Tucker Carlson accuses Democrats led by AOC of using Capitol riot to justify ‘the most sweeping crackdown on civil liberties and free speech in the history of this country’
Tucker Carlson on Thursday let rip at Democrats who he accused of using last week’s Capitol riot to launch an attack on civil liberties and free speech in the most sweeping crackdown ‘in the history of this country’.
The Fox News host used a segment on his show to call out Democratic Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez who he branded the ‘Kim Kardashian of Congress’ as he slammed her suggestion that a government commission is need to 'reign in' the press.
AOC has been criticized for what some have dubbed the ‘Ministry of Truth’ that she recommended in order to stop the spread of 'misinformation’.
Carlson also blasted AOC and her colleague Ayanna Pressley as hypocrites for their most recent positive comments on Capitol cops, as he claimed they were spreading ‘lies’ in stating that the MAGA Trump mob was leading an insurrection on the Capitol.
He accused AOC and left-wing radicals of using the death of George Floyd in May, in particular, to ‘change this country forever’.
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Tucker Carlson on Thursday accused Democrats of using last week’s Capitol riot to launch ‘the most sweeping crackdown on civil liberties and free speech in the history of this country’
Tucker Carlson blasted Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (pictured above), in particular, branding her the 'Kim Kardashian of Congress' and a 'moron'
Carlson claimed it was 'lies' to claim the riot was an insurrection. Pictured above, Trump supporters enter the US Capitol on January 6 as part of a violent and deadly riot
‘Why are they demanding that you believe those lies?’ Carlson asked his viewers of the claims that the riot was an insurrection, as he painted the crowds of angry Trump supporters as a mix-mash collection of amateurs.
‘Last week's deadly riot at the U.S. Capitol was not an act of racism, nor was it an insurrection. It was not an armed invasion by a brigade of dangerous White supremacists,’ he stated.
‘When your doctor claims that your broken arm is stage IV pancreatic cancer, you need a second opinion. When he demands that you get chemotherapy, you need to run away, because something very dark is going on.
‘Indeed, something dark is going on right now,’ Carlson continued.
‘They're trying to use this moment to increase their own power, so they're lying about what you saw.
‘They're calling it a precisely orchestrated coup attempt. They're telling you the Chewbacca guy you saw on video, the guy with the painted face and the Viking hat, was actually the leader of some super-secret commando unit here to overthrow our government.'
Carlson said these claims were ‘absurd and insulting’ as he branded them an attempt ‘to justify the most sweeping crackdown on civil liberties and free speech in the history of this country’.
In a at Trump, Carlson called the riot ‘the perfect illustration of why we should oppose all mob action’.
‘Left uncontrolled, mobs boil over, violence erupts, and people get killed,’ he said.
‘That has happened many times through human history. That's the way mobs are. Wise leaders know that, and it's why they don't encourage mobs.’
Carlson's harshest lines were saved for Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez
U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) talks with colleagues on the floor of the House Chamber during the first session of the 117th Congress on January 3. She was targeted by Fox News host Tucker Carlson on his Thursday night show for her comments on the Capitol riots
Carlson then launched into his attack on AOC and other left-wingers as he fumed about how they had used ‘hysteria to subdue the population’ in the wake of Floyd’s death in police custody on May 25.
He said that they tried to ‘crush anyone who dared to ask questions about what they were doing’ as he also accused them of trying to take his show from the air.
The conservative host called out New York Times’ Nick Kristof in particular for a recent column in which he questioned why advertisers don’t ‘withdraw from Fox News’ and said ‘cable providers should be asked why they distribute channels that peddle lies’.
‘You won't be surprised to learn that the rest of the media, our competitors, strongly agree with that sentiment: The government needs to shut down Fox News,’ said an angered Carlson.
His harshest comments were saved for AOC, however, who he branded the ‘Kim Kardashian of Congress’ and a ‘vacuous little totalitarian moron’.
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has been accused of proposing a 'Ministry of Truth' following her suggestion that a government commission needs to 'reign in' the press
He said the Congresswoman called Floyd’s death a ‘national crisis’ so that she could make herself ‘more powerful’.
