Politics

‘A Conspiracy Theorist, A Misogynist, Islamophobe, A Troll’: John Oliver Devotes Entire Episode To Trying To Take Down Tucker Carlson

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Elizabeth Weibel Contributor
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Comedian and HBO host John Oliver spent nearly the entire runtime of his show “Last Week Tonight” criticizing Fox News host and Daily Caller co-founder Tucker Carlson on Sunday, calling him a “conspiracy theorist,” “misogynist,” and “Islamophobe.”

During his segment, the comedian referenced Carlson’s segment where he openly critiqued the military’s increased attention paid to concerns other than combat effectiveness — Oliver claiming that themes such as “condemnation,” “defensiveness,” and “hype” were becoming recurring in Carlson’s shows.

“We’re not giving Tucker any attention he’s not already getting a lot of. The night he made those flight suit remarks he was the most watched show on cable. He averages over three million views a night and does well in the key 25 to 54 demo, meaning that young people are watching him as well as the normal Fox audience of retirees and their sad imprisoned pets,” Oliver said.

“He is so important to the network that they’re expanding Tucker’s presence, launching a new video podcast and long-form documentary series,” he continued. “And, if that wasn’t enough Tucker’s been floated as a potential future presidential candidate, which would be seriously alarming because of all the things that Tucker is: a conspiracy theorist, a misogynist, Islamophobe, a troll. One of the most dangerous is that he is the most prominent vessel in America for white supremacist talking points.” (RELATED: Tucker Carlson Mocks Pentagon: ‘If The Woke Generals Treat Us Like They’ve Treated The Taliban, We’ll Be Fine’)

Throughout the segment, Oliver spent significant time claiming that Carlson sends his audience secretly white supremacist and racist messages.

“He might not say ‘black’ or ‘white,’ he’ll insist that he’s for color blindness, he’ll build in deniability by phrasing things as a question,” Oliver said. “But, when you put all of this together the pattern is clear. He is scared of a country that looks nothing like the one he grew up in.”

Oliver’s attack on Carlson comes after the Fox News host pointed out that while China was making advances in order to make its military more powerful, the United States was doing the opposite under President Joe Biden with a variety of changes that are making the military come across as less concerned about effectiveness in combat.

Inclusivity changes to the military in recent months have included Biden’s signing of an executive order on Jan. 25 which not only overturned a ban against transgender people serving in the military but allows the military to pay for gender reassignment surgery for military personnel.

Additional changes also included new hairstyle requirements and the announcement of maternity flight suits for women.

“That phrase stuck out,” Carlson explained, referring to Biden’s announcement of the maternity flight suits. “Not because we have some hateful bias against pregnant women flying military jets. We are pro-pregnancy as we often say. We are also open-minded. Maybe pregnant women make the best pilots, the Department of Defense measures everything.”

“So, there’s got to be extensive research on this question. If the Pentagon can show that pregnant pilots are the best, we will be the first to demand an entire Air Force of pregnant pilots,” Carlson added.

“The U.S. military exists to fight and win wars. That’s its only purpose. The U.S. military is not an NGO, it is not a vehicle for achieving equity, it is not a social experiment, it’s definitely not an employment agency,” he continued.

In the wake of Carlson’s segment criticizing maternity flight suits, he has received backlash over his comments, including from politicians such as former Democratic Kentucky Senate candidate Amy McGrath, Democratic Illinois Sen. Tammy Duckworth and several Department of Defense spokesmen.