Fox News host Tucker Carlson criticized rioting in Minneapolis, Minnesota as “a form of tyranny” helped by CNN’s “dangerous” characterization of them as “protesters” instead of “rioters.”
In the wake of the death of George Floyd in police custody, the Wednesday night “Tucker Carlson Tonight” segment began with Fox News reporter Mike Tobin reporting live from the riots in Minneapolis.
After acknowledging that “at least one police officer” could be “criminally charged” in Floyd’s death, Tucker blasted tonight’s and last night’s activities as “not a political protest,” but a “riot.”
WATCH:
“So that’s what rioting looks like,” the Fox News host said after playing a clip from Tuesday. “It happened last night and as you can see it’s happening right now. We want to be clear, we are not showing you these pictures to defend the behavior of individuals on the Minneapolis police department. We are not. We are defending society itself.”
Carlson contended that society can deal with “bad” things like “police brutality, officious bird watchers, rude entitled ladies walking their dogs in big city parks,” but “rioting is the one thing you don’t want.”
“None of it is nearly as bad as what you just saw,” he said. “The indiscriminate use of violence by mobs is a threat to every American of all colors and backgrounds and political beliefs. Democracy cannot exist when people are rioting. Rioting is a form of tyranny, where the strong and the violent oppress the weak and the unarmed. It is oppression.”
The Daily Caller co-founder then pivoted to footage of CNN’s coverage, where “the rioters became protesters.” (RELATED: Thousands Gathered To Protest George Floyd’s Death, Tear Gas Used)
“That was lying, and it’s hard to overstate how sinister those lies are or how dangerous they are to all of us,” said Carlson. “As we are often reminded, America is a diverse country. Diverse countries only survive if the groups within them can coexist peacefully and thankfully almost everybody in America wants to coexist peacefully.
“But news organizations like CNN do not want that, and that’s why every day they work hard to fan racial resentment to make different groups distrust and hate one another. That can’t go on forever because if it does things will fall apart.”