Fox News host Tucker Carlson called U.S. National Park Service acting director David Vela a “moron” who should “resign or be fired” for interjecting race into a discussion about who visits the parks.
“At a time like this, a time of crisis, so many Americans are finding refuge in nature,” Carlson said during Thursday night’s “Tucker Carlson Tonight.” “In nature, there are no political parties. There are no political debates. There are no divisions, There is no race or racism. There’s just God’s creation. It’s a respite from all the bad things, but not anymore. The national parks, “ABC News” is now telling us, are in fact racist.”
The Fox News host then played an ABC clip interviewing Vela where they say that America’s National Park Service says that the “persistent whiteness” of their parks is an “existential crisis.”
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“The persistent whiteness of the national parks. Systemic racism. What does that mean?” Carlson asked. “Is it racism that the Grand Canyon is a long drive from Phoenix? Do we have to relocate Yellowstone to an urban center? Maybe.”
Carlson then played the remainder of the clip, which showed a park visitor saying she didn’t “feel welcome” because more people didn’t look like her.
“Really?” he asked sardonically. “ABC, we learn, doesn’t like the color of the people who live near national parks or who visit them. So wait, who is the racist here? This is sick. Keep in mind, the first clip you saw is the guy called David Vela. Somehow he’s in charge of the park service. His job is to keep the parks open, to keep them clean and to keep them beautiful. God made them beautiful. Just don’t screw it up, David Vela.” (RELATED: Tucker Carlson Reviews ‘White Fragility’: ‘Poisonous Garbage’ By A ‘Complete And Total Idiot’)
“But he’s not doing that,” Carlson concluded. “Instead, he is turning nature into yet another front for racialized politics. Nature has nothing to do with politics and nothing to do with race. David Vela is a moron and he should resign or be fired. Don’t defile nature. How’s that?”
