Tucker Carlson, in the fourth episode of his Twitter show, heavily criticized Fox News for their swift retraction and apology regarding a chyron that referred to President Joe Biden as a “wannabe dictator.” The controversial headline appeared on screen while the President was addressing the media on the day former President Donald Trump made his first appearance in federal court.
In his comments, Carlson rebuked Fox News’ actions, stating, “Those words were up for less than 30 seconds, but the effect was immediate. Inside Fox, the women who run the network panicked.” The network’s response led to the resignation of the tenured producer who created the chyron, a person Carlson described as “one of the most capable people in the building.”
Carlson also used the opportunity to express his opinion on the perceived authoritarian tendencies of President Biden. He facetiously stated, “Of course, Joe Biden is not a wannabe dictator. Just because he’s trying to put the other candidate in prison for the rest of his life for a crime he himself committed, doesn’t mean he has a totalitarian impulse. Come on. That’s absurd.”
The commentator then proceeded to describe characteristics that he believes signify a “wannabe dictator”, including self-enrichment, suppression of dissent, control of personal weaponry, and fostering a cult of personality. He stated, “Dictators build cults of personality around themselves, and they use those cults to deny the glaringly obvious.”
Drawing on Biden’s recent video on Twitter, in which the President claimed “ownership” of American children, Carlson criticized Biden for saying, “These are our kids. These are our neighbors, not somebody else’s kids. They’re all our kids.”
In response, Carlson sarcastically remarked, “You share your children with Joe Biden evenly right down the middle with alternating weekends. You’ve got joint custody with Joe Biden, and you can thank heaven that you do.”
Concluding his show, Carlson made an overt dig at the Fox News network and its reaction to the controversial chyron, stating, “A nation is like a family. Every family has a head, a father. That’s Joe Biden, our nation’s father, and this, ladies and gentlemen, is now his fatherland. Just don’t call it a dictatorship, or we’ll have to issue a statement disavowing you.”
