IF IT STEPS LIKE A GOOSE...:

Here's what white supremacists said about Fox News Channel host Tucker Carlson when they thought no one else was looking:

"Tucker is really doing divine work."

"A lone voice of reason in the media."

"Tucker is a blessing, def[initely] our guy."

The uproar this past week over numerous recently-uncovered insensitive comments Carlson made on a radio show overshadowed news that could have been even worse for him: A massive leak of internal chat logs from Identity Evropa, one of the leading white supremacist groups in America, showed that many members were huge fans of Carlson and the ideas he espoused every night to millions of viewers. [...]

Carlson has ramped up his rhetoric since starting his Fox News show a week after President Trump's election in 2016. He quickly became a favorite of the so-called "alt-right" and continued to make statements that could be read as either standard cultural conservatism, xenophobic fear-mongering about immigration and diversity, or outright white nationalism. [...]

Carlson has amplified white nationalist phrases and talking points to his 2.8 million average viewers - including President Trump, who has echoed them.

A segment last August about violence and proposed land seizures against white farmers in South Africa - a narrative frequently promoted by white supremacists - was glommed onto by Trump, who tweeted that he had ordered Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to investigate the issue. The Anti-Defamation League was aghast, saying in a statement that it was "extremely disturbing that the President of the United States echoed a longstanding and false white supremacist claim."

The leak last week of more than 770,000 messages in Identity Evropa's Discord chat forums showed that they saw the South Africa incident as a victory for their ideology. One user urged members to promote the segment on social media and turn it into a recruiting tool.

Carlson has also cast himself as a defender of causes that just so happen to also be promoted by white racists - objecting to the removal of Confederate statues, defending the extremist-friendly social network Gab, criticizing the United Kingdom's decision to ban white supremacists from entering the country.

And he also alludes to the perceived inferiority of non-white people. Last December, for example, he claimed immigrants made the United States "dirtier," which led at least 30 companies to say they wouldn't air ads on his show anymore. More have left since the Media Matters investigation dropped.

 [...]

Indeed, a Media Matters analysis of the Identity Evropa leaks revealed widespread adulation for Carlson.

Carlson has also been praised on the white supremacist website The Daily Stormer and podcasts like The Daily Shoah. Duke declared last year that Carlson is one of "the voices we have in the media on our side."

Ultimately, the extent to which Carlson continues to promote dialogue that white nationalists approve of will be governed by whether the experience chastises him - or whether the advertiser exodus forces Fox to take tighter control. So far, things appear to be continuing largely as before.

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