In row with Omar, Tucker Carlson backs Trump, worships at US shrine of Exceptionalism
[dropcap]F[/dropcap]or all the good Tucker Carlson periodically does by opposing the worst instincts of the sociopathic cabals helming US foreign policy, including checking on occasion the worst impulses of the ever self-seeking, cagey, but manipulable Donald Trump, he's also capable of worshipping at the altar of American exceptionalism like the worst of the lot, thereby reinforcing the very ideas that keep America a widely hated rogue state across the globe. Was Carlson merely pandering to his audience (and bosses at Fox) when he intoned, in his attack on "the Squad", the usual malarkey about America being "the kindest, most open minded place on the planet...that has done more for other people and received less in return than any nation in history, by far." If that doesn't immediately strike you as insanely off the rails or sickeningly cynical you have not read one iota about true US history, which, after all, is quite understandable. The system is careful in that regard. Most schools teach the exceptionalist canon and little else, and the whore media take care of maintaining the brainwash strong and pure for the rest of every citizen's life. It works, as you can see from the passivity, infernal confusion (and so far largely misdirected anger) permeating American society. People like Carlson live in a bubble comprised of huge contradictions. When they stoop to the coarsest jingoism, equating any criticism of America with "hatred for America," as dishonest an equation as one can find, they honestly or conveniently forget that it takes enormous denialism to believe a nation trapped in intractable and often explosive social, political and economic issues is a nation requiring no improvement whatsoever. Tucker and his ilk—if they are in earnest— would like us to believe that open-minded and healthy criticism, the first step toward recognition of a problem, the indispensable diagnosis, is an excercise in hatred for what is supposedly already a perfect and eternally beneficent commonwealth. The nation's First Oaf is of course an avid practitioner of such transgressions in simple common sense. For it was Trump who, among other things, levitated to power by promising to be ready to "drain the swamp", obviously striking a deeply felt chord among many agrieved Americans sickened by this country's spectacular corruption. Now, pray tell, Trump, Carlson & Co., if you will: How can we have a perfect and wonderful nation meriting no criticism or improvement of any kind, a nation born practically in immaculate conception, when its very central locus of governance is seen by huge majorities as a fetid "swamp"? By their own logic we should tell them, then, go back to your own stinking countries, you ingrates! At the end of the day, Tucker Carlson, whose gyrations may remain beyond our ken for a long time, perhaps forever, may be a victim of what RD Laing once called "The Divided Self". Laing's study, a probe into the nature of what we might call "functional mental illness", saw psychosis not as a medical condition, but as an outcome of the 'divided self', "or the tension between the two personas within us: one our authentic, private identity, and the other the false, 'sane' self that we present to the world." The above makes sense when we observe Tucker endorsing, as we posited earlier, the very jingoist creed that makes constant interventions and warmongering inevitable. Which he is apparently obligated to oppose, when things appear to be getting way too far out of hand. In that sense, Tucker, like many conservatives, is also constantly at war with himself. His complaint against "the left" below is filled with the usual inventory of simplistic falsehoods found in the rightwing arsenal of vituperation, including the central deliberate error of confusing the center right (the Democrats) with the true left, whose message is rarely heard by more than 0.1% of the US population, as it has long been relegated to an informational ghetto. —PG
PATRICE GREANVILLE
Tucker Carlson: Rep. Ilhan Omar Has "Contempt" For Americans, Blame The Left
Dateline July 11, 2019
Tucker Carlson reacts to Rep. Ilham Omar (D-MN) calling for an advertising boycott of FOX News for giving him "nightly platform to white supremacist rhetoric."
Carlson said immigrants don't come to America with an animus for the country and that someone taught her to hate America.
"Our country rescued Ilhan Omar from the single worst place on earth, we didn't do it to get rich, in fact it cost us money. We did it because we are kind people," Carlson said of the refugee Congresswoman. "How did Ilhan Omar respond to the remarkable gift we gave her? She scolded us and called us names. She showed us with contempt. It's infuriating but more than that, it's also ominous."
