Since the deadly MAGA insurrection of Jan. 6, the rightwing has done one of two things: downplay it, hoping it goes away, or hatching deranged conspiracy theories that take the blame off of the Trump supporters who perpetrated it. Tucker Carlson has done both. In April he tried to gaslight America, claiming they hadn’t seen a violent assault on Democracy and the lawmakers who help it run. On Tuesday he switched, admitting that it was bad, but it wasn’t Trump folks’ fault. No, he claimed, it was a false flag operation done by…the FBI.
Tucker Carlson’s latest take on the Jan. 6th attack on the capitol is that it was actually an FBI false flag pic.twitter.com/s87r1eQYSU
— nikki mccann ramírez (@NikkiMcR) June 16, 2021
Carlson’s comments came in the wake of Attorney General Merrick Garland’s announcement of a plan to combat domestic terrorism, such as those that stormed the Capitol, hoping to overturn a free and fair election. According to The Daily Beast, the Fox News host claimed that was just another example of the Biden administration’s attempt to “crush anyone who leads opposition to” the current president.
He then got more specific in his conspiracy theorizing. He said that “some of the key people who participated on January 6 have not been charged,” adding, “Look at the documents, the government calls those people unindicted coconspirators. What does that mean? Well, it means that potentially every single case they were FBI operatives. Really? In the Capitol on January 6?”
Is that what it means? But Carlson was just getting started. He pointed out that Oath Keeper member Thomas Caldwell had been indicted, but that two others listed in documents have not (yet) been charged. Carlson had a tinfoil theory for that.
“The government knows who they are, but they have not charged them. Why is that? You know why,” Carlson said, throwing in a dramatic nod. “They were all certainly working for the FBI. So FBI operatives were organizing the attack on the Capitol, on Jan. 6, according to government documents!”
Carlson went on to claim the FBI were also behind the extremist plot to kidnap Michigan Governor Gretchen Witmer. He then twisted the knife, showing that he was far more worried about baseless conspiracies that make his fanbase look good than violent Americans run amok.
“If you empower the government to violate civil liberties in pursuit of a foreign terror organization, it’s just a matter of time before ambitious politicians use those same mechanisms to suppress political dissent,” he said. “And that is what we are seeing now.”
What inventive nonsense will Tucker spin next? Whatever it is, a large portion of the country will see, and maybe believe it.
(Via The Daily Beast)