‘That’s how national crises work. Something bad has happened, therefore, you've got to hand the worst people in the world the keys to your life.’
Carlson claimed as evidence AOC’s recent positive comments about the cops who guarded her during last week’s riots, as opposed to her stance on defunding the police.
‘She likes the cops now, despite the fact they're White supremacists. What a difference a day makes,’ he said.
Ocasio-Cortez has said that she thought she would be killed during the January 6 raid on the U.S. Capitol by Trump supporters.
The Democratic congresswoman - a lightning rod for the president and his followers - said during an Instagram Live broadcast Tuesday that she could not go into detail about her harrowing time inside the Capitol, due to security concerns.
But she said she had had a 'very close encounter' with the insurrectionists during which, she said, 'I thought I was going to die.'
She added: 'I did not know if I was going to make it to the end of that day alive.'
Carlson accused Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley of the same hypocrisy while calling her out for having ‘attended the single most expensive private school in Chicago growing up’.
‘And it was even scarier when she arrived, like her friend Sandy Cortez, on the mean streets of Boston University. Ayanna Pressley knows well what it's like to be persecuted and oppressed,’ he joked.
‘And that, friends, is why you should no longer be allowed to speak in public or read the websites you like or watch this show.'
AOC on Tuesday spoke of her horror as the Capitol came under attack, and members of the House (pictured above) cowered in fear inside the chamber
His comments about Ocasio-Cortez came on the same day that she was accused of proposing a 'Ministry of Truth' following her suggestion that a government commission needs to 'reign in' the press in order to stop 'misinformation.'
The New York Democrat made the remarks in an Instagram livestream on Tuesday, saying her colleagues in Congress were discussing 'how we rein in our media environment so that you can't just spew disinformation and misinformation.'
The comment drew furious backlash from free speech advocates and conservative critics, who accused the self-avowed Democratic Socialist of hatching a dystopian plan to establish government control over news outlets and journalists.
‘Sandy Cortez, by the way, has been thinking about this since sociology class at BU and she has concluded that we need a government commission to shut down media outlets that might criticize her,’ Carlson continued.
‘You can't just spew disinformation like criticizing Sandy Cortez! It's not like this is a free country with the First Amendment! Well, not anymore.’
Ocasio-Cortez's comments came towards the end of an hour-long video address to more than 100,000 of her followers.
She was responding to a question from a follower about whether Democrats are planning a 'federal truth and reconciliation or media literacy initiatives to help with healing' as their party takes control of the White House and Congress.
Carslon on his Thursday's night show also called out the comments of Ayanna Pressley, above
'I can say, there is absolutely a commission being discussed but it seems to be more investigatory, in style rather than truth and reconciliation, so I think that’s an interesting concept for us to explore,' she replied.
'And I do think that several members of Congress, in some of my discussions, have brought up media literacy because that is a part of what happened here and we’re going to have to figure out how we rein in our media environment so that you can’t just spew disinformation and misinformation,' Ocasio-Cortez said.
The American press is specifically protected from government intervention or control by the U.S. Constitution, and critics quickly raised questions about how government 'fact checkers' could politicize the role.
Next on Carlson’s firing line was social media companies and especially Twitter as he went after CEO Jack Dorsey following Trump’s permanent ban from the platform last week.
‘He looks like a pothead, but he's pretty clever and he takes the long view on these things,’ Carlson said of Dorsey.
‘We know that Jack Dorsey has plans for the rest of us that will extend far beyond the Trump era. Silencing Donald Trump was just the beginning.
‘Guess who's next? You are,’ Carlson warned, claiming that Twitter’ actions were about more than ‘silencing just one man’.
‘Maybe Jack Dorsey isn't so bright. He just admitted out loud with the rest of them are still denying: This isn't really about Donald Trump, and it never was. It's definitely not about what happened last week at the Capitol.
‘It is about controlling you, and the country you thought was yours, forever,’ Carlson concluded.
‘Sorry, there's a national crisis going on and we have no choice.’