Tucker Carlson attacks American President Trump for foreign audience
But free speech protects flawed ideas, as well as sound ones
Elsewhere in that interview, Carlson wagged a finger at the president's flamboyance and questioned his suitability for the office.
His answers bothered for several reasons. One was that he ragged on America's Commander In Chief to a foreign audience. That was pretty Dixie Chicks of him. Also, he gratuitously supplied ammunition to the anti-Trump Resistance.
Masked Antifa reprobates might not have beset Carlson Manor, had they known of the host's sympathetic perspectives.
But the primary reason for bother was that he was right, and one wishes he weren't. The items cited were ones of which candidate Trump made much in his 2016 barnstorming. We Trump backers desired them. And they have not been thusfar realized.
Carlson was unfair, though, in attributing responsibility exclusively to the president. This is not a dictatorship.
Carlson seemed to acknowledge that later in the interview, when he said the president is not supported by Congress or his own agencies.
Much blame is due congressional refusal to pass legislation that resolves real-world issues. Republicans and Democrats allow problems to fester, that they might please lobbies, aggravate bases, and advance momentary electoral fortunes.
"I've come to believe that Trump's role is not as a conventional president who promises to get certain things achieved to the Congress [sic] and then does," Carlson said. "I don't think he's capable. I don't think he's capable of sustained focus."
Pay no mind to Carlson's unsolicited personal slashing. That Trump has given conversational prominence to average concerns of significance is hardly an unimportant thing. From such can ultimately come satisfactory resolution.
But the wheels of government grind slowly. Those of us who support the president are well aware that this is a profound revolution, and not one in which complete victory should be expected to pop up, overnight.
After all, Obama and others had years to befoul our government. Things can be put right again, but Rome wasn't built in a day.
Long is the list of President Trump's accomplishments. In October, the Washington Examiner compiled a list of 289.
Under Trump, America has seen record-high employment and consumer confidence; accelerated enforcement of immigration laws; the cutting of onerous regulations; a wonderful reemergence of patriotic pride; healthy reassertion of national sovereignty; withdrawal from poor trade and climate deals; and the appointment of constructionist Supreme Court Justices Gorsuch and Kavenaugh.
In fact, Trump's impact on the judiciary, through appointments to various levels, will endure far beyond his time in office.
Carlson's sudden anti-Trump postures disappoint. He surely knows better.
******
Here's cause for self-reflection: Carlson's acidic condemnation of Antifa during that interview can be applied no less to his right-spectrum critics, some of whom have called for a boycott of Tucker Carlson Tonight because the host strayed from acceptable belief.
"They're saying that I am saying naughty things that shouldn't be allowed to be expressed in public. Basically, it's a totalitarian movement," Carlson said, of Antifa.
The Die Weltwoche interviewer noted that Antifa hoped to silence Carlson.
"Of course. I would never, of course. That's a cornerstone of Western Civilization, is expression and freedom of conscience. You can tell me how to behave, you can force me not to sleep or take my clothes off in public, that's fine. Every society has the right to control behavior. But no one has the right to control what you believe. You can't control my conscience. That's mine, alone. Only totalitarian movements do that, and that's what they're attempting."
No one should suffer, either personally or professionally, for political ideas they express. Carlson should not. His show is a rarity among programs, in that guests representing diverse views are granted respectful platforms, and intellectual debates are conducted civilly.
At other times, Carlson shreds opponents with easy humorousness, airtight logic, and remarkable intellectual sharpness. It's really quite entertaining.
But free speech protects flawed ideas, as well as sound ones
"[President Trump's] chief promises were that he would build the wall, de-fund Planned Parenthood, and repeal Obamacare, and he hasn't done any of those things." - FNC host Tucker Carlson, in a recent interview with Swiss Die Weltwoche.
Elsewhere in that interview, Carlson wagged a finger at the president's flamboyance and questioned his suitability for the office.
His answers bothered for several reasons. One was that he ragged on America's Commander In Chief to a foreign audience. That was pretty Dixie Chicks of him. Also, he gratuitously supplied ammunition to the anti-Trump Resistance.
Masked Antifa reprobates might not have beset Carlson Manor, had they known of the host's sympathetic perspectives.
But the primary reason for bother was that he was right, and one wishes he weren't. The items cited were ones of which candidate Trump made much in his 2016 barnstorming. We Trump backers desired them. And they have not been thusfar realized.
Carlson was unfair, though, in attributing responsibility exclusively to the president. This is not a dictatorship.
Carlson seemed to acknowledge that later in the interview, when he said the president is not supported by Congress or his own agencies.
Much blame is due congressional refusal to pass legislation that resolves real-world issues. Republicans and Democrats allow problems to fester, that they might please lobbies, aggravate bases, and advance momentary electoral fortunes.
"I've come to believe that Trump's role is not as a conventional president who promises to get certain things achieved to the Congress [sic] and then does," Carlson said. "I don't think he's capable. I don't think he's capable of sustained focus."
Pay no mind to Carlson's unsolicited personal slashing. That Trump has given conversational prominence to average concerns of significance is hardly an unimportant thing. From such can ultimately come satisfactory resolution.
But the wheels of government grind slowly. Those of us who support the president are well aware that this is a profound revolution, and not one in which complete victory should be expected to pop up, overnight.
After all, Obama and others had years to befoul our government. Things can be put right again, but Rome wasn't built in a day.
Long is the list of President Trump's accomplishments. In October, the Washington Examiner compiled a list of 289.
Under Trump, America has seen record-high employment and consumer confidence; accelerated enforcement of immigration laws; the cutting of onerous regulations; a wonderful reemergence of patriotic pride; healthy reassertion of national sovereignty; withdrawal from poor trade and climate deals; and the appointment of constructionist Supreme Court Justices Gorsuch and Kavenaugh.
In fact, Trump's impact on the judiciary, through appointments to various levels, will endure far beyond his time in office.
Carlson's sudden anti-Trump postures disappoint. He surely knows better.
******
Here's cause for self-reflection: Carlson's acidic condemnation of Antifa during that interview can be applied no less to his right-spectrum critics, some of whom have called for a boycott of Tucker Carlson Tonight because the host strayed from acceptable belief.
"They're saying that I am saying naughty things that shouldn't be allowed to be expressed in public. Basically, it's a totalitarian movement," Carlson said, of Antifa.
The Die Weltwoche interviewer noted that Antifa hoped to silence Carlson.
"Of course. I would never, of course. That's a cornerstone of Western Civilization, is expression and freedom of conscience. You can tell me how to behave, you can force me not to sleep or take my clothes off in public, that's fine. Every society has the right to control behavior. But no one has the right to control what you believe. You can't control my conscience. That's mine, alone. Only totalitarian movements do that, and that's what they're attempting."
No one should suffer, either personally or professionally, for political ideas they express. Carlson should not. His show is a rarity among programs, in that guests representing diverse views are granted respectful platforms, and intellectual debates are conducted civilly.
At other times, Carlson shreds opponents with easy humorousness, airtight logic, and remarkable intellectual sharpness. It's really quite entertaining.
posted by DC Larson at
December 07, 2018
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