245 Comments
Oct 5, 2021Liked by Robert Reich

Absolutely....My Mother came to this country from Switzerland in 1957 aboard the Queen Mary. One of the first party's she attended a General in the Navy made a comment about "damn foreigners coming to our country on the tramp steamer the Queen Mary"....my Mom in her best English, which she worked hard to learn, said to his face " Well sir you don't look like much of an Indian to me". I thought that was pretty accurate for a young woman in 1957.

The majority of people today conveniently forget their history, all of us are immigrants in one form or another. Only the Native Americans can say differently. That is what this country was built on....diversity & acceptance of all people.

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Oct 5, 2021Liked by Robert Reich

He's "popular" because sadly most people will turn their head to watch a car wreck or similar disaster. Pandering to a fear, bias, racism and classism is a very old story pre-internet/cable...

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Agree Carlson is evil and committed to disinformation; but the real blame is Fox “news” network for allowing this to continue unchecked and without a disclaimer. Walking the fine line of freedom of speech and disinformation is a challenger- but Fox News has breeches all ethical bounds in the past 20 years. Place blame at the heart of the problem not the symptom.

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I agree with your choice, Mr. Secretary. Tucker Carlson is the prototypical "ugly American." He should go live on a Native American reservation for a year. Or else, instead of visiting chauvinistic Hungary, he should come and report on my home town of Akron, Ohio where our former Italian-American neighborhood of North Hill has assimilated over 5,000 Asian refugees from Nepal/Bhutan/Myanmar. These immigrants have been a positive influence on the area, opening new businesses, working jobs, buying homes and cars- just like my Italian-American ancestors did 100 years ago. We are now getting ready to welcome some of the Afghan immigrants. There's no need to fear them- they're people just like us looking to have a chance at life.

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I agree with you. I believe racism is the very root of what is wrong with this country and that it is used to convince people to vote against their own self interests. I think that we are on the verge of a sea change and that Tucker Carlson knows it, and that is why he is willing to be so ugly and open about it on the air. I'm hoping a golden age is in our future, when the racists finally fall from political power, and politicians represent the people who elected them instead of the wealthy elite.

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Many of the laws we have that promulgate racism were based on exactly that idea: that new immigrants would replace those who were here first, and that the new immigrants would take over. Unfortunately, it's an old idea with a lot of support - and particularly among the people who are watching Tucker Carlson; it's the type of that they want, and he's just the jackass to give it to them.

My grandparents were all either immigrants, or born to recent immigrants. In addition to leaving Europe and Russia for financial reasons, they were all fleeing religious persecution, as they were also all Jewish. Had they not come to this country between 1883 and 1905, it's likely they would have been kept out based on their religion, as ideas such as the ones Carlson is touting were the driving force behind immigration quotas - which would have particularly effected my mother's grandparents, coming from Russia, although "Jewish" was considered a race until after WWII, and was a significant issue in quotas.

Everyone here - unless they are Native American - is an immigrant or the descendant of an immigrant; some immigrated voluntarily and others were brought by force. This country, as it exists today, with all its warts and horrible history, was built by immigrants, many of whom either said the same things Carlson is saying, or had those things said about them. The question is, then, will we learn from history or repeat yet again?

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Aside from the blatant racism, and everything else evil about TC, it's hysterical he thinks the problem with those "terrible" immigrants is that they are *obedient*. There is nothing Conservatism desires more than a multitude of obedient people. Their whole problem is with people who object instead of being obedient. So, apparently, liberal Dems need an obedient population so we can force healthcare, childcare, college education, and other terrors upon them without them rising up against us! But of course!

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There are Americans who are so stupid they don't know they are stupid especially those who listen to Tucker Carlson and believe him.

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Faux News needs to be put off the air. It's not news or facts, it's a blatant attempt to destroy our country and Carlson leads the way.

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You picked well, Robert. I was glad to see your newsletter this morning. I posted a factual article a couple of days ago to counter Carlson's lie that people who'd had Covid had better immunity than what the vaccine could give. He insidiously 'informs' his take on an issue, and then expounds in a vile twisted way to captivate his audience. His presentations make me cringe. It's as hard to watch/listen to him as it was Trump.

That he's vehemently addressing an issue that most Americans agree needs fixing - immigration - he has a conservative and uneducated audience that will grab any additional reason to not only maintain their racist beliefs, but consider acting on them if they feel threatened enough. Unfortunately, that's possibly the hope he and the right, are looking for.

I agree with Mark Stevens' response that Fox News is the real culprit. Reporters/commentators have been removed from other networks for outrageous allegations - yet, Carlson remains.

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Carlson is paid by billionaires to spew garbage and hatred. He’s nothing but a sheep.

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Feeding the hate endemic in White Supremacy is dangerous and divisive. A typical play of authoritarian leaders around the world and the Trump wing of the Republican party.

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While I agree that Carlson is a horrible influence, I would have nominated another non-politician, Mark Zuckerberg whose corporation not only allows and profits from the spread of disinformation regarding: politics, vaccines, abortion, race, ethnicity, and so on, but his companies also contribute to damaging the mental health of adolescents, young adults, and adults. The worst part is that due to internal investigations, he knows all of this and does nothing because facebooks profits and reputation mean more to him than the millions of users of his various platforms.

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This (Tucker Carlson's) strategy is precisely that employed by Goebbels.

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The first time I saw Carlson, I was appalled beyond description. What appalls me now is that so many people listen to him. What is wrong with this country?

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founding

This is exactly why the wealthy/powerful few, aided by Rep., are against racial history- the truth is that the English settlers (who were not Europe's best and in fact some were criminals), 'replaced' the Native Americans by force, by bringing diseases that killed many and ultimately by stealing their land and limiting their resources and limiting them to "reservations". They treated all other nationalities the same, but allowed those with 'white' skin to assimilate when they needed to add to their numbers to retain power. However, if you could not, or can not, pass for 'white' that hasn't been an option for you... you are still "other" and the enemy. They know that if people knew their real history- how they took advantage of so many others and are not the actual "Americans" (native to America)but immigrants themselves, it would be much more difficult for them to divide and conquer the majority of us- the 90% that make less than $140,000, year (or the 99% that make less than $720,000/year). That's how they keep using the same tactics over and over, claiming that people of color and immigrants are stealing our jobs, as if those ppl own the company and are hiring themselves, when it is the same wealthy/powerful ppl/corp that are sending jobs to foreign countries, for cheaper labor and fighting against raising minimum wage here in the US! They are the same people who have created the boogeyman of 'critical race theory' in schools, so they can avoid the truth associated with slavery and systemic racism, while at the same time leading us to believe there are limited resources... this encourages some to be willfully ignorant of that history, in an effort to maintain their privileged and advantage, rather that work together, collectively- via political power, to demand more for everyone (90%-99%).

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