From the columnist Max Boot:
"When Donald Trump was in office, he posed the most dangerous threat to American democracy. With the former president now golfing full-time, the most dangerous threat may well emanate from the Fox “News” Channel — and specifically from its top-rated host, Tucker Carlson. He seems to be on a mission to make America’s worst problems even worse.
Carlson has a
long history of pushing vaccine conspiracy theories that endanger people’s lives. On Tuesday night, he attacked covid-19 vaccines,
claiming without providing any evidence that “the way the authorities handled the covid vaccine did not inspire confidence,” “all these people [were] lying about it” and “the most powerful people in America worked to make certain that no one could criticize it.” He never did say what these lies supposedly were — he just left his audience with the impression that the vaccines are part of a plot against them by powerful, shadowy forces. One fact Carlson did not mention: His boss, Rupert Murdoch, has already
been vaccinated. His conspiracy mongering is likely to discourage Fox News’s
elderly viewers — who are at the
highest risk of dying of covid-19 — from getting safe and effective vaccines that could save their lives.
...
No one is trying to punish Fox News for expressing “slightly different” views. I am a staunch believer in free speech. I spent most of my life in the conservative movement. (Carlson and I were once affiliated with the same magazine — the Weekly Standard.) I welcome a debate that features conservative views.
But that is not what Carlson represents. He is peddling lunatic conspiracy theories that endanger people’s lives and shred our social fabric. The executives at Fox News — and at the cable systems that carry it — should be ashamed of themselves for beaming this dangerous claptrap into millions of homes."