On the Fox News Channel Thursday night, primetime host Tucker Carlson and The Hill’s Joe Concha were turned loose to ridicule MSNBC and Last Word host Lawrence O’Donnell, invoking a few of his worst moments alongside his dubious story that claimed President Trump’s Deutsche Bank loans were co-signed alongside Russian oligarchs.
Between the two, they noted that the faux macho man was a case study in how, when it comes to Comcast’s news properties, accountability was non-existent and where falsehoods and ugly rhetoric were welcomed. And their discussion didn't even include Brian Williams!
Carlson teed up an excerpt from O’Donnell admitting Wednesday night that his Deutsche Bank story (based on a single source) was bunk:
So, you hear the phrase “fake news” batted around a lot. Often, it’s not fake, but sometimes it actually is fake. It comes from people like Lawrence O’Donnell at MSNBC. This week, O’Donnell had to retract a story about the President getting loans cosigned by Russian oligarchs. It turns out, there’s no evidence that happened. Even know after two years of Russia stories, O’Donnell couldn’t admit the story was fake. He just ran it at the wrong time, he now says.
After the clip, Carlson quipped: “Ooo, embarrassing. If you can't meet MSNBC standards, it's low.” He quickly added that O’Donnell has had “a long and embarrassing career,” including the “stop the hammering” outburst and the time he challenged Tagg Romney to a fight.
Concha told Carlson that “it's the wild west of words at MSNBC” seeing as how “the inmates are running the asylum” with “no sheriff in town and you can literally say anything on the network as long as you say ‘if true.’”
The Hill reporter than made a Spaceballs reference:
And so that makes it okay. And look — and it’s based on one source that this report — you know, from somebody’s father’s, brother’s, nephew’s, cousin’s former roommate who was at the happy hour in Tribeca near Deutsche Bank who may have heard about the Russian oligarch thing.
All jokes aside (as those would return shortly), Concha noted that this was “par for the course with this network” seeing as how, in August alone, these four things happen (as represented by their NewsBusters headlines):
- BIZARRE: MSNBC Analyst Finds Hidden Nazi Message in Trump Honoring Victims
- MSNBC's Brzezinski: Trump 'Seems to Want' White-Nationalist Mass Murders to Happen
- Nicolle Wallace: Trump Is 'Talking About Exterminating Latinos'
Concha correctly stated that it was “great” that “Lawrence O’Donnell apologized...but with apologies needs to be accountability” and “nothing is going to happen” because, between Comcast, MSNBC head Phil Griffin, or O’Donnell, no one will offer a full apology because it “would be seen as a victory for Donald Trump.”
As promised, the segment closed with some more jokes harkening back to O’Donnell’s bizarre bit about Tagg Romney (click “expand”):
CARLSON: There's another explanation, by the way, Joe, and that it’s possible that the brass at MSNBC are just afraid of Lawrence O’Donnell. I mean, he's from that part of Boston. He's a very tough character. He’s a hard-boiled guy. You know, probably in the Winter Hill gang. You know what I mean? With Whitey Bulger and the rest? Or maybe they just — they’re just — they’re afraid of him. You don’t know.
CONCHA: Yeah. Hey, look, it’s 30 Rock that’s in another tough part of town that you just don't want to be getting in a street fight with anybody.
To see the relevant transcript from FNC’s Tucker Carlson Tonight on August 29, click “expand.”
FNC’s Tucker Carlson Tonight
August 29, 2019
8:51 p.m. Eastern [TEASE]TUCKER CARLSON: Well, over at MSNBC, Lawrence O’Donnell is having a rough week after he was caught running a bogus news story but it's far from the first time he has done something like this. We’ve got some of his greatest hits on tap. We'll be honored to show them to you next.
(....)
8:55 p.m. Eastern
[ON-SCREEN HEADLINE: Fake Russia Story Backfires]
[ON-SCREEN HEADLINE: MSNBC’s Fake Russia Story Backfires]
CARLSON: So, you hear the phrase “fake news” batted around a lot. Often, it’s not fake, but sometimes it actually is fake. It comes from people like Lawrence O’Donnell at MSNBC. This week, O’Donnell had to retract a story about the President getting loans cosigned by Russian oligarchs. It turns out, there’s no evidence that happened. Even know after two years of Russia stories, O’Donnell couldn’t admit the story was fake. He just ran it at the wrong time, he now says.
LAWRENCE O’DONNELL [on 05/28/19]: Last night on this show I discussed information that wasn't ready for reporting. I repeated statements a single source told me about the President's finances and loan documents with Deutsche Bank. Saying “if true” as I discussed the information was simply not good enough. [SCREEN WIPE] Tonight, we are retracting the story. We don't know whether the information is inaccurate. But the fact is, we do know it wasn't ready for broadcast, and for that, I apologize.