"Omar may be from another country but she learned young that crying racism pays. The bigger question is, who taught her that? She didn't arrive from a Kenyan refugee camp announcing people as bigots for a political campaign. She wasn't always a professional victim. That is learned behavior," he said.
"In some ways, the real villain in the Ilhan Omar story isn't Omar, it is a group of our fellow Americans," the host said. "Our cultural gatekeepers who stoke the resentment of new arrivals and turn them into grievance mongers like Ilhan Omar. The left did that to her, and to us. Blame them first."
From Carlson's monologue (we have bolded those lines that strike us as most outrageous):
TUCKER CARLSON, FOX NEWS: Like many of you, we’ve been watching with amazement and alarm as the leaders of the Democratic Party, day after day, attack the country they say they want to govern.
It’s remarkable, and a very new development. Just a few years ago, even the most liberal Democrats in Congress felt obligated to say patriotic things about America. They may not have felt it, but they said it. Now, it’s routine to hear Democratic presidential candidates question the basic legitimacy of the United States.
Even supposed moderates, like Joe Biden, join in.
That should worry you. No country can survive being ruled by people who hate it. We deserve better. For all of our country’s flaws, this is still the best place in the world. Most immigrants know that and that is why they come here. It's also why we've always been glad to have them here.
But now, there are signs that some people who move here from abroad don't like this country at all. As we told you last night, one of those people now serves in our Congress.
Think about that for a minute. Our country rescued Ilhan Omar from the single poorest place on Earth. We didn't do it for the money, we did it because we are kind people. How did she respond to the remarkable gift we gave her?
She scolded us, called us names, showered us with contempt. It's infuriating. More than that, it is also ominous. The United States admits more immigrants more than any other country on Earth, more than a million every year. The Democratic Party demand we increase that by and admit far more. OK, Americans like immigrants, but immigrants have got to like us back.
That's the key, it's essential. Otherwise, the country falls apart.
We made that point last night. We will continue to make that point because it's true and it's important to say it out loud even if no one else is willing to.
Needless to say, the left went berserk.
They hate it when you say true things. Ilhan Omar and her allies in Congress immediately demanded that this show be pulled off the air. They didn't rebut what we said, any of our points, or even acknowledge them. They just try to silence us.
That is how they operate.
Of course, they called us racist. On one level that is amusing given how absurd the charges. This show, more than any other show on television, has taken an aggressive position in favor of color-blind equality and against racism, particularly the casual racism of the modern left.
We despise the current habit of judging people on the basis of their skin color. It's wrong. We see that virtually every night. Racist? Now, we are against racism adamantly. Omar consistently puts her own race at the center of the conversation, but to us, it's irrelevant.
Ayaan Hirsi Ali would, by the standard of identity politics, seem to have everything in common with Ilhan Omar. She was born in Somalia, moved to Kenya and eventually came to this country. Unlike Omar, she loves and cares about the United States. She believes this country is superior to the country she came from.
For saying that, the left despises her. Two Somali immigrants, one among the most impressive people in America. The other, among the least.
It's not about race. But, of course, Omar and her friends already know that. Nothing they say on the subject of race is sincere. It's all the hustle designed to get them what they want. Omar has made a career of denouncing anyone and anything in her way as racist. That would include virtually all of her political and personal opponents. It includes even inanimate objects like the border wall, that's racist. So was the Congress, so is the entire state of North Dakota, she once tweeted.
Omar may be from another country but she learned young that crying racism pays. The bigger question is, who taught her that? She didn't arrive from a Kenyan refugee camp announcing people as bigots for a political campaign. She wasn't always a professional victim. That is learned behavior.
Importantly, she learned it here. In some ways, the real villain in the Ilhan Omar story isn't Omar, it is a group of our fellow Americans. Our cultural gatekeepers who stoke the resentment of new arrivals and turn them into grievance mongers like Ilhan Omar. The left did that to her, and to us.
Blame them first.
Below, Omar's rebuttal, carried on CNN, a network we despise due to its constant treachery, but which in this case, as a mere platform to reflect what Omar is saying, will prove useful to our goal of comparing the clashing views.
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