Former Fox News host turned far-right podcaster Tucker Carlson raised eyebrows after he claimed that President Donald Trump captured Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro in order to bring same-sex marriage to the people of a country now in a dangerous state of flux after the U.S. invaded.
Weirdly, he claimed “pro-gay forces” were secretly driving regime change, pointing to Nobel Peace Prize recipient and opposition leader María Corina Machado's support for same-sex marriage. He suggested this is proof that "globo homo," his term for progressive liberal elites, are hard at work.
He said:
"We can safely discount democracy as a reason for affecting regime change in Venezuela. We're not going to kill Nicolás Maduro because we don't like the way he's treating his people. It's possible we're mad he doesn't allow gay marriage. That's a distinct possibility but no one will say that out loud."
"One of the more conservative countries in North or South or Central America. Only El Salvador really comes close ... and by the way, the U.S.-backed opposition leader who would take Maduro's place if he were taken out is of course pretty eager to get gay marriage in Venezuela."
"So those of you who thought this whole project was globo homo? Not crazy, actually. ... She'll bring gay marriage to Venezuela. That's important. That's what we stand for."
You can hear what he said in the video below.
The idea that the U.S. would abduct Maduro to enshrine same-sex marriage rights in Venezuela is ludicrous—especially when you consider the direction the U.S. has been taking.
In 2022, Associate Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas wrote a solo concurring opinion in which he advocated overturning rulings like Obergefell v. Hodges—which made marriage equality for LGBTQ+ people the law of the land—in the ruling on Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization that struck down Roe v. Wade, which once protected a person's right to choose reproductive healthcare without excessive government restriction.
Thomas suggested that established LGBTQ+ rights and contraception rights should be reconsidered now that the federal right to reproductive freedom has been revoked, calling them "demonstrably erroneous" and calling on the Court to "correct the error."
Over the summer, former Kentucky municipal clerk Kim Davis, who spent six days in jail in 2015 for refusing to issue marriage licenses to a gay couple on religious grounds, petitioned the Supreme Court to reverse Obergefell.
Davis contended that the First Amendment’s free exercise protections shield her from personal liability for denying the licenses. She also argued that the Supreme Court’s landmark ruling—which recognized same-sex marriage rights under the 14th Amendment’s due process clause—was “egregiously wrong.”
In November, the Supreme Court denied Davis' bid without offering an explanation—but this doesn't mean LGBTQ+ people shouldn't be wary at a time when the Trump administration has continued to attack transgender people and deny them gender-affirming care.
Carlson was swiftly mocked.
Carlson was recently mocked after he predicted Trump would announce in a recent primetime address that the U.S. would go to war with Venezuela.
In fact, Trump spent the majority of his speech complaining about former President Joe Biden. He also aired complaints about what he called migrant “invasions,” violent crime, and transgender rights. Throughout the speech he cast blame on Biden, past trade agreements, immigrants, and what he characterized as a deeply corrupt system.
But Carlson claimed a member of Congress had briefed him that "war is coming," saying that Trump, whose administration had bombed alleged "drug boats" in the Caribbean for weeks, would confirm it in what ultimately turned out to be a rambling and incoherent address.
