In an interview spanning the last 30 minutes of Wednesday’s Tucker Carlson Tonight, Megyn Kelly returned to television for the first time since NBC News cut ties with her and, appearing on her old home Fox News, Kelly lambasted the liberal media in the second half of the interview for their rampant, anti-Trump bias with a “hyperfocus on impeachment.”
Carlson pivoted to “the state of journalism today” from NBC’s horrid state of affairs over their attempted squashing of Ronan Farrow’s 2017 bombshell on Harvey Weinstein and the Matt Lauer sexual misconduct scandal.
He began by citing a foolishly-slanted question CNN’s Anderson Cooper posed to former Vice President Joe Biden in Tuesday’s 2020 Democratic debate that defended Biden and his son Hunter for their actions regarding Ukraine.
After both conceded that they know Cooper and he’s not the worst bias offender, Kelly argued that while there’s no evidence of illegal conduct, “you could make a very strong argument” what the Bidens were doing was “corrupt.” So, in other words, Kelly offered a take that would have gotten a reprimand at NBC.
When Carlson alluded to Cooper’s softballs an example of “partisan interference in an election,” Kelly observed how such behavior goes back to even before the 2016 election (click “expand,” link added mine):
[T]his goes back to right before Trump was elected. Jorge Ramos of Univision came on my show and we had a very heartfelt discussion about journalism in America and he made a strong plea for journalists to abandon neutrality. He said it's — it’s — that over. You've got to come out and you've got to say Trump’s a racist. Trump’s a misogynist. Trump’s a bigot. So whatever — you know, whatever your view is, you've got to say it and you’ve got to sell it and that the time for neutrality has passed. And I do believe he's persuaded and others have come to their own conclusion that that's the way forward. That's why we had a question — there was another CNN debate where Don Lemon specifically said how do you answer voters who prioritize the economy over Trump’s bigotry. Right? So, there's a judgment in there....[O]kay, so, fine, many people may agree with that. But it’s the anchor’s subjective judgment and it doesn't belong, in my view, in a debate question. Same way The New York Times is arguing the old schoolers with the young folks about whether The Times should be “part of the resistance.”
She added that this left-leaning groupthink served as the very basis for the creation of Fox News to provide “the other side of the stories weren't being told and that half the country was being ignored” and scorned while “if you did fair and balanced news, the people would watch.”
After the show’s last commercial break, Carlson brought up one of the many Project Veritas videos released this week which pertained to CNN boss/puppetmaster Jeff Zucker insisting his network would be focused on impeachment no matter what. Carson correctly observed that it “sounded more like a political campaign to me than a news judgment.”
Kelly emphasized that impeachment of any president warrants coverage, but that said, there was something to the point that the there’s been a “hyperfocus on impeachment” from “the day Trump got into office,” clinging onto topics like “the 25th Amendment, the emoluments clause, Russia, Russia, Russia, obstruction of justice, all those things” in hopes of removing Trump.
It was here that Kelly offered a brief and outstanding point, which was that “if everything is and 11, nothing is an 11” and so stories like Ukraine that could be “an 11” have less traction than it could have “if we hadn't been told from the beginning that he needs to be bounced out of office.”
Kelly also chalked the media’s never-ending frenzy to “our outrage culture” in which Ukraine is another chapter, which led Carlson to end matters with another never-ending issue, which is the liberal media’s failure to understand Americans who live in flyover country (click “expand”):
CARLSON: At Trump's election, you know, you heard people say we need to think about who his voters are. There's a whole world we know nothing about. We should be sympathetic to these Trump voters. That lasted for about 15 seconds.
KELLY: No. They — you're wrong. They looked and there were like. “Ah, oh, never mind!” I think it was a conscious decision that we don't want to go into that world.
CARLSON: No.
KELLY: Look at them with their guns in their cowboy hats. No. Right. I just don't think that the mainstream media has any connection of flyover country and when they — when they meander through Montana, they — they’ve never seen such a thing, like it's a rodeo and they talked differently. They have different values.
