Fox News host Tucker Carlson has often acted like the schoolyard bully. And as the world seems to be once again whirling down the dangerous path to fascism, Carlson has followed.
On Thursday, Carlson showed his true colors yet again, by attacking comedian Jon Stewart, mocking his height, calling him “demented,” and that he looks like a “mental patient,” the Independent [1] reports.
“He’s shrieking and disshevelled and very short. Really short, too short to date. Was he always that short? What happened? Where’s he been in the last seven years? If you know, let us know. We want answers,” he snarked.
Stewart responded, and brought up Carlson’s relationship with Hungary’s PM Viktor Orban. But first, some background.
Carlson was singing Orban’s praises last year, saying he was the only “elected leader who publicly identifies as a Western-style conservative.” A far-right western leader, if you will.
Speaking in Texas at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), also on Thursday, Orban said “we have seen what kind of future the globalist, ruling class has to offer. But we have a different future in mind.”
“The globalists can all go to hell, I have come to Texas,” he told the audience.
Right now, Orban is consumed by controversy because the Hungarian leader, after saying in a speech in Romania last month that “these countries are no longer nations — they are nothing more than a conglomeration of peoples.”
“We are willing to mix with one another, but we do not want to become peoples of mixed race,” he said, as translated by the Associated Press. “Migration has split Europe in two — or I could say that it has split the West in two.”
One of Orban’s aides, Zsuzsa Hegedus, resigned after his speech, writing in her letter of resignation that only “a bloodthirsty racist” could accept such remarks. She slammed Orban, saying the speech was “a pure Nazi worthy of [propaganda minister Joseph] Goebbels.” She apparently had second thoughts and “unresigned.” [2]
Now, obviously Jon Stewart wasn’t going to take any crap from Tucker Carlson, a man who cozies up to someone as evil as Orban. And Stewart has a laser-like wit, and he used it here.
“Friends. Tonite I am sad. @TuckerCarlson believes me too short to date … and yet somehow, miraculously, I remain tall enough to not know what [Hungarian Prime Minister] Victor Orban’s a** tastes like!” Stewart posted later on Thursday to Twitter. “Is it goulash, Tucky? Seems like it would be goulash.”
Friends. Tonite I am sad. @TuckerCarlson [3] believes me too short to date…and yet somehow, miraculously, I remain tall enough to not know what Victor Orban’s ass tastes like! Is it goulash Tucky? Seems like it would be goulash.
— Jon Stewart (@jonstewart) August 5, 2022 [4]
Stewart has been in Washington, D.C. pressing lawmakers to pass the PACT act, a healthcare bill that provides aid to veterans who have been subjected to toxic burn pits. But he also had a bit of time to yell at far-right conspiracy theorist Jack Posobiec and was filmed calling him a “f*cking troll” who was not acting in “good faith.”
I think this is marvelous. Good for Stewart. Posobiec should be shouted down whenever possible. He was a prominent figure in the Stop The Steal movement and has collaborated with white nationalists, members of the Proud Boys, antigovernment extremists, and neo-Nazis, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center. [5] He is a man who promotes hate every chance he gets.
And Carlson is heading in this direction, leading NPR to wonder: [6] Has Tucker Carlson Created The Most Racist Show In The History of Cable News?” And NPR investigated this largely because of his support of Orban and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
So kudos to Stewart for putting Carlson in his place.