Tucker Carlson anti-white mania

Tucker Carlson’s history of fearmongering about white replacement, genocide, and race war

Written by Nikki McCann Ramirez

Published

Updated

Update (5/14/22): The article has been updated with additional examples.

Flashing an “ANTI-WHITE MANIA” graphic on screen, Fox host Tucker Carlson declared on June 24 that something must be done “to save this country” from the scourge of critical race theory “before we become Rwanda.”

Carlson’s barely veiled reference to a genocide that killed more than half a million people invoked images of violent racial conflict in the United States. The segment also came on the heels of Carlson’s full-throated embrace of the “great replacement” conspiracy theory on April 8 -- echoing a belief long held by white nationalists -- that a wave of “Third World” invaders is coming to replace you and reshape your country, and you, the audience, should do something about it. The segment drew widespread condemnation, including a statement from the Anti-Defamation League CEO calling for Carlson’s removal from Fox.

Carlson has often used his show to launder white nationalist ideology, and his recent attachment to the “great replacement” conspiracy theory, “white genocide” narratives, and race war fearmongering is the culmination of years of violent and racist rhetoric.

A New York Times investigation in April 2022 found that Carlson had invoked the conspiracy that Democrats were trying to force demographic change through immigration in more than 400 episodes of his Fox News show. Carlson also highlighted discrimination against white people and downplayed discrimination against people of color in more than 600 episodes.

Events

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  • Carlson told conspiracy theorist Alex Jones that the Obama administration was pushing “Nazi” politics.

    During a guest appearance on The Alex Jones Show, Carlson told host and conspiracy theorist Alex Jones that the Obama administration was engaging in “Nazi stuff” by using ethnic politics. [5/20/15]

  • Carlson compared affirmative action to slavery, Jim Crow, and Japanese internment.

    [Tucker Carlson Tonight, 12/21/16]

  • While ranting about “more than 350,000 migrants … from the Third World” arriving in Europe, Carlson referred to the refugees as an “invasion” that was changing Europe’s demographics.

    Carlson reported that “more than 7,000 African migrants” had arrived in Italy in the days prior, and he warned that “many of them will remain, some for generations, as beneficiaries of European welfare states.” He said that the refugees arrived “without invitation, illegally, and at public expense” and fearmongered that they would “forever and profoundly change the demographics of the continent in ways that pretty much nobody who was born there ever asked for or wanted.” [Tucker Carlson Tonight, 4/17/17]

  • Carlson compared the push to remove Confederate statues to the extremism of the Taliban in Afghanistan, Khmer Rouge in Cambodia, and Mao Zedong in China.

    Days after the deadly white supremacist “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, Carlson accused activists pushing to remove Confederate statues from public spaces of “trying to delegitimize the U.S. government and the traditions of American society because they don't believe in them.” [Tucker Carlson Tonight, 8/15/17]

  • Carlson claimed that striving for diversity “gets you to civil war.”

    During a discussion of the 2017 Emmy awards ceremony, Carlson bizarrely attacked actor and director Issa Rae for saying she was rooting for Black people to win, saying that is “opposite of diversity." Carlson also claimed that advocating for diversity in society “gets you to civil war.” [Tucker Carlson Tonight, 9/18/17]

  • Carlson referred to the victims of a New York terrorist attack as “martyrs to a diversity cult worshiped by our ruling class.”

    In response to a deadly terror attack in New York City allegedly carried out by an immigrant who came to the U.S. on a diversity visa, Carlson claimed the victims were “martyrs to a diversity cult worshiped by our ruling class” and accused “this country's leaders” of deciding “that diversity, in and of itself, is of greater importance than the well-being of this country's people.” [Tucker Carlson Tonight, 11/1/17]

  • Carlson attacked immigration and ethnic diversity for “radically and permanently changing our country."

    While slamming Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) for saying that “diversity is our strength,” Carlson claimed, “Our leaders are radically and permanently changing our country, wholly on the basis of their faith that diversity is, in fact, our strength.” He then said diversity would lead people to “hate each other.” [Tucker Carlson Tonight, 1/18/18]

  • Carlson used white nationalist talking points to fearmonger about “race-based land seizures” in South Africa.

