Tax justice historian destroys Fox News host for promoting billionaire propaganda

Rutger Bregman and Tucker Carlson


Support us and go ad-free

Only weeks after disrupting the billionaires’ gathering at Davos, Dutch historian Rutger Bregman has struck again. And this time, he’s exposed right-wing US media network Fox News.

More than Fox bargained for

Bregman wrote the best-selling book Utopia for Realists, which advocates a Universal Basic Income (UBI). He was taking part in a pre-recorded segment for Fox News’s Tucker Carlson. The latter was recently involved in a racism scandal that lost many of his show’s advertisers.

Bregman was invited to discuss elite tax avoidance. But he had other ideas. And to Carlson’s dismay, he took aim at him personally and his employers:

Read on...

Support us and go ad-free
Bregman goes off Fox’s script

Bregman started by illustrating that:

the vast majority of Americans… – including Fox News viewers and including Republicans – are in favour of higher taxes on the rich… it’s all really mainstream. But no one’s saying that at Davos, just as no one’s saying it on Fox news, right? And I think the explanation for that is quite simple, is that most of the people in Davos, but also here on this channel, have been bought by the billionaire class

Ignoring the criticisms of Fox News, Carlson states:

many people have called for higher taxes. But very few have shown…

Bregman intervenes:

Well, not on this channel. I mean almost all of the pundits on this channel for years have been against higher taxes, right?

Far from finished, Bregman continued:

I think the issue… is one of corruption and of people being bribed… and of not talking about the real issues… what the Murdochs basically want you to do is to scapegoat immigrants instead of talking about tax avoidance.

Carlson then asked how money influenced his coverage. Bregman answered:

it works by you taking their dirty money… You are a millionaire funded by billionaires… And I’m glad you now finally jumped [on] the bandwagon [by addressing tax avoidance] of people like Bernie Sanders and AOC [Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez], but you’re not part of the solution, Mr Carlson. You’re part of the problem, actually.

Carlson loses it

Carlson then completely lost it with a rant that seriously undermines his journalistic integrity, saying:

I wanna say to you why don’t you go fuck yourself ― you tiny brain… I tried to give you a hearing, but you were too fucking annoying.

Bregman replied:

You can’t handle the criticism, can you?

Fox didn’t realise it was being recorded

Little did Carlson know that Bregman had recorded the entire exchange:

And since the recording was released, Carlson has doubled down, not apologised:

Bregman even alleges that Carlson sent him an abusive email after the show:

Bregman clarifies how media influence works

Reflecting on the incident, Bregman tweeted:

This is the Chomsky video he is referring to with Andrew Marr:

Bregman is acknowledging that money’s control of the media isn’t achieved by direct censorship. Instead, journalists are self-censoring (knowingly or unknowingly) and are selected for holding views reflecting the interests of their employers and advertisers; and for knowing certain topics are off limits.

Guests calling out this flaw in commercial media is long overdue.

Featured image via YouTube – Owen Jones and YouTube – Fox News

Support us and go ad-free

We know everyone is suffering under the Tories - but the Canary is a vital weapon in our fight back, and we need your support

The Canary Workers’ Co-op knows life is hard. The Tories are waging a class war against us we’re all having to fight. But like trade unions and community organising, truly independent working-class media is a vital weapon in our armoury.

The Canary doesn’t have the budget of the corporate media. In fact, our income is over 1,000 times less than the Guardian’s. What we do have is a radical agenda that disrupts power and amplifies marginalised communities. But we can only do this with our readers’ support.

So please, help us continue to spread messages of resistance and hope. Even the smallest donation would mean the world to us.

Support us