Tucker Carlson did yet another about face on Trump and Ukraine this week, this time “forgetting” his condemnation of Trump’s Ukraine behavior in print on Thursday night and returning to his “nothing to see here” stance on Fox News.
On Carlson’s Thursday night show, he blasted Donald Trump’s Ukraine scandal, which prompted a formal impeachment inquiry, as a “ludicrous, unbelievably dumb story.”
Three hours later, a Daily Caller column co-authored by Carlson scathingly criticized Trump’s behavior with Ukraine as, essentially, an abuse of power that nevertheless did not rise to the level of impeachment. The column began:
Donald Trump should not have been on the phone with a foreign head of state encouraging another country to investigate his political opponent, Joe Biden. Some Republicans are trying, but there’s no way to spin this as a good idea. Like a lot of things Trump does, it was pretty over-the-top. Our leaders’ official actions should not be about politics. Those two things need to remain separate. Once those in control of our government use it to advance their political goals, we become just another of the world’s many corrupt countries. America is better than that. [My emphases added]
America may be better than that but Tucker Carlson isn’t. Friday night, he lurched back to his “nothing to see here” Fox host persona without explanation.
In his opening statement, Fox News Channel Carlson complained about the media’s “second full week of total saturation Ukraine coverage.”
But no, even now, the story still feels obscure and strangely light. There's nothing mysterious or weighty about it. We already know all of the facts, there's a transcript, and yet they still don't seem very shocking.
And so maybe for that reason, our news anchors have been doing their very best to keep the blood pressure high. The game is boring, so the cheerleaders have to work overtime, twice as hard.
Carlson played a clip of MSNBC host Chuck Todd saying, “The basic rules of our democracy are under attack from the president.” That’s not very different from what Daily Caller Carlson said. But on Fox, he pretended otherwise, with extra venom:
But for now, consider the substance of what you just heard, to the extent there was any. The basic rules of our democracy are under attack - that's what they're telling you. So what exactly are the basic rules of our democracy? Well, the most basic rule of all, is it the people rule.
FNC Carlson’s point was that the impeachment effort itself is an attempt to undermine to democracy. “So yes, our democracy is under attack. They are right about that. And yet for all of his faults, Donald Trump is not the attacker,” Fox News Carlson said.
Fox News Carlson also suggested there’s nothing wrong with soliciting information from foreign countries – which is the exact behavior Daily Caller Carlson called “over-the-top” approximately 10 hours earlier: FOX NEWS CARLSON [in mocking voice]: Soliciting information from foreign countries is corrupt and evil. That's what they're telling you. Okay, fine. But let's at least acknowledge that this standard is a brand new standard, I mean, brand new standard, like 20 minutes ago...
Fox News Carlson next embarked on a long, familiar jag against the Democrats and the press over the Steele dossier and the Russia investigation, with the suggestion that the supposed hypocrisy mitigated Trump’s malfeasance. Even though Daily Caller Carlson had just lectured “there’s no way to spin” Trump’s behavior.
Then before launching an attack on Hillary Clinton and Rep. Rashida Tlaib, we got this from FNC Carlson:
Fine, Tucker, why don’t you go first and provide an honest explanation to your viewers as to how you can gyrate so much in just 24 hours?
FNC Carlson also made this intriguing comment that suggests he knows darned well that Trump’s own family corruption could stand some scrutiny:
In fact, Trump’s family corruption is way, way worse than anything Biden and his son are being accused of. It just so happens I wrote about that this Friday in a post for Crooks and Liars. Yet, FNC Carlson didn’t say a word about any of it.
Maybe Daily Caller Carlson will get around to it.
Watch Daily Caller Carlson whipsaw back to Fox News Carlson above, from the October 4, 2019 Tucker Carlson Tonight.
Published with permission from News Hounds.