    Carlson described land reform in South Africa -- a program to redistribute unequal land ownership that is a legacy of apartheid -- as “literally the definition of racism.” (He neglected to mention that the lands had been forcefully taken from Black South Africans during apartheid.) In response, Trump tweeted that he would be directing Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to look into the matters. White supremacists celebrated the segment and Trump’s tweet, as they have long used race war fearmongering about South Africa to serve their narrative of white oppression. [Tucker Carlson Tonight, 8/22/18]

  • Carlson attacked American diversity, saying that it makes “marriage or military units” less cohesive.

    In a monologue attacking the value of diversity in American society that echoed white nationalist talking points, Tucker pitted “diversity” and “freedom of speech” against each other and suggested that “racial discrimination and hatred” against white people is “acceptable, even encouraged” in today’s society. After the segment prompted widespread criticism, Carlson attempted a defense on Twitter. White supremacists online celebrated the segment and said they agreed with Carlson. [Tucker Carlson Tonight, 9/7/18]

  • Carlson warned his audience about threats of white “genocide.”

    Carlson claimed that a professor’s angry tweet about then-Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh and Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), that received considerable attention from white nationalists, was really about “genocide.” (The conspiracy theory that “white genocide” is afoot is a common trope of white supremacists.) [Tucker Carlson Tonight, 10/1/18]

  • Carlson compared Democrats to the genocidal “Hutu leaders in Rwanda.”

    Carlson claimed that philanthropist Tom Steyer was instigating “tribal warfare posing as democracy” by saying “that Kavanaugh was installed by a specific racial group in order to hurt and disempower every other racial group in America.” Carlson continued by claiming that was “exactly the kind of things that Hutu leaders in Rwanda were saying in the early 1990s.” [Tucker Carlson Tonight, 10/8/21]

  • Carlson claimed that “we’re being invaded” at the southern border, declaring, “This is how countries collapse.”

    [Tucker Carlson Tonight, 4/9/19]

  • Carlson said racial equity training in New York City schools is evidence that “Jim Crow is making a vigorous comeback.”

    [Tucker Carlson Tonight, 5/28/19]

  • Carlson spread a conspiracy theory popular with white supremacists and claimed The New York Times wants white South African farmers murdered.

    Carlson claimed the country is experiencing “racist violence, as brutal and horrifying and indefensible as anything that happened under apartheid,” due to a policy of “race-based land seizures.” [Tucker Carlson Tonight, 6/3/19]

  • Carlson argued that it’s racist and disgusting to want more diversity in Congress.

    He singled out Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) and claimed that “the argument Tlaib is making” for Democratic leaders to uplift the voices of women of color in Congress is akin to her saying “give us power because of our skin color.” Carlson called Tlaib’s desire for diversity “a racist pitch” and compared it to white candidates asking for votes because of their race during Jim Crow. [Tucker Carlson Tonight, 6/3/19]

  • Carlson claimed criticism of white supremacy is “destroying the country. This is the path to civil war, obviously.”

    [Tucker Carlson Tonight, 8/7/19]

  • Carlson said, “The long-term agenda of refugee resettlement is to bring in future Democratic voters.”

    [Tucker Carlson Tonight, 1/3/20]

  • Discussing nationwide demonstrations against racism and police brutality, Carlson warned, “Violent young men with guns will be in charge. They will make the rules, including the rules in your neighborhood.”

    [Tucker Carlson Tonight, 6/2/20]

  • Carlson and his guest agreed the time for “vigilante justice” against protesters is near.

    Guest Bryan Dean Wright claimed that “the country is on fire” and “facing an insurrection by ... violent leftist thugs” armed “with firebombs, they are back with bricks in our suburbs, in our downtowns.” [Tucker Carlson Tonight, 6/4/20]

  • Carlson said Democrats are trying to replace Trump-supporting police with an armed “woke militia” to patrol neighborhoods, comparing it to “the Third World.”

    He invited his audience to “imagine if the diversity and inclusion department at Brown University had the power to arrest you. Imagine if the Black Lives Matter rioters had weapons and immunity from prosecution.” [Tucker Carlson Tonight, 6/8/20]

  • Carlson turned to a racist anti-abortion myth about “Black genocide” to downplay police brutality against Black people.

