Tucker Carlson is no stranger to making ridiculous claims, but the one he made on Monday night’s show seemed surreal even for him. While re-airing his Swiss cheese allegations about the FBI spearheading the Jan. 6 insurrection, the Fox News host made a curious assertion: He had, he said, irrefutable proof that the NSA was spying on him. Few believed it, and this news — which would be big if true — was never addressed elsewhere on his news network. It also seemed unlikely that if someone, even Tucker Carlson, asked the National Security Agency if they were spying on him, they would respond either way. And yet! That’s exactly what happened.
A statement from NSA regarding recent allegations: pic.twitter.com/vduE6l6YWg
— NSA/CSS (@NSAGov) June 30, 2021
The NSA took some time from looking into matters of national concern to publicly inform a guy who frequently laughs weird that, no, they have other things to do. “This allegation is untrue,” they wrote over their social media account. They then informed what they actually do (when they’re not debunking TV stars who used to wear bowties in public). “We target foreign powers to generate insights on foreign activities that could harm the United States. With limited exceptions (e.g., an emergency), NSA may not target a US citizen without a court order that explicitly authorizes the targeting.”
Did this humble Tucker Carlson? It did not. On Tuesday’s show, he yet again took time to go after the government agency, calling their response “an infuriating dishonest formal statement” and “an entire paragraph of lies written purely for the benefit of the intel community’s lackeys at CNN and MSNBC.
“The message was clear, we can do whatever we want,” Carlson exclaimed, though the message was definitely clear in a way he didn’t mean. He added, “Orwellian does not begin to describe the experience, it is like living in China.”
How many days will this drag on? Or will Tucker do what he often does and make a bizarre claim that doubles as red meat for his base, then never address it again, having moved onto greener pastures? Whatever the case, it’s clear not even the NSA wants to watch Tucker.
(Via Deadline)