For his opening monologue on the Tuesday broadcast of his Fox News Channel program, host Tucker Carlson narrowed down three areas of concern for America to grapple with in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.
“One thing we do know at this point is America will not be the same after this is over,” he said. “Some of the changes will be positive, and hopefully lasting. If you found yourself calling the people you love more often recently, you’ve had a taste of that. But there are also problems to fix — a lot of problems. Here are three we will be following on this show because, at this point, they select the biggest threats America is likely to face once this virus passes.
The Fox News host warned of the dangers of the elimination of the American middle class, a phenomenon that could come from the economic damage of coronavirus and would lead to political upheaval if it came to fruition.
“The first of those is a global depression,” Carlson said. “Already, you’re hearing Twitter pundits schooled anyone who worries about the country’s economic health. as if that were the same as carrying water for Wall Street. ‘Lives are worth more than share prices,’ they scream, and of course, they are right, lives are worse worth more than share prices, but it’s not about share prices. The finance moguls are going to be fine no matter what happens to the economy. Not much changes for poor people, either. But the middle class?”
“The middle class could be wiped out by what we are watching right now,” he continued. “The service industry, middle management, small business, the independent contractors — people like those make this country work, and more important, they keep it stable. They are the ones in deepest peril tonight. A lasting hit to the middle class would be a catastrophe for everyone, rich or poor. You don’t want to live in an impoverished company with a thin layer of rich people at the top. That’s a recipe for suffering and for never-ending political volatility. It’s a story of much of the world, so we know that for certain. And suddenly, for the first time ever, it’s a possibility here. And our first priority has to be preventing that, or our grandchildren will regret it, deeply.
The second area was the rise of China. According to Carlson, China could be aided by the coronavirus’ impact on the United States.
“The next concern going forward is China,” Carlson said. “Now, China ultimately is responsible for this virus, literally, which they hid and lied about, and they’re lying about even now. But the threat extends far beyond the current pandemic. It is entirely possible, sadly, that the Chinese coronavirus makes China stronger in the end, even as it weakens us in America. China already has a larger manufacturing base than we do and has a far larger population. Soon it will have the biggest economy on earth. How long before their’s is the world’s reserve currency? That would be the end of American economic dominance, almost instantly. It’s entirely possible that we could wake up a few years from now and find China in charge.”
“Do you remember the revulsion you felt — the gut-level revulsion you felt as you watched NBA stars sucking up to the politburo?” he continued. “That could be all of us. We’ve been headed to this place for a while. The crisis that we’re currently going through could be enough to push us to the next place. Disasters often accelerate trends that are already in progress. You think they’re going to change everything. Instead, they make things worse in the very same way. What is the plan to stop China from taking advantage of the chaos they have unleashed, and we are suffering through? We ought to have a plan for that. We need to.”
He also pointed to Big Tech’s behavior through this ordeal, which is demonstrated by tech giant Twitter’s policy of “censoring” what it deems to be misinformation, yet not applying that same policy to the Chinese government.
“And finally, as we do all he can to fight this pandemic, we should make sure we don’t lose the most important part of our birthright as Americans, and we know that is — it is the right to think and say what we believe is true,” he said. “Freedom of conscience may be undervalued, but it underpins everything we have. It is the foundation of a free and decent society. It is under attack by politicians, but most dangerously, it is under attack by multinational tech monopolies. At this very moment, Twitter has decided to control what you are allowed to know about the coronavirus. Other tech companies have done the same. Twitter is leading what it is calling quote, ‘misinformation’ about the pandemic. Some of and isn’t.”
“The actual data is a moving target,” Carlson added. “There aren’t many certain facts about coronavirus. “So censoring people who say unusual things probably isn’t going to get you to a solution, but they’re doing anyway. At the same time, Twitter leaves Chinese state propaganda untouched. Every day, if you’re following, you’ll notice a Chinese government spokesman claims coronavirus originated here in the U.S. That’s totally untrue. But none of these lies have been taken down by Twitter. Keep in mind, Twitter is banned in China, but they are still doing China’s bidding. What does that tell you? It’s not a small thing. It’s a trend, a collusion between big multinationals and authoritarian governments to make you obey. It’s not paranoid talk. It’s real. And you should worry about it.”
Follow Jeff Poor on Twitter @jeff_poor
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