Tucker Carlson is a dangerous man. No, not because of the grotesque looking fungus that seems to be engulfing his bottom lip (though he may want to have a doctor take a look at that). And not just because he so recklessly spreads misinformation and outright lies that even some of his fellow Fox News staffers have dubbed him a “trash human being” and called upon the network to fire him. What makes him so dangerous is that he has an audience—one who, for whatever reason, actually seem to believe what he says. Despite, as The Wrap reminds us, a real, live federal judge deemed him a not credible resource for “any reasonable viewer.”
Yet, Tucker persists. And on Monday night, his opening night rant—which was yet again filled with erroneous information and “facts”—once again took aim at how COVID vaccinations are a threat to your civil liberties. But where Carlson’s diatribe really went off the rails is when he shared a video that Barack Obama had filmed for TikTok, in which the former POTUS encouraged teens 16 years or older to get vaccinated. While it looked like a normal PSA to most people, what Carlson seemed to see were shades of an episode of To Catch a Predator.
Here’s the video in question, which Carlson introduced as “a creepy little video telling small children to get the shot.”
If you’re thinking you missed something there—you didn’t. The former president simply encouraged teens to get a vaccine so that they could get back to doing “normal” things like visiting their grandparents. Wow—where’s Chris Hansen when you need him?!
Carlson’s response?
“Some creepy old guy telling your children, your little kids to take medicine with effects we don’t fully understand. Totally normal. That happens every day. Don’t ask questions. Just do it. CNN explained recently we’re not getting our freedom back until you do.”