Fox News personality Tucker Carlson is known for saying whatever will garner the most attention from his audience—be it agreement or outrage.
Whether in regard to Covid-19 vaccine mandates, mask-wearing, or even critical race theory—which he admitted he has actually "never figured out"—Carlson always seems to have a firm opinion on tap.
But Carlson's recent admission indicates those opinions are mostly unqualified.
While speaking to Fox News senior political analyst Brit Hume, Carlson admitted he doesn't understand what critical race theory is despite repeatedly railing against it on his program.
You can hear what he said in the video below.
"I have never figured out what critical race theory is, to be totally honest" - Tucker Carlson pic.twitter.com/43HpfCO1cg
— nikki mccann ramírez (@NikkiMcR) November 4, 2021
Carlson said:
"I have never figured out what critical race theory is, to be totally honest, after a year of talking about it. They're teaching that some races are morally superior to others."
"That some are inherently sinful and some are inherently saintly, and that it is immoral to teach that because it is wrong. That would be my view, and I think most voters' view."
You'd think you'd want to know what something is before you give your opinion on it, but that's not Carlson's style—or Fox News's, for that matter.
False claims schools have been teaching critical race theory to young children has also inflamed hostilities among the right-wing, particularly since the publication of The 1619 Project, which repositions the consequences and legacy of slavery as elements vital to the historical narrative.
Critical race theory is a body of legal and academic scholarship that aims to examine how racism and disparate racial outcomes have shaped public policy via often implicit social and institutional dynamics.
Although critical race theory is just one branch of an incredibly varied arena of academic scholarship, it has nonetheless served as a flashpoint among the far-right amid a campaign by Republicans to energize conservative voters, particularly in school board elections.
Many have taken Carlson to task for his role in propagating the culture wars around the topic.
How much more proof do we need that the right just manufactures controversy out of thin air to bolster their ignorant base to vote. My god. It's insanity. https://t.co/HrrdR8auv8
— Voysov Reason 🌎 (@VoysovReason) November 4, 2021
Quite F@¢king obvious @TuckerCarlson doesn't know what it is. The fact you're willing to campaign so heavy against something you (#Allegedly) don't even understand, oozes of #EvilIntent. The fact people still follow you after this, oozes of their stupidity https://t.co/CSZM2OqM8F
— Cybergodd (@XSNRGmagazine) November 4, 2021
Yeah, NO KIDDING. https://t.co/G9CQkdn9XK
— Amee Vanderpool (@girlsreallyrule) November 4, 2021
“I don't know what this means but I know I don't like it" is the essence of American conservatism https://t.co/n4xpRMpqUo
— Kyle 🚄 (@KyleTrainEmoji) November 4, 2021
Never let your ignorance get in the way of a good fear mongering! https://t.co/1juWMdQdWa
— Bourbon Loving Teddy Bear 🥃🧸 (@bourbon_teddy) November 4, 2021
Tucker couldn't find Q and now has been very concerned by something he has no idea what it is for almost a year. I'm starting to think he's ignorant on purpose so he can spout whatever fits his agenda. https://t.co/VZyQrqd1As
— Ziefer (@Ziefer) November 4, 2021
Weird. He's cried about it 100 times on his show. https://t.co/I1m5Ce4PIV
— Tyler Durden (@kevinlh1975) November 4, 2021
neither tucker, peterson, nor any of the right pundits have a clue what they are talking about
they are paid entertainers, nothing more https://t.co/pUPeJvtUXz
— Henry Wallis (@henryjwallis) November 4, 2021
Classic him not knowing what he is talking about but still using it for fearmongering. God I hate him. https://t.co/rTDYBiII3v
— Charles (@HorrorGeek9) November 4, 2021
Fox News anchors have previously made public flubs while speaking about critical race theory, often drawing absurd connections between it and other, unrelated boogeymen.
Over the summer, anchor Bill Hemmer claimed he "misspoke" when he—during a conversation about critical race theory—claimed the German philosopher Karl Marx—whose Communist Manifesto provides an analytical approach to the notion of class struggle—wrote Adolf Hitler's Mein Kampf which served as a blueprint for Hitler's political ideology and culminated in the genocide of European Jews during World War II.
Hemmer did apologize but his claim was largely viewed as further evidence of the network's penchant for peddling misinformation.