Fox News' Tucker Carlson defends Putin, says all world leaders kill journalists and murder their political opponents.

Why are Facebook, Xfinity, Comcast, Vanguard, Ford, Honeywell, Tide and Arby's subsidizing Tucker Carlson's hate and disinformation?

Last week, Fox News’ Lara Logan compared Dr. Anthony Fauci to notorious Nazi doctor Josef Mengele, who conducted vicious, obscene experiments on Jews and other concentration camp prisoners.

This week, Fox News’ Tucker Carlson is defending Vladimir Putin’s imminent invasion of Ukraine, and Putin’s murder of Russian journalists and political opponents. (Stephanopoulos’ question to Biden in the video below, if you can’t hear it, is: “Do you still think Putin is a killer.”)

John Aravosis 🇺🇸🇬🇷🏳️‍🌈 @aravosis

This is obscene.

No, Tucker, every country in the world doesn’t murder the political opposition or journalists they disagree with, or you wouldn’t be here. (Though I suspect many of Tucker’s fans would love to emulate Putin’s reign here in the US.)

Now check out some of the chyrons (the text at the bottom of the screen) that Tucker used during his show last night:

I ask again, why are dozens of American companies subsidizing Fox News’ garbage? It’s across the entire Fox News network. Every show is bad. Spreading Covid disinformation. Literally killing Americans. Defending the Insurrection. And now defending the murder of journalists and political opponents, and the annexation of another country.

Fox News has gone full-on fascist, while defending America’s enemies over America itself. And companies like Facebook, Xfinity, Comcast, Vanguard, Ford, Honeywell, Tide and Arby's are subsidizing this hate by continuing to advertise on Fox News. (See a larger list of Fox News’ advertisers below.) These companies are killing people. These companies are aiding and abetting the destruction of our democracy. It’s time we called them out for it, and demanded they stop attacking America.

As for Tucker, he went full fascist a while ago. We always knew he was a racist, but his recent embrace of authoritarian regimes abroad — first Hungary, and now Putin’s Russia — is particularly troubling because it suggests that Tucker might just welcome a Putin-style regime in the US.

Steve Bannon and Republican elites in Washington have of late embraced Hungary’s autocratic, and anti-democratic, ruler. As for Putin, Republican leaders have long idolized the Russian autocrat, particularly after Trump came to power and made clear that Russia owned him. A group of Republican Senators even spent the 4th of July in Moscow! (This is similar to what happened with Covid. Trump issued a lie, and the Republican party dutifully genuflected, and embraced Covid-denial as dogma.)

Why do we care about Tucker? Because he and his network are spreading lies that are not only killing people, but are helping lead to the downfall of our democracy. Yes, Tucker has a right to speak his opinion, but that doesn’t mean that Fox News has to pay him for it, or that Facebook, Xfinity and Vanguard need to subsidize it. I remain amazed that no one has launched a serious campaign to shame Fox News’ advertisers. (Yes, there are campaigns already, but they’re not serious. Where is the daily list of advertisers? Where is the regular calling out of advertisers every time Fox does something like this? Crickets.)

I list below a recent group of Fox News’ advertisers, whose ads I witnessed personally. Please use the links to tweet them and ask why they’re subsidizing the death of Americans and our democracy:

Facebook (what a surprise)
Xfinity
Xfinity Mobile
Consumer Cellular
Discovery+
Comcast

Vanguard
TD Ameritrade
PNC Bank

BMW
Ford
Chevrolet
Cadillac
Lexus
Buick
Vroom
CarGurus

Honeywell
Downy
Tide
Farmers Insurance
Liberty Mutual
Pacific Life
Best Western
Angi
Arby’s
CARFAX
Visionworks
Midas
Applebees
Sleep Number
Simplisafe
Indeed

Thanks as always, JOHN