CNN’s Abby Phillip called out Tucker Carlson and Fox News in the wake of the mass shooting in Buffalo for pushing the “White replacement” conspiracy theory — which alleged shooter Payton Gendron touted in a manifesto.
While moderating a panel on Inside Politics Sunday, Phillip invoked Rep. Adam Kinzinger’s (R-IL) callout of Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY) for promoting the far-right conspiracy theory — which espouses the notion that there is a plot to replace White people with immigrants. And Phillip noted that Stefanik is far from the only person or entity peddling the theory.
Phillip added, “It’s not just Elise Stefanik. If you watch Fox News, this is the mainstay of their primetime hours. Tucker Carlson discusses it in sometimes euphemistic form, but not really all that euphemistic.”
Carlson has come under heavy criticism for repeatedly promoting Whitereplacement theory.
However, the Times correspondent added, “To me, it’s one of the most disturbing things that has happened since I have been a political reporter. This cultural shift, where this stuff is not just sort of spouted on minor talk radio stations, by fringe, state legislators. But where prominent people in Washington, and on national television, say this stuff, and there is no penalty for it. And I don’t know what that penalty ought to be, but I think we can all agree that there ought to be some kind of cultural guardrail that says when you veer into that area you pay a price for it.”