February 4, 2023

Tucker Carlson launched his lying spiel by claiming he did not know Santos has been so much in the news of late. “We haven't watched a ton of cable news recently, but we assumed with mass layoffs underway across the US economy, an egg shortage, crumbling cities, the prospect of a Third World War looming on the horizon, we assumed we knew what the other channels would be covering because there are an awful lot of threats out there,” Carlson said.

“What we didn't know until we tuned into MSNBC and CNN the other day was that all of those threats go by a single name, and that name is Mr. George Santos,” Carlson continued. Then he began his descent into sarcasm: “Weeks into his new job as a freshman member of Congress and just months from his previous life of near total anonymity, George Santos has somehow transformed into the single most dangerous and historically significant figure on the global stage today.”

In fact, Carlson’s own substitute host, Tulsi Gabbard, shredded Santos right there on the Tucker Carlson Tonight show in late December. “Do you have no shame?” Gabbard asked Santos during their very contentious interview. She called it “hard to imagine” how his constituents could possibly trust his explanations “when you’re not really even willing to admit the depth of your deception to them.”

Also, while Carlson suggested that it was only the left attacking Santos, via clips from the “liberal” media and with a lower-third banner reading, “THE LEFT: GEORGE SANTOS IS DANGEROUS & HAS TO GO,” he conveniently overlooked the fact that Santos’ Republican colleagues have called for his resignation. Repeatedly.

But now, Carlson described Santos’ lies as mere fibs that should be shrugged off. He did so by smearing and demonizing those who think there’s a real problem with someone getting elected to Congress on a completely fabricated resumé, who is wanted for fraud in Brazil and with major questions about his very suspicious finances.

Carlson was dripping in sarcasm as he painted a dishonest picture of concerns about Santos:

CARLSON: George Santos told other people out there, and CNN can exclusively confirm this, that he had a volleyball scholarship, perhaps the most coveted credential in collegiate sports. But he didn't, it was all a facade.

It was a tissue of lies constructed to deceive the American people. There was no volleyball scholarship. There was not a single dollar of volleyball scholarship.

George Santos made it all up out of whole cloth, out of thin air. George Santos is ersatz volleyball player, a fraud, a ghoul. People voted for this man believing he had played collegiate volleyball on a scholarship and he hadn't.

And yet tonight, ladies and gentlemen, this thief of volleyball glory, strides the Halls of the United States Congress, unimpeded by law enforcement. It's like another insurrection.

And by the way we're hearing tonight, we can't confirm this, but we are going to continue our investigation on George Santos. There are reports tonight, that he did not actually work at Citibank. He did not work at Citibank.

Carlson went on to claim that “obviously” only “a very small percentage” of those who voted for Santos would not have done so had they known of his lies at the time.

That’s yet another lie from the guy who claims his show is the “sworn enemy of lying.” A recent poll found that 78% of voters in Santos’ district want him to resign. That includes 71% of Republicans.

Carlson surely knows Santos is nothing but trouble. So why bother trying to make him a right-wing martyr? Maybe Tuckums just wants to own the libs. Or maybe he’s scared about something getting revealed.

Can you help us out?

For nearly 20 years we have been exposing Washington lies and untangling media deceit, but now Facebook is drowning us in an ocean of right wing lies. Please give a one-time or recurring donation, or buy a year's subscription for an ad-free experience. Thank you.

Discussion

We welcome relevant, respectful comments. Any comments that are sexist or in any other way deemed hateful by our staff will be deleted and constitute grounds for a ban from posting on the site. Please refer to our Terms of Service for information on our posting policy.
Mastodon