Fox News host Tucker Carlson says public officials’ response to the coronavirus pandemic and the latest cultural reckoning of the country have the United States looking a lot less like itself and a lot more like Communist China.
Carlson alluded to a number of recent phenomenons in the country, starting with the response to the COVID-19 outbreak to the unrest that’s continued in cities since the May 25 death of George Floyd in Minneapolis police custody.
He pointed particularly at Democratic leaders across the country committing a series of power grabs similar to China. One example Carlson gave was closing down churches amid the pandemic.
“In state after state, governors, for example, have targeted the faithful on the assumption that most traditional Christians do not vote Democrat, therefore, they must be punished,” he said. “Now, banning the exercise of religion is unconstitutional, obviously. It’s a direct violation of the letter and the spirit of the First Amendment. It’s never happened before, but they have made it happen. They’ve done it anyway. As in China, our government has enthusiastically persecuted Christians.”
Carlson accused a number of Democrats of denying the virus originated in China when it first broke out in the U.S.
“When strong evidence emerged from Chinese scientists that the disease originated in a lab in Wuhan, our leaders immediately and adamantly dismissed it as a conspiracy theory,” he said. “They didn’t want to know more. Their first instinct was to defend China. They didn’t want the Chinese system discredited.”
The lockdown that came with the outbreak in the spring was another example of how political leaders used power similarly to China, Carlson said.
“[The Left] issued resolute decrees — remain at home, wear a mask, do not congregate with others,” he said. “No one asked voters what they thought about any of this. Democracy played no role in it. The orders came down, men with guns enforced the orders, the government used advanced technology to track down anyone who disobeyed them. Just like in China.”
Amid the unrest that’s flooded the streets following Floyd’s death, the TV host said two justice systems have come into place, allowing people who commit crimes in the name of social justice to be free but punishing those who try and defend private property or themselves from protesters.
“Self-defense is illegal in China, and suddenly, it’s illegal in this country too,” Carlson said. “The Democratic Party’s militia loot stores, deface our cities, attack people with impunity. They are rarely punished for doing it. Yet, Americans who try to protect their families from the violence face the full rage of the state. They risk going to jail, they have been indicted.”
The only aspects of Chinese political culture U.S. leaders aren’t taking are the ones that could possibly move the country forward, Carlson said. He pointed to China’s refusal to engage in identity politics, which has become a standard among most liberals, and how China seeks economic growth over destruction.
“The United States … very clearly is becoming very much like China at very high speed,” he said. “It doesn’t mean the two countries are identical. There are still real differences between them.”
