The New York Times Series Attacking Tucker Carlson Buried a Pretty Important Disclaimer By Rebecca Downs   Posted: Apr 30, 2022

On Saturday morning, The New York Times engaged in quite the hackery against Fox News' Tucker Carlson with "American Nationalist." It's not just a hit piece, but an entire series, written by Nicholas Confessore, who is also a commentator for MSNBC. That Confessore is so involved with a direct competitor of Fox News is not mentioned until more than halfway through the first part of the series, which by itself is over 8,000 words. A source close to the matter confirmed for Townhall that Confessore had been working on the piece for a year.

Here's how it was referenced, close to 50 paragraphs into the story:

At “Crossfire,” Mr. Carlson told colleagues he felt overproduced and trapped by the rigid left-right debate format. The show was drawing dwindling audiences, and after it was canceled in early 2005, he moved to MSNBC with a new show, “The Situation With Tucker Carlson.” (The writer of this article is an MSNBC contributor.) Mr. Carlson dropped his signature bow tie and took an even sharper turn against immigration, adopting the resentful, combative language of the Republican Party’s increasingly vocal nativist wing. “We didn’t take our lands from Mexico,” said Henry Miller’s great-great-great-grandson, adding: “This is our country. That is their country.”

It's an afterthought. It literally appears as a paranthesis a reader might miss if not reading carefully enough.

The first part, "How Tucker Carlson Stoked White Fear to Conquer Cable," discusses Carlson's background in journalism and broadcasting. It also includes details about his painful family history, particularly to do with his late mother. This may make readers uncomfortable and have them wondering at times why include it at all.

A significant portion of the piece takes place under the header of "Unhumble Beginnings," including this excerpt that arguably provides some context to Carlson's life today.

Mr. Carlson was a heavy drinker until his 30s, something he has attributed in part to his early childhood. But by his own account, his mother’s abandonment also provided him with a kind of pre-emptive defense against the attacks that have rained down on his Fox show. “Criticism from people who hate me doesn’t really mean anything to me,” Mr. Carlson told Megyn Kelly, the former Fox anchor, on her podcast last fall. He went on to say: “I’m not giving those people emotional control over me. I’ve been through that. I lived through that as a child.” One lesson from his youth, Mr. Carlson told one interviewer, was that “you should only care about the opinions of people who care about you.”

Such is not the only mention of Carlson's late mother, though.

There isn't merely an overabundance of personal details in the first part, though. Again, Confessore's aim here is to portray Carlson as a racist. Confessore claims the host "regularly disparages Black women as stupid or undeserving of their positions." Among them is Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA), who Confessore does not mention has encouraged violence with her rhetoric and faced calls to be censured, though with Democrats in control, such efforts from last April were unsuccessful.

Another is Vice President Kamala Harris, whose high unfavorable ratings are not mentioned. And another is Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN), whose history of anti-Semitism is also not mentioned.

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