Far-right Fox News host Tucker Carlson is one of the leading conservative voices rewriting the events of January 6, when a mob of pro-Trump extremists stormed the United States Capitol in a deadly failed insurrection.
Carlson demonized Capitol and D.C. Metro police officers who defended the Capitol because they testified to Congress about the horrors they witnessed that day. He called the rioters "tourists" and dismissed the idea they posed a threat, saying they were "old people from unfashionable zip codes." Most alarmingly, Carlson suggested the Federal Bureau of Investigation secretly staged the riot in an effort to suppress political opposition.
And this week, Carlson launched a trailer for a new project that absurdly claims the January 6 insurrection was a false flag.
Carlson says in the trailer:
The U.S. government has in fact launched a new war on terror. But it's not against al-Qaida, it's against American citizens."
The far-right media personality's latest deranged rant drew widespread criticism, even from some of his fellow conservatives, like radio host Geraldo Rivera.
Rivera shared a post from anti-Trump Republican Congressman Adam Kinzinger of Illinois, who slammed Carlson and Fox for promoting the lunacy.
He literally called "bulls**t" on Carlson's false flag fantasy.
Some were surprised to find themselves agreeing with Rivera.
For once, Mr. Rivera, you & I agree. It's time to lower the rhetoric, and deal with the facts.
— Mark Kamensek (@MKamensek) October 28, 2021
My second Geraldo tweet "like"! It must be the end of the world.
— Maryam Mousavi (@MaryamM45849483) October 28, 2021
Hell hath frozen over. I am retweeting Geraldo.
— CathyO (@cathyob1) October 28, 2021
But far more people lambasted Rivera for continuing to work at Fox, despite the network's frequent promotion of dangerous lies.
This is your network, your colleague. Call them out on a larger platform or you are complicit.
— Purple in the Bayou (@Purple2Bluish) October 28, 2021
Keep on cashin' those Murdoch checks tho, amirite?
— Lestje B. Juddged (@JuddgyOne) October 28, 2021
Don't tweet. You have leverage, use it.
— 💬 (@tinypulitzer) October 28, 2021
Dude, you helped let this happen…
You had to have seen the train coming.
— Long Strange Trip (@LSTrip44) October 28, 2021
I honestly don't know why you continue to work for Fox, Geraldo.
— ☮ 🇸🇲🇮🇹🇹🇾 (@LiberallyHappy) October 28, 2021
That's the side you've been supporting.
— (((Space Laser Jebus))) (@the_real_Lord) October 28, 2021
Rivera almost certainly won't be leaving the network.