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Dear MoveOn member,
We need to talk about Tucker Carlson, John.
Last week, as Vladimir Putin ravaged Ukraine, "Tucker Carlson Tonight" was the most-watched cable "news" show in America, with 3.6 million viewers.1
Carlson went on his show and again parroted false Russian propaganda—now also taken up by U.S. right-wing, QAnon conspiracy theory networks—that the United States is developing bioweapons in secret Ukrainian labs, providing justification for Vladimir Putin to invade to destroy those weapons.2,3
As Putin moved troops to the Ukrainian border in February, Carlson ranted, "Why do Democrats want you to hate Putin? Has Putin shipped every middle-class job in your town to Russia? Did he manufacture a worldwide pandemic that wrecked your business? Is he teaching your kids to embrace racial discrimination?"4
Carlson was telling his viewers that Putin isn't an enemy—but that the U.S. government, Democrats, and fellow Americans are.
A clip of this segment has now been viewed on Twitter 3.9 million times.5
Carlson has become the tip of the powerful right-wing media's spear, the de facto leader of the white nationalist, authoritarian echo chamber, and we need to fight back.
MoveOn was built more than 20 years ago to be an organizing hub for the grassroots progressive movement. MoveOn's in-house Creative Lab produces powerful videos and other viral content that directly counters the onslaught of right-wing talking points, disinformation, and lies. Since its launch, the Creative Lab has produced thousands of hard-hitting, fact-based videos that have been viewed hundreds of millions of times.
But we need your help. Unlike Fox News, MoveOn relies on small donations from members like you to fuel it and get its message out to the widest audience possible. Will you chip in $5 a month so that, together, we can fight back against the right-wing media machine for the long haul?
No, I'm sorry, I can't make a monthly donation.
A leaked Kremlin memo earlier in the war ordered Russian media to use footage from Tucker Carlson's nightly show to help sell the invasion of Ukraine to Russians.6
It states, "It is essential to use as much as possible fragments of broadcasts of the popular Fox News host Tucker Carlson."7
And right on cue last week, the Kremlin promoted Carlson's latest biolabs disinformation segment on its media channels and social media.8
Prior to the Russian invasion, Carlson told his 3.6 million viewers that it's "not un-American" to support Putin, that the Russian invasion is just a "border dispute," and that "Ukraine is not a democracy" but a "puppet" of the West.9
Since the start of the war, Carlson has been "as obsessed as Vladimir Putin" with the false biolabs conspiracy theory.10 His latest? He now suggests that Hunter Biden is involved in funding the secret biolabs in Ukraine.11
John, we have to fight back, get the truth out to the American people, and defend democracy.
MoveOn's Creative Lab has created hard-hitting, fact-based viral videos time and again that get the truth out to millions of people. But now more than ever, we need to fight right-wing lies and authoritarianism and defend democracy, and we can't do it without you.
Will you help power and sustain the fight against the dangerous right-wing media machine by chipping $5 a month?
No, I'm sorry, I can't make a monthly donation.
Thanks for all you do.
–Mana, Eric, Evelyn, Jaira, and the rest of the team
Sources:
1. "Thursday, March 31 Scoreboard: Tucker Carlson Tonight Continues to Hold No. 1 Ranking," Adweek, April 1, 2022
https://act.moveon.org/go/161434?t=7&akid=320529%2E40999114%2EKtWjgH
2. "The Kremlin is promoting Tucker Carlson’s false Fox News biolabs segment," Media Matters for America, March 31, 2022
https://act.moveon.org/go/161435?t=9&akid=320529%2E40999114%2EKtWjgH
3. "Analysis: Russia and QAnon have the same false conspiracy theory about Ukraine," CNN, March 10, 2022
https://act.moveon.org/go/161436?t=11&akid=320529%2E40999114%2EKtWjgH
4. "Tucker Carlson Launches Biggest Defense of Vladimir Putin Yet," Newsweek, February 23, 2022
https://act.moveon.org/go/161312?t=13&akid=320529%2E40999114%2EKtWjgH
5. Tweet by Tucker Carlson, February 22, 2022
https://act.moveon.org/go/161313?t=15&akid=320529%2E40999114%2EKtWjgH
6. "Leaked Kremlin Memo to Russian Media: It Is 'Essential' to Feature Tucker Carlson," Mother Jones, March 13, 2022
https://act.moveon.org/go/161304?t=17&akid=320529%2E40999114%2EKtWjgH
7. Ibid.
8. "The Kremlin is promoting Tucker Carlson’s false Fox News biolabs segment," Media Matters for America, March 31, 2022
https://act.moveon.org/go/161435?t=19&akid=320529%2E40999114%2EKtWjgH
9. "Tucker Carlson Hoping We Can Just Forget About All the Times He Insisted Putin Was the Best," Vanity Fair, February 25, 2022
https://act.moveon.org/go/161044?t=21&akid=320529%2E40999114%2EKtWjgH
10. Tweet by Jonathan Karl, ABC News Chief Washington Correspondent, March 29, 2022
https://act.moveon.org/go/161437?t=23&akid=320529%2E40999114%2EKtWjgH
11. "The truth about Hunter Biden and the Ukrainian 'bio labs,'" The Washington Post, March 29, 2022
https://act.moveon.org/go/161438?t=25&akid=320529%2E40999114%2EKtWjgH
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