CARLSON: But shouldn't they want to understand the country they cover?
KELLY: Look, I think they think they do, right? I think they believe they do. But, you know, I think most people, for example, take a look at the guy in Washington state who wouldn't bake the cake for the gay couple and they just think bigot. Bigot....[A]nd the problem is it’s so much more complicated than that, right?
To see the relevant transcript from FNC’s Tucker Carlson Tonight on October 16, click “expand.”
FNC’s Tucker Carlson Tonight
October 16, 2019
8:47 p.m. EasternTUCKER CARLSON: So I want to ask you since, you know, you worked here at Fox News and you were to NBC. You've got some perspective. I want to ask about the state of journalism today and I want to start with a clip from last night’s debate. This was Anderson Cooper at CNN asking a question of the former Vice President Joe Biden. Watch this.
ANDERSON COOPER [on 10/15/19]: The impeachment inquiry is centered on President Trump's attempts to get political dirt on Vice President Biden and his son, Hunter. Mr. Vice President, President Trump has falsely accused your son of doing something wrong while serving on a company board if Ukraine. I want to point out there's no evidence of wrongdoing by either one of you.
CARLSON: So what kind of journalist begins a question to a politician by reassuring him that attacks by his opponents are false and that he's actually innocent. Is that a question?
MEGYN KELLY: So, the answer was kind of baked into the question there, right?
CARLSON: It was!
KELLY: “I know, it's clear you did nothing wrong but did you do anything wrong?”
CARLSON: Exactly.
KELLY: Listen, that wasn't Anderson's best moment. I like Anderson. That wasn't his best moment. It would've been fine if he would've said you didn't do anything illegal. No one’s alleged you did anything illegal because really what the guy did was he sat on the board. Hunter Biden has no expertise in Ukraine. He has no expertise in natural gas. He takes this job sitting on the board of this Ukrainian company for 50,000 bucks a month while his dad is the vice president and the reason he got the job is presumably his last name is Biden. So they’re paying for access. They’re paying for, you know, association. Is that — is that corrupt? You can make a very strong argument that it is. So, is it wrong? Well, that’s up to the voters to decide. Maybe he could have reworded it. Maybe he would like it back.
CARLSON: But — but it’s of a — and I agree with you, by the way. I know Anderson Cooper fairly well. I don't think he's the worst offender, but this is part of a larger tapestry here and it adds up to — to basically partisan interference in an election. I mean, you have journalists who feel that their first obligation is to help a candidate or hurt another candidate.
KELLY: Oh yeah.
CARLSON: That's not journalism.
KELLY: 100 percent and this goes back to right before Trump was elected. Jorge Ramos of Univision came on my show and we had a very heartfelt discussion about journalism in America and he made a strong plea for journalists to abandon neutrality. He said it's — it’s — that over. You've got to come out and you've got to say Trump’s a racist. Trump’s a misogynist. Trump’s a bigot. So whatever — you know, whatever your view is, you've got to say it and you’ve got to sell it and that the time for neutrality has passed. And I do believe he's persuaded and others have come to their own conclusion that that's the way forward. That's why we had a question — there was another CNN debate where Don Lemon specifically said how do you answer voters who prioritize the economy over Trump’s bigotry. Right? So, there's a judgment in there.
CARLSON: A judgement? Yeah.
KELLY: A — right — I'm just saying — okay, so, fine, many people may agree with that. But it’s the anchor’s subjective judgment and it doesn't belong, in my view, in a debate question. Same way The New York Times is arguing the old schoolers with the young folks about whether The Times should be “part of the resistance.”
CARLSON: But, I guess, the problem I have is not that someone shows an opinion. I’ve got a million opinions. It’s that they’re lying about what it is and they’re saying, “we’re journalists. We’re objective.”
KELLY: That’s fake news.
