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29 Jun, 8 tweets, 2 min read
A short thread about another Tucker Carlson fabrication
The United States has a long history of racist provocation on the radio: Father Coughlin to Bob Grant to Rush Limbaugh
Local TV programs in the 1960s and 1970s could also enflame: future US senator Jesse Helms got his start reading ferocious editorials on the local NBC affiliate in Raleigh, NC. history.capitolbroadcasting.com/people/icons/j…
But historically, national TV practiced much greater restraint - even early Fox News There were a lot of "theres" that pre-2008 Bill O'Reilly and Sean Hannity never quite dared go (although they might tilt their neck and waggle their eyebrows in that direction).
In this respect, Glenn Beck was the real mold-breaker, offering "madder music and stronger wine" than anything ever served on network TV.

Beck lost his show in the end because he frightened his own network about where he might go next. businessinsider.com/glenn-beck-fox…
But now ... the Tucker Carlson show is even more contemptuous of norms of truth and decency than Beck, if possible. Remember this?
What's changed is the corporate permission structure. Like all cable news companies, Fox is under economic pressure as viewing habits change. Its corporate strategy has been to do more "going there," especially on the conspiracy / white genocide stuff
And as it "goes there," it takes its viewers with it. How many follow? Are they inspired to violence by what they hear? Those are heavy questions. END

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More from @davidfrum

David Frum Profile picture
27 Jun
By early afternoon Saturday, November 7, there was no longer any shadow of doubt that Joe Biden had won the election of 2020. That was the time for every responsible stakeholder in US politics to congratulate the next president and begin the transition process.
Instead, to quote @jonkarl

"[T]he week after the election, he [Barr] gave prosecutors the green light to investigate 'substantial allegations' of vote irregularities that 'could potentially impact the outcome' of the election."
Barr was not a co-conspirator in the outright violence of January 6, 2021.

But Barr *was* a co-conspirator in propagating the lie that inspired and mobilized the violence of January 6.

And as @jonkarl reports, Barr propagated the lie *knowing* it was a lie.
Read 5 tweets
David Frum Profile picture
25 Jun
Dinesh D'Souza got a 5 year prison sentence for organizing straw donations like those at the center of the below scheme
Step 1: concoct wild fantasies about your political opponents;

Step 2: devise crazy schemes in response to your own fantasies;

Step 3: commit major felonies to advance your crazy schemes;

Step 4: feel supremely sorry for yourself after you are indicted for your felonies.
That's the story of Project Veritas, but also of the January 6 attacks, also of those recurring incidents of Republicans arrested for voter fraud, and also so much else.
Read 4 tweets
David Frum Profile picture
25 Jun
Best way to understand Tucker Carlson's abuse of General Mark Milley tonight is as confirmation of the accuracy of the stories Gen Milley told about rebuffing ex President Trump's order for a massacre in Portland, Oregon.
Here's the story Milley told. cnn.com/2021/06/24/pol…
QUOTE

"Just shoot them," Trump said on multiple occasions inside the Oval Office ... When Milley and then-Attorney General William Barr would push back, Trump toned it down, but only slightly ....

END QUOTE
Read 4 tweets
David Frum Profile picture
6 Jun
So there it is
In one party, a crucial blocking group condones and excuses the 1/6 attack on Congress.

In the other party, a crucial blocking group insists that democracy-protection can only proceed with permission from the first party.

That's not a stable equilibrium, to put it mildly.
The British comedy duo Flanders & Swann used to do a bit explaining UK politics to US audiences: "We have the Labour party, which you in America would call a socialist party. Facing them are the Conservatives, which you in America would call ... a socialist party." 1/x
Read 5 tweets
David Frum Profile picture
4 Jun
The Tulsa pogrom of 1921 was only one of a wave of race riots that bloodied the cities of the United States in the aftermath of the First World War.

In the single year 1919, some 250 black Americans were killed in some 25 riots. detroitnews.com/story/news/nat… 1/x
Most of us have a rough idea of the origin of the 1919-21 race riots. The war had drawn African American families from southern fields to northern factories.

At war's end, these new arrivals faced resentment and violence from demobilized white soldiers. 2/x
All true! But there's more to the story - and that "more" is every bit as relevant to the politics of the 2020s as the race pogroms of 1919-21. 3/x
Read 18 tweets
David Frum Profile picture
27 May
It's worth thinking about how much lower long-term federal spending would be had Hillary Clinton won in 2016 instead of Trump. 1/x nytimes.com/2021/05/27/bus…
Had Clinton won in 2016, GOP would have surely kept House in 2018. Coronavirus would have been dealt with much more effectively in December 2019-January 2020 than under the inept Trump. Much, much less money would then have been needed for COVID relief. 2/x
Facing a Democratic president in 2017-2021, congressional GOP would have continued to demand lower spending, smaller deficits. 3/x
Read 7 tweets

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