day” and frequently criticizes Carlson and his Fox News colleagues, blasted the prime-time host for promoting what Berman called “not even thinly-veiled racism.”
“I mean, you heard Tucker Carlson say it, ‘replace,’ what’s a ‘legacy American?’ It rhymes with white,” Berman said. “And so he’s saying that legacy white people are being replaced.”
Mehdi Hasan, who hosts a weekend show on MSNBC, accused Carlson of espousing neo-Nazi ideology.
Everybody’s talking about “great replacement” but don’t sleep on Tucker’s invocation of “non-white DNA” as a real mask-off moment https://t.co/xaRWU8wZvb
— Christopher Ingraham (@_cingraham) September 23, 2021
Tucker Carlson’s talking about white replacement theory again. Where have we heard that rhetoric before? pic.twitter.com/8mL4DtNFew
— The Daily Show (@TheDailyShow) September 23, 2021
I see Tucker Carlson has gone all-in on the white nationalist “replacement theory” about immigration, so I’ll repost this thread: https://t.co/k7nRkoiLrE
— Kevin M. Kruse (@KevinMKruse) September 23, 2021
Tucker Carlson is a racist unAmerican fascist traitor.
He is a filthy propagandist who is destroying the very fabric of our country with his disgusting rhetoric.
We are a nation of immigrants.
No amount of lies and fear will ever change that fact.
— The USA Singers (@TheUSASingers) September 23, 2021