    In an attempt to delegitimize protests against police brutality following the police killings of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and other Black Americans, Carlson argued that Democrats and reproductive rights advocates ignore the real problem of “Black genocide” through abortion. [Tucker Carlson Tonight, 6/8/20 and 6/9/20]

  • Carlson said Black Lives Matter protests are an “insidious” and growing attempt “to end liberal democracy and challenge Western civilization itself.”

    [Tucker Carlson Tonight, 6/22/20]

  • Carlson claimed, “When they do it to you, it's social justice. If you dare to defend yourself, it's a hate crime.”

    Positing what he described as “theoretical questions, obviously,” he asked whether it’s OK to “spray paint obscenities on Martin Luther King's monuments if you don't like him.” [Tucker Carlson Tonight, 6/23/20]

  • Carlson said, “You may not think tearing down a statue is a big deal, until you are the next designated Christopher Columbus.”

    He asked, “If they can tear down statues whenever they feel like it, how long before they tear down buildings, how long before they tear down homes? How long before they tear down human beings?” [Tucker Carlson Tonight, 7/24/20]

  • Carlson defended alleged vigilante shooter Kyle Rittenhouse by saying, “How shocked are we that 17-year-olds with rifles decided they had to maintain order when no one else would?”

    Days later, he hosted Rittenhouse’s lawyer for a softball interview. [Tucker Carlson Tonight, 8/26/20]

  • Carlson called the Black Lives Matter movement “the actual armed militia of the Democratic Party.”

    He added that Democratic leaders “are more ruthless than you can even understand. They will burn down your cities and tell you that you did it. And if you don't accept that judgment, maybe they will send BLM to your house.” [Tucker Carlson Tonight, 8/31/20]

  • Carlson described Black Lives Matter as “poison” and said, “If we're going to survive as a country, we must defeat this.”

    [Tucker Carlson Tonight, 9/10/20]

  • Carlson claimed COVID-19 vaccine distribution plan is “eugenics” against white people.

    [Tucker Carlson Tonight, 12/18/20]

  • Carlson claimed, “The Democratic coalition is built on shared genetics. The basic idea is that everyone who is not a straight white man must be united.”

    [Tucker Carlson Tonight, 1/13/21]

  • Carlson warned his audience that they could be targets of “war on white supremacists.”

    [Tucker Carlson Tonight, 1/20/21]

  • Carlson defended white supremacists from being labeled as domestic terrorists, telling his audience, “Keep in mind they’re talking about American citizens. They’re talking about you.”

    [Tucker Carlson Tonight, 1/26/21]

  • Carlson claimed President Joe Biden will release MS-13 gang members “into your neighborhood.”

    He added, “This is all real, and we will see cases like that, guaranteed.” [Tucker Carlson Tonight, 2/8/21]

  • Carlson described Biden’s immigration policy as “reckless and destructive” and “an act of aggression” meant “to punish you.”

    [Tucker Carlson Tonight, 2/8/21]

  • Carlson: Immigrants are being brought in as new citizens “to replace the disobedient ones.”

    [Tucker Carlson Tonight, 3/16/21]

  • Carlson warned viewers that immigration will “change your country forever, possibly for the worse.”

    [Tucker Carlson Tonight, 3/25/21]

  • Carlson said the immigrants currently in America “devalue your political power” and “subvert democracy.”

    Carlson argued that the number of immigrants in the U.S. is “high enough to devalue your political power as a voter. It's high enough to subvert democracy itself. It's high enough to make this country a different place.” [Tucker Carlson Tonight, 4/5/21]

  • Carlson claimed that corporate diversity policies lead to “warring tribes fighting each other for the spoils.”

    [Tucker Carlson Tonight, 4/7/21]

  • Carlson gave a passionate defense of “white replacement theory.”

    He said, “If you suggest that the Democratic Party is trying to replace the current electorate, … they become hysterical because that's what's happening, actually. Let's just say it: That's true." [Fox News Primetime, 4/8/21]

  • After widespread backlash, Carlson defends his support and promotion of white supremacist “replacement” theory.

