Fox News host Tucker Carlson said white supremacy is not a major problem in the United States and criticized the media’s treatment of the ideology.
A white supremacist killed over 20 people at a Walmart in El Paso on Saturday after posting a manifesto online containing racist language directed at Hispanics. Carlson downplayed white supremacy in the U.S. on Tuesday, calling some media pundits’ depiction of it a “hoax.”
Carlson aired clips of pundits and hosts on network news shows calling on President Trump to denounce white supremacy in the wake of the shooting. The Fox host then aired reactions to Trump’s Monday address in which the president condemned white supremacy, showing pundits attack the president’s remarks for sounding “hollow.”
“If you were to assemble a list, a hierarchy of concerns, of problems this country faces, where would white supremacy be on the list? Right up there with Russia, probably,” Carlson said. “It’s actually not a real problem in America. The combined membership of every white supremacist organization in this country, would they be able to fit inside a college football stadium?”
“This is a country where the average person is getting poorer, where the suicide rate is spiking. ‘White supremacy, that’s the problem,'” Carlson said mockingly. “This is a hoax just like the Russia hoax. It’s a conspiracy theory used to divide the country and keep a hold on power.”
