Fox News host Tucker Carlson accused retail giant Walmart of “destroying and degrading rural America,” then turning around and lecturing them about “how immoral they are for daring to protect themselves with firearms.”

Wednesday night’s “Tucker Carlson Tonight” intro was a reaction to Walmart’s recent decision to stop selling certain kinds of ammunition in its stores.

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Carlson called Walmart CEO Doug McMillon’s “strident statement calling on Congress to ban many semi-automatic rifles” a “big step” that has people who used to hate the retailer suddenly on its side.

“It’s a fascinating turnaround,” he said after playing several media clips. “For years, you’ll remember, Walmart was the target of coordinated attacks from the left. Progressives accused the company of destroying small towns, and of exploiting workers.”

The retail giant figured out, Carlson noted, that it could “buy immunity from criticism by mouthing left wing pieties.” (RELATED: NRA Rips Walmart For Banning Some Ammunition Sales)

“That’s all it takes,” he said. “Sounding woke.”

The Fox News host criticized the retail giant, explaining its critical role in lost jobs, low wages, and the decline of the American middle class.

None of this was an accident. At times, Walmart sold goods at a loss, just long enough to drive American competitors out of business completely. Smaller retail shops and the jobs they provided vanished. Suddenly, in many places, Walmart was one of the few remaining employers. One and a half million Americans now work there at any given time. It’s definitely not an improvement over what we had before. In 2005, 20 percent of Walmart employees worked part-time. Today, the majority do. It’s the simple cruelty of math: If Walmart keeps employees’ hours low enough, it can avoid paying benefits. Can people really live like that? Not for long.

Knowing that taxpayers will “subsidize” the low wages with welfare, Walmart is able to continue the practice.

“So to restate what just happened,” Tucker concluded. “The company more responsible than any other for destroying and degrading rural America — for making our towns uglier and cheaper and poorer — the same people who push the appalling lie that brightly-colored plastic crap from China is going to us happy — that company is now lecturing normal Americans — the very Americans they’ve hurt so badly— about how immoral they are for daring to protect themselves with firearms. And everyone in Washington, New York and LA is applauding them as they do it. It’s not a good sign.”