Fox News host Tucker Carlson attacked the media on Monday night for scrutinizing President Donald Trump after he referred to himself as a nationalist during an October rally.
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“That leads to the third issue of this election, which is nationalism. Despite what you are hearing day in and day out, nationalism is not a racial category. It has nothing to do with race or ethnicity,” Carlson began. “Nationalism is the belief that leaders ought to put the interest of their own countries above those of other countries. It’s very straightforward. The president himself declared himself the nationalist of the other night. Watch.”
Carlson then aired the clip of Trump calling himself a “nationalist” at a rally in Houston last month.
“Trump is a nationalist, so in normal times, the President of the United States announcing that his main goal is protecting the United States would not qualify as news because until about 10 minutes ago, every leader of every nation-state throughout history has been a nationalist almost by definition,” he added. “Franklin Roosevelt was a nationalist. So was Abraham Lincoln. So was Mahatma Gandhi. So was Nelson Mandela. Nationalism has always been the rule, and why wouldn’t it be? And yet suddenly it’s an abomination.”
The show then aired a clip of CNN’s Don Lemon criticizing Trump for describing himself as a nationalist.
Tucker Carlson and Don Lemon (LEFT: Roy Rochlin/Getty Images RIGHT: ANGELA WEISS/AFP/Getty Images)
“Dumb people repeating their same talking points. So the message is nationalism is now profanity. Twitter and Facebook will surely be banning that term if they haven’t already. But why? What exactly is going on here?” Carlson continued. (RELATED: Politico Editor-In-Chief Implies Trump Is A ‘White Nationalist’)
“Why are they so intent on stamping out not just a concept but the very word? It’s simple. What you are watching his people protecting their own prerogatives. Globalization, which is the opposite of nationalism, has caused an enormous transfer of wealth from the American middle class to what we used to call ‘the third world,’ to other countries,” he concluded.
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