Can't Someone Just Take Tucker Carlson Off Our Airwaves (Again?)

As Tucker releases more sycophantic footage of his Moscow trip, let's take a moment to remember that time Jon Stewart got his show cancelled… 

Two decades ago, Jon Stewart went on Tucker Carlson's show Crossfire and told him that his partisan hackery was "hurting America" to uproarious laughter. After Jon Stewart's appearance, Crossfire was taken off the air. Sadly, that was far from the end of Tucker Carlson, who has leaned further and further right in the past twenty years.

Today, Stewart is back on tv and continuing to take on opportunistic narcissists like Tucker Carlson and Donald Trump. This February he slammed Tucker for sucking up to Putin, stating that Tucker is creating a coalition with the Russian dictator against woke ideology. 

It makes sense, given Tucker is once again 'cancelled' (read: fired from his job). Why not ally with a megalomaniacal strongman representing the worst humanity has to offer?

During the interview, Tucker was essentially a straw-man for Putin's view of history, which tried to elevate the Russian empire into a religious ethno-state, while denying the Ukrainians their sense of identity by claiming they were made up of diverse groups, such as ethnic Hungarians. 

Putin's claims could easily be fact-checked by a decent journalist (for instance, Ukraine has a Hungarian population of 75,000 – a negligible number) but Tucker decided against such weighty tasks. The hypocrisy of this is even more stark when we think back to Jon Stewart's appearance on Crossfire twenty years ago, where Tucker slammed the comedian for asking politicians softball questions. 

Some, however, have speculated that Tucker has further motivations for the interview. A longtime MAGA advocate, Tucker is a voice for the New Right, which firmly aligns itself with Trump and finds voice in younger extremist politicians such as Matt Gaetz and Josh Hawley.

These men are sympathetic to fascism. It sounds harsh, but that's the truth about the New Right. Their celebrities, aside from Trump, are Kanye West and Elon Musk – two conspiracy-touting narcissists. The fascist sympathies of MAGA are laid bare with Tucker's Putin interview. 

If Tucker is a voice for the alt-right, and he certainly seems to be, then it's crucial to uplift those who speak truth to power on the left. The best way to convince voters is with the truth, and we must stand against the despotism represented by Tucker, Putin, and MAGA. This is a moment to rally behind progressive voices, people who have shown themselves trustworthy and capable on the left. 

We can't allow this election to look like 2016, where the Alt Right's links to Russia were crucial in creating the disinformation campaign which got Trump elected and helped create a growing radical ideology. From Trump's cruel child separation policy to his xenophobic 'muslim ban', to his comments about women and immigrants, Trump has proven over and over where his values lie. Chip in to help us stop him and his stooges in 2024.