Chris Hayes Connects the Dots Between Trump, Fox News, and ‘Racist Losers’ Like Tucker Carlson’s Former Head Writer

MSNBC’s Chris Hayes called out the through-line of bigotry that runs from “racist losers” like the former head writer for Tucker Carlson Tonight to its parent network, Fox News, and up to President Donald Trump.

Hayes devoted a long segment on Monday night that keyed off the news from last week that Carlson’s lead writer on his show, Blake Neff, abruptly resigned after CNN exposed his virulently racist and sexist posts on an online forum. (Carlson briefly addressed his longtime top writer’s vicious, derogatory online rhetoric on Monday night, saying it was “wrong” while also seeming to call for empathy for Neff.)

“Tucker Carlson wants you to believe the concern about white supremacy in America is a hoax, which is very convenient for a guy whose show has been dabbling in it for years,” Hayes began, firing directly at Neff’s former boss. “The truth is that white supremacy is alive and well in this country, on TV and certain corners of the Internet where racists get together and post this stuff.” Hayes then noted Neff once boasted that anything Carlson said while reading off a TelePromTer on the show was first written by him.

“Fox said they had no idea what Neff was doing, but really, come on?!” Hayes scoffed. “This is the least surprising news in the world. This guy worked for Tucker Carlson, the co-founder of a website called The Daily Caller, which has published work from at least 10 people with ties to white nationalism. It can literally be hard to keep track of all of them.”

“One of them, just, for instance, was the organizer of that Charlottesville rally where white nationalists chanted slogans including ‘Jews will not replace us.'” Hayes explained. “Another was Blake Neff, who, yes, you guessed it, worked at The Daily Caller before Tucker bought his talents to Fox News. And his work has helped lead to rave reviews for Tucker by racists. He’s been celebrated by people like former KKK leader David Duke. His show is the subject of admiration on white supremacist websites like The Daily Stormer. Surely doesn’t hurt that Tucker has credited white men for starting civilization and called Iraqis “semi-literate monkeys.”

“Fox knows what it’s selling, as does Tucker Carlson. And the president, of course, knows what they’re selling, because he loves it all,” Hayes concluded. “He’s constantly tweeting clips, because in America 2020, the racist losers who trade vile jokes on Internet forums are the people who write the words that talking heads say into a camera and that the president then tweets out. The people who write that kind of stuff on message boards? They’re basically running the country.”

Watch the video above, via MSNBC.