‘It’s Pathetic!’ CNN’s Stelter, Darcy Rip Tucker Carlson for ‘Smear’ Against Sen. Tammy Duckworth

CNN’s Brian Stelter opened Reliable Sources on Sunday talking about three big stories involving the highest-rated host in cable news: Fox News’ Tucker Carlson.

On Friday, CNN senior media reporter Oliver Darcy broke news of racist and sexist remarks posted in an online forum by now-former Tucker Carlson Tonight head writer Blake Neff. Neff resigned before the report dropped, and on Saturday top Fox News executives sent out an internal memo condemning Neff’s “racist, misogynistic and homophobic behavior.”

“Neff’s abhorrent conduct on this forum was never divulged to the show or the network until Friday, at which point we swiftly accepted his resignation. Make no mistake, actions such as his cannot and will not be tolerated at any time in any part of our work force,” the memo read.

Darcy joined Stelter Sunday to talk about the report and how language Neff used online echoed some of what Carlson said on his show. He also noted how on Friday night, Carlson didn’t directly respond to the report (he’s expected to on Monday) but did a segment about cancel culture that made a passing reference to CNN.

Stelter also talked about Carlson’s past advocacy for a Roger Stone pardon and Nicole Hemmer — author of Messengers of the Right — said the Trump-Fox News pipeline gives Carlson and others at the network this power.

“We’ve seen this with pardons before, kind of a Fox News pipeline where people are elevated as a cause celebre in Fox News and then pardoned by the president,” she added.

Stelter then brought up Carlson’s attacks on Senator Tammy Duckworth. After the senator was asked about whether statues of George Washington should come down, Duckworth said they should “listen to everybody.” That was enough for Carlson to accuse Duckworth — a veteran who lost her legs in an attack while serving in Iraq