Tucker Carlson. Fox News’ fair-haired boy. A right-wing racist so comfortable in the Kingdom of Fox that he believes he can say just about anything without fear of recrimination. According to Nielsen Media Research, Fox’s Tucker Carlson Tonight is currently the top-rated show in cable news with an average of nearly 3.2 million viewers and 514,000 in the key 25-54 younger demographic.
Nielsen also says that as of October 2021, Carlson’s show ranked number one among cable news programs for Democrats in that same age group.
Unfortuntely, in America popularity is often mistaken for credibility. And stupidity, cleverly disguised, is contagious.
Carlson is the guy who just days before Russia invaded Ukraine insisted that Russia was right and Ukraine was wrong— saying the mounting tensions between the two nations was nothing more than a “border dispute.”
“Democrats want you to hate Putin, anything less is treason,” Carlson deflected in predictable defense of the Russian strongman. Welcome to Carlson-world.
Ukrainians have just as much right to exist politically as Carlson has to run his mouth.
Carlson takes great pleasure in being what some have called the leading voice of white grievance politics. He just can’t let an opportunity to bash a culturally aware black woman pass him by. What he said about Judge Jackson was simply outrageous:
“So, is Ketanji Brown Jackson – a name that even Joe Biden has trouble pronouncing – one of the top legal minds in the entire country? We certainly hope so. Biden’s right. Appointing her is one of his gravest constitutional duties. So it might be time for Joe Biden to let us know what Ketanji Brown Jackson’s LSAT score was. How did she do on the LSATs?”
He said Jackson was “not much of a jurist,” and was “simply ignorant of the law.” Unbelievable.
In a sort of linguistic sleight-of-hand Carlson has intentionally planted a notion in the mind of his listeners that suggests something he has no reason to question: Judge Jackson’s scholastic achievements. He didn’t question the LSAT scores of any of the Trump appointees, mind you– but why would he? All of them were white. It’s hard to see past Carlson’s racist ideological bending.
And leave it to the Fox News Star to equate test scores of any type with intellectual aptitude. Mark Twain quit school at the age of 12, Thomas Edison’s teachers called him a moron, Abraham Lincoln didn’t even go to primary school, Charles Dickens left school at the age of 11, Benjamin Franklin’s formal education ended at the age of 10. But let’s come current: Richard Branson dropped out of school at 16, and his company the Virgin Group now owns over 200 companies in 30 countries around the world. And what about Simon Cowell? He dropped out of school at 16 and has now sold over 150 million records. The list goes on. Carlson won’t challenge this list since all the persons named are, once again, white. So, since grades of any kind have absolutely nothing to do with a person’s intrinsic intellectual capability, Carlson’s insinuation is idiotic at best.
Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson attended Harvard University for both college and law school, where she served as an editor on the Harvard Law Review. She began her legal career with three clerkships, including one with U.S. Supreme Court Associate Justice Stephen Breyer. From 2013 to 2021 she served as a district judge for the United States District Court for the District of Columbia before being elevated to appellate court judge. One (need I say ‘especially Black’) doesn’t get to be a Supreme Court Justice’s clerk without sterling academic credentials. And on top of all that she had to be critically vetted to get those two judgeships.
With her publicly available credentials, Carlson’s whining about LSAT scores is as petulant as it is irrelevant. Jackson is way beyond anyone asking about her LSAT scores. She’s clearly much more educated than Carlson– who has a bachelor of arts degree in history– and frankly, he seems a little bit intimidated by her.
Carlson hasn’t criticized any of the Republican members of Congress who backed Judge Jackson’s recent appointment to the federal appellate bench. If he really feels she is academically unqualified, why not call out the white Republican senators who supported her?
Carlson also seemed a little perturbed by the fact that the judge’s name is Ketanji, instead of Amy, or Susan. Like the people in Ukraine, black people in America don’t seem to have a right to a separate cultural existence for Putin-esque Americans like him. Remember when Sen. David Perdue mocked Vice President Kamala Harris’ name at a Trump rally during the last presidential campaign, calling her “Kamala-mala-mala-whatever?” A cup of GOP with a twist of white supremacy leaves a bitter taste in many of our mouths.
God forbid that a black person have anything other than a traditionally “American” sounding name.
Carlson need not concern himself with the Judge’s first name. Genesis 50:20 says that ‘As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good. . .’. When she is inevitably confirmed, all he will ever need to call her will be ‘Justice’ Jackson– or better yet, ‘Your Honor.’
AN