    “Let’s say that again for emphasis, because it is the secret to the entire immigration debate: Demographic change is the key to the Democratic Party’s political ambitions.” [Tucker Carlson Tonight, 4/12/21]

  • On his Fox Nation show, Carlson and Adam Carolla warn of looming violent reaction from white people if “identity politics” continue.

    [Tucker Carlson Today, 4/16/21]

  • Carlson again invoked the white supremacist “replacement theory.”

    [Tucker Carlson Tonight, 4/21/21]

  • Carlson called the 1965 Immigration Act, which eliminated national-origin quotas that heavily favored European immigrants, “the worst attack on our democracy in 160 years.”

    For more on the 1965 law, see here. [Tucker Carlson Tonight, 4/29/21]

  • Carlson compared Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot to Nazis and warned that she will target white people if Chicago police round up the population.

    [Tucker Carlson Tonight, 5/19/21]

  • Carlson accused Dr. Anthony Fauci of setting aside public health concerns in favor of “changing the demographic mix to favor the Democratic Party.”

    [Tucker Carlson Today, 5/21/21]

  • Carlson claimed Democrats are “trying to change the population in the United States, and they hate it when you say that because it's true.”

    [Tucker Carlson Tonight, 5/24/21]

  • Carlson and Charles Murray discussed the validity of race science and speculated that a race war is possible in the U.S.

    [Tucker Carlson Today, 6/16/21]

  • With an “ANTI-WHITE MANIA" graphic displayed on the screen, Carlson said that something must be done to “save this country before we become Rwanda."

    [Tucker Carlson Tonight, 6/24/21]

  • Tucker Carlson hyped “secret” flights carrying migrants that were already known for months — and were also done during the Trump years.

    Carlson claimed the Biden administration was moving undocumented immigrants “secretly around our country” on military flights from Texas to elsewhere in the county, and warned that the flights were part of aneffort to bring about the “demographic transformation in our country, without our consent.” In reality, the flights had been reported months earlier and had gone on even during the Trump administration. [Tucker Carlson Tonight, 7/14/21] 

  • Carlson told viewers, “Our country is being invaded by the rest of the world.”

    [Tucker Carlson Tonight, 8/10/21]

  • Carlson claimed that Democrats were deliberately importing violent felons into the country in order to secure more votes.

    “This is an intentional act,” Carlson said. “This is the administration bringing felons, violent criminals into our country on purpose. Why would you do something like that? Only to destroy it.” Carlson went on to tell the hosts of Fox & Friends that this was all part of a plan to “change the demographics of the country.” [Fox and Friends, 8/11/21]

    From the August 11, 2021 edition of Fox News' Fox and Friends

  • Carlson claimed that “nonwhite people” are “cheering the extinction of white people.”

    “Democrats are intentionally accelerating demographic change in this country for political advantage, so rather than convince people to vote for them — that's called democracy — they're counting on brand-new voters.” [Tucker Carlson Tonight, 8/13/21]

  • Following the withdrawal of the U.S. forces from Afghanistan, Carlson told viewers America would be “invaded" by “millions” of Afghan refugees.

    “We will see many refugees from Afghanistan resettle in our country in coming months, probably in your neighborhood. And over the next decade, that number may swell to the millions. So, first we invade, and then we're invaded. It is always the same.”  [Tucker Carlson Tonight, 8/16/21] 

  • Carlson blamed refugees and undocumented immigrants for the housing crisis.

    “America is becoming a lot more crowded than it ever was, and one of the reasons for that is that we are now living through the biggest influx of refugees in American history.” [Tucker Carlson Tonight, 8/18/21]

  • Tucker Carlson: “Let me just state, unequivocally, the country's being stolen from American citizens as we watch.”

    [Tucker Carlson Today, 8/23/21]

  • Carlson says if we don't “pause on letting in new Americans,” “we will pay the price for it at some point, that's guaranteed.”

    Carlson told viewers “It might be good to pause for just a moment, pause on letting in new Americans, pause on changing our society completely.” [Tucker Carlson Tonight, 8/25/21]

  • Carlson justified a coming “revolt” unless “we change course immediately.”

    [Tucker Carlson Tonight, 8/30/21]

  • Carlson called refugee resettlement “operation change America forever.”