CARLSON: Why can't they drop the pretense and be honest with us —
KELLY: Absolutely.
CARLSON: — and tell us “we’re partisan combatants” cause they are.
KELLY: We already know. I mean, that's a real joke, right? It’s like, we already know. Fox News was founded, you know, 1996, right — they just had their birthday — on the premise that the other side of the stories weren't being told and that half the country was being ignored and that if you did fair and balanced news, the people would watch. And there was a premise that the other media, the mainstream media, maybe they weren't far left, right? But that there was a baked in bias against people who believe in homeschooling, who believe in a pro-life position, who might have a gun, right? And so they made a whole empire based on programming to those people. I think what’s happened now on the other half of the country, on the sort of the mainstream, is they’ve just — they’ve gone — they’ve embraced it. It was sort of passive and now it’s active. Now it's less work. He’s too bad. We have to work together. We’ll be judged. History will judge whether we were for or against this man.
(....)
8:55 p.m. Eastern
CARLSON: So you spent all these years in the news business. You've taken a year off. You ‘ve been thinking, assessing, probably watching some news, I hope.
KELLY: A little.
CARLSON: A little? Two days ago, this report comes out from Project Veritas and CNN and in it, whatever you think of their methods, they have the head of CNN, Jeff Zucker instructing his employees impeachment, impeachment, impeachment. We’re hitting impeachment no matter what. Doesn’t matter what you think. Impeachment is the only story that matters. That sounded more like a political campaign to me than a news judgment.
KELLY: Well, I mean, impeachment is a big story.
CARLSON: For sure.
KELLY: If the president of the United States is going to get impeached and possibly bounced out of office, it's a major, major story.
CARLSON; I would say.
KELLY: So I think it's defensible on the part of Jeff Zucker but I do think sort of the hyperfocus on it by most media at the expense of all else is not new, right? Since the day Trump got into office, they’ve been hyperfocus on impeachment. And this is one of the problems the Democrats and also to some extent the media is up against, that from the day he took office, it was the 25th Amendment, the emoluments clause, Russia, Russia, Russia, obstruction of justice, all those things. He has to be impeached. And if everything is and 11, nothing is an 11. So now, they may have actually stumbled on an 11, right? They’ve got the transcript. Whatever. Trump says it was a perfect call. You can make an argument. But no one’s paying as much attention as they otherwise would have if we hadn't been told from the beginning that he needs to be bounced out of office, so, you know, I don't know. They can ratchet up the covered all they want. I don't know whether they’re convincing everyone on the fence or in the middle.
CARLSON: At all. I mean, it seems like people are starting to tune out in general from news coverage because, like how long can you keep the fever pitch?
KELLY: Well, because and our outrage culture, right, it’s like, “what am I supposed to be outraged about again? I'm going to get there. I’m going to get outraged. Just give me two seconds and I’m going to —“ and then you’re like, “Ukraine? Alright. What about Ukraine?
CARLSON: Well, what about — you remember it. We talked about this at the time. At Trump's election, you know, you heard people say we need to think about who his voters are. There's a whole world we know nothing about. We should be sympathetic to these Trump voters. That lasted for about 15 seconds.
KELLY: No. They — you're wrong. They looked and there were like. “Ah, oh, never mind!” I think it was a conscious decision that we don't want to go into that world.
CARLSON: No.
KELLY: Look at them with their guns in their cowboy hats. No. Right. I just don't think that the mainstream media has any connection of flyover country and when they — when they meander through Montana, they — they’ve never seen such a thing, like it's a rodeo and they talked differently. They have different values.
CARLSON: But shouldn't they want to understand the country they cover?
KELLY: Look, I think they think they do, right? I think they believe they do. But, you know, I think most people, for example, take a look at the guy in Washington state who wouldn't bake the cake for the gay couple and they just think bigot. Bigot.
CARLSON: The media.
KELLY: Yeah and the problem is it’s so much more complicated than that, right?
CARLSON: That's for sure.