CARLSON: Ooo, embarrassing. If you can't meet MSNBC standards, it's low. But this is just one snapshot in a long and embarrassing career. This is the man who yells at his producers, you may have seen that on the internet. But then we’re going to go back farther than that, seven years ago, 2012, Mitt Romney's son Tagg — remember him — quipped that he wanted to deck President Obama for criticizing his father. Well, Lawrence O’Donnell jumped in the middle of the fray with this performance, watch.
O’DONNELL [on 10/18/12]: When I hear you talk about taking a swing and taking punches, why do I get the feeling that you've never actually taken a punch or thrown a punch? I didn't have that luxury in the pot of Boston that I grew up in. [SCREEN WIPE] So, you want to take a swing at someone for calling your old man a liar? Take a swing at me. Come on. [SCREEN WIPE] Anytime, anywhere. Go ahead, Tagger. Take your best shot.
CARLSON: This is the greatest piece of tape ever. The Harvard kid playing a tough guy, “my part of Boston.” I just love it. I love that so much. Joe Concha writes about media for The Hill. He joins us tonight. I mean, he's a pretty intimidating character. I mean, and to be fair, most cable news anchors are tough as you know.
[ON-SCREEN HEADLINE: Trump: Total Inaccurate Reporting by O’Donnell]
JOE CONCHA: Oh, yeah, and particularly, Cambridge is a tough part of Boston having lived there for a year, I believe that’s the red line on the T. But, look, Tucker, it's the wild west of words at MSNBC, right? I mean, the inmates are running the asylum. There’s no sheriff in town and you can literally say anything on the network as long as you say “if true.”
CARLSON: If true!
CONCHA: Like, “I heard that Tucker Carlson molests collies if true.”
CARLSON: If true!
[ON-SCREEN HEADLINE: MSNBC’s Lawrence O’Donnell Excitedly Spreads Fake Story About Trump & Russia]
CONCHA: And so that makes it okay. And look — and it’s based on one source that this report — you know, from somebody’s father’s, brother’s, nephew’s, cousin’s former roommate who was at the happy hour in Tribeca near Deutsche Bank who may have heard about the Russian oligarch thing. But look, this is far par for the course for this network.
[ON-SCREEN HEADLINE: MSNBC’s Lawrence O’Donnell on Fake Russia Story: I Shouldn’t Have Reported It]
Over the last month alone, you've had Mika Brzezinski say that Donald Trump wants mass shootings to happen in this country. You have Nicole Wallace saying Trump wants to “exterminate Latinos.”
CARLSON: She’s the worst.
[ON-SCREEN HEADLINE: MSNBC’s Lawrence O’Donnell on Fake Russia Story: I Made an Error in Judgment]
CONCHA: You have their intelligence analyst saying that — she's — she’s also on that network at 4:00 and an NBC intelligence analyst saying that President Trump after mass shootings in El Paso and Dayton wanted to re-raise flags as a bat signal to neo-Nazis. This was all said on their air.
[ON-SCREEN HEADLINE: What Was He Thinking? Lawrence O’Donnell Is Obsessed with the Russia Hoax]
So, look, Lawrence O’Donnell apologized. That’s great, but with apologies needs to be accountability. But nothing is going to happen here because if O’Donnell were to actually apologize, say, to the President directly or the president of the network or even Comcast came out and said we got this wrong.
[ON-SCREEN HEADLINE: MSNBC’s Fake Russia Story Backfires]
We need to do better. We apologize. That would be seen as a victory for Donald Trump, for the President and that simply ain’t gonna to happen.
[ON-SCREEN HEADLINE: 2012 Flashback: MSNBC’s Lawrence O’Donnell Challenged Mitt Romney’s Son to a Fist Fight]
CARLSON: There's another explanation, by the way, Joe, and that it’s possible that the brass at MSNBC are just afraid of Lawrence O’Donnell. I mean, he's from that part of Boston. He's a very tough character. He’s a hard-boiled guy. You know, probably in the Winter Hill gang. You know what I mean? With Whitey Bulger and the rest? Or maybe they just — they’re just — they’re afraid of him. You don’t know.
CONCHA: Yeah. Hey, look, it’s 30 Rock that’s in another tough part of town that you just don't want to be getting in a street fight with anybody.
CARLSON [LAUGHING]: It’s just so great. Joe Concha, great to see you, have a great night.
CONCHA: Have a good night.