    “Over the past week this same administration has overseen the evacuation of tens of thousands of unvetted Afghan nationals, many of whom will now be moved into neighborhoods around the United States and stay permanently. They didn't seem to encounter any problems in doing this. Thanks to meticulous and thoughtful planning, operation change America forever came off precisely according to plan. It worked flawlessly.” [Tucker Carlson Tonight, 8/31/21] 

  • Tucker Carlson lied to viewers that noncitizens are allowed to vote in California's recall election.

    While a handful of municipalities across the country, including one in San Francisco, allow noncitizens to vote in local or school board elections, voter registration in California is limited to U.S. citizens over the age of 18 who are residents of the state of California. Only voters registered in California are allowed to vote in the gubernatorial recall election. [Tucker Carlson Tonight, 8/31/21]

  • Tucker Carlson called immigrants “a tool to change the country forever and ensure a permanent Democratic control.”

    [Tucker Carlson Tonight, 9/16/21] 

    From the September 16, 2021, edition of Fox News' Tucker Carlson Tonight

  • Carlson again pushed a white supremacist conspiracy theory that accepting refugees is actually part of an “attempt to change the demographics of the United States.”

    “Once they get here the Biden administration plans to give them voting rights. That's in the works right now. So, the people you just saw on your screen could very well be choosing your president at some point down the road. This is a manufactured crisis. This is an attempt to change the demographics of the United States in order to give permanent power to the Democratic Party.” [Tucker Carlson Tonight, 9/21/21]

  • Carlson called Biden’s immigration policy “the great replacement” and “eugenics.”

    Carlson described Biden’s position on immigration as a “great replacement” using a deceptively presented outake of remarks then-Vice President Joe Biden made in 2015 to accuse him of believing that “non-white DNA is the … source of our strength.” Carlson told viewers Biden had invoked “the language of eugenics,” indicating an effort to replace “legacy Americans” and “change the racial mix of the county” in order to gain political power. [Tucker Carlson Tonight, 9/22/21]

    From the September 22, 2021, edition of Fox News' Tucker Carlson Tonight

  • Carlson attacked George Soros and his organization for assisting in refugee resettlement

    [Tucker Carlson Tonight, Fox News, 9/22/21]

  • Carlson admitted to having a “cultural” objection to immigration

    [Tucker Carlson Today, Fox Nation, 10/06/21]

  • Carlson called dollar stores, high-density housing, and mass immigration a “blot on God's creation”

    [Tucker Carlson Today, Fox Nation, 10/08/21]

  • Carlson claimed Democrats plan to be “elected into perpetuity by importing a whole new population of voters”

    [Tucker Carlson Tonight, Fox News, 10/25/21]

  • Carlson told viewers that ideas like critical race theory “end with Rwanda”

    [Tucker Carlson Tonight, Fox News, 11/01/21]

  • Carlson aired a parody ad featuring George Soros next to a “Diversity. Inclusion. Equity. We kill America!” graphic.

    [Tucker Carlson Tonight, Fox News, 12/08/21]

  • Carlson told viewers that “demographic change underway right now in the United States” and constituted “a direct assault on our democracy”

    [Tucker Carlson Tonight, Fox News, 12/17/21]

  • Carlson claimed Democrats support “anti-white” school lessons that teach children minorities are “superior” to white people.

    [Tucker Carlson Tonight, Fox News, 01/24/22]

  • Carlson argued that George Soros has built “a program of destruction aimed at the West.”

    [The Five, Fox News, 01/25/22]

  • Carlson claimed that Democrats are intentionally killing white people through the opioid crisis.

    [Tucker Carlson Tonight, Fox News, 02/08/22]

  • Carlson and his guest, former Trump adviser Steven Miller, described immigration as an “invasion” and argued that immigrants could cause the fall of “American civilization.”

    [Tucker Carlson Tonight, Fox News, 03/14/22] 

  • Tucker Carlson demanded the military be deployed to the southern border to fight immigrants.

    [Tucker Carlson Tonight, Fox News, 03/17/22] 

  • Carlson tells viewers that Mexico and Joe Biden have a “contempt for America’s population and want to change it.”

    [Tucker Carlson Tonight, Fox News, 04/13/22]