Far right Fox News host Tucker Carlson repeatedly uses his broadcast to amplify racist and deranged conspiracy theories to millions of viewers. Carlson regularly embarks on anti-immigrant screeds and repeats the tenets of the "Great Replacement" theory.
He's also encouraged unhinged fantasies regarding the failed insurrection carried out by extremist supporters of former President Donald Trump on January 6. Most recently, Carlson suggested the riots that day were a false flag, carried out by the Federal Bureau of Investigation to "suppress political dissent."
Now, Carlson claims the Biden administration is coming after him personally—the latest delusion he's peddling to his viewers. The National Security Agency—according to a supposed whistleblower touted by Carlson—is spying on his communications in order to take his show off the air.
Watch below.
.@TuckerCarlson says a "whistleblower" within the NSA tipped him off that the agency has been spying on his team and is planning to leak communications about a story he's been working on in order to get his shown taken off the air.pic.twitter.com/Z5ygq7Cdw8— Washington Examiner (@Washington Examiner) 1624927581
Carlson said:
"Now, that's a shocking claim, and ordinarily we would be skeptical; it is illegal for the NSA to spy on American citizens. It's a crime. It's not a third world country. Things like that should not happen in America. But unfortunately, they do happen and in this case, they did happen."
He went on to insist that the whistleblower
"...repeated back to us information about a story that we are working on that could have only come directly from my texts and emails. There's no other possible source for that information. Period. They did it for political reasons. The Biden administration is spying on us. We have confirmed that."
People were skeptical, to say the least.
The most surprising part of this is that Tucker claims to be \u201cworking on a story\u201d.https://twitter.com/dcexaminer/status/1409674563928141827\u00a0\u2026— Anson Mount (@Anson Mount) 1624940627
I always feel like... Somebody's watching me.https://twitter.com/dcexaminer/status/1409674563928141827\u00a0\u2026— Coach Frank Crea (@Coach Frank Crea) 1624947644
I wish this were true, but alas! Tucker Carlson said it, so it's probably a lie.https://twitter.com/dcexaminer/status/1409674563928141827\u00a0\u2026— Right Whale Robby (Taylor's Version) (@Right Whale Robby (Taylor's Version)) 1624956575
Tucker officially losing ithttps://twitter.com/dcexaminer/status/1409674563928141827\u00a0\u2026— EDM\u2019s Sneaker King \ud83d\udd4a (@EDM\u2019s Sneaker King \ud83d\udd4a) 1624975602
Yeah...surrrrre.https://twitter.com/dcexaminer/status/1409674563928141827\u00a0\u2026— Jamie Boo-Xer (@Jamie Boo-Xer) 1624971954
Good thing Fox already stated that no reasonable person would believe what he sayshttps://twitter.com/dcexaminer/status/1409674563928141827\u00a0\u2026— Megan is Probably Watching a Superhero Movie (@Megan is Probably Watching a Superhero Movie) 1624948916
People began pointing out flaws in Carlson's claims and the so-called logic used to justify them.
I was technical director of NSA's largest operational division. There is 0% -- yes, ZERO -- chance that the Agency was spying on a major US media figure unless it involved incidental collection with a legitimate HoIS target @TuckerCarlson was talking to.https://twitter.com/Acyn/status/1409669303264169985\u00a0\u2026— John Schindler (@John Schindler) 1624935009
Carlson claims that to get to the bottom of it he FILED A FOIA REQUEST WITH THE NSA.
This is brilliant.
In order to get my next big scoop, I'm going to FOIA the NSA and just ask for all info about anyone interesting they've been spying on in the last few years.
— Judd Legum (@JuddLegum) June 29, 2021
Dear @TuckerCarlson let me tell you something I know from experience: if the NSA was reading your texts or emails (unlikely), there are ONLY two possibilities:\n1) The person you are emailing/texting is an agent of a foreign power -or- \n2) A FISA court has determined YOU arehttps://twitter.com/BradMossEsq/status/1409683579248939011\u00a0\u2026— James Harris (@James Harris) 1624932870
Carlson called on Congress to step in and advocate for his privacy.
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