Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz is openly defending a white supremacist idea after Fox News host Tucker Carlson came under fire for sharing it.
Carlson floated the so-called “Great Replacement theory,” which argues that white Americans are being replaced by non-European ethnicities in service of a grand political project by the Democratic party. It’s a deeply racist idea that presupposes white people are the “real Americans” (we’re sure some native Americans would like a word) and that all immigrants vote monolithically for the Democratic Party (Carlson has never been to South Florida).
“In political terms, this policy is called ‘the great replacement,’ the replacement of legacy Americans with more obedient people from far-away countries,” Carlson said of the theory on Wednesday. “They brag about it all the time, but if you dare to say it’s happening they will scream at you with maximum hysteria.”
The Anti-Defamation League renewed calls to fire the Fox News host, saying that he’s sharing dangerous rhetoric to millions of homes. Gaetz defended Carlson with a classic GOP talking point: that the organization calling out a racist ideology are the real racists.
(If you aren’t the type to immediately click away from “Matt Gaetz’s thoughts about racism,” perhaps this absolute drubbing he took while trying to argue about critical race theory will change your mind.)
It’s far from the first time that Carlson has spouted the racist talking point that was at the heart of racially charged massacres in El Paso, Texas and Christchurch, New Zealand. Previously, Fox CEO Lachlan Murdoch waved it away, though this instance was much more explicit.
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This article appears in Sep 22-28, 2021.