Fox News

It brings me absolutely no joy to say this, but shouty Fox News man Tucker Carlson said a (basically) true thing on his Thursday show while discussing Donald Trump’s infamous “shithole countries” comments.



Carlson said:

Today, as you doubtless heard, during immigration talks, President Trump said something that almost every single person in America actually agrees with—an awful lot of immigrants come to this country from other places that aren’t very nice. Those places are dangerous, they’re dirty, they’re corrupt, and they’re poor, and that’s the main reason those immigrants are trying to come here, and you would, too, if you lived there. President Trump asked why American doesn’t receive more immigrants from countries you might want to visit on vacation.

Saying “every single person in America” agreed with Trump’s racist comments was, of course, an overstatement on Carlson’s part. But the core of what he’s saying is accurate: Trump’s most ardent supporters do agree with their president.

The soundbite that the media simply can’t get enough of—and, occasionally, is denouncing as baldly bigoted—will likely do him no harm in Trump country. That’s because every racist, half-baked thing Trump says plays well among many of the millions of people who voted for him, still support him, and respect him for being bold enough to say the quiet part loud.

Here is a collection of data points:

This is all to say: While Trump’s comments were perceived as blatantly racist among the people I know and interact with in my East Coast bubble, plenty of Americans are still nodding right along with him—and show no signs of breaking with Trump anytime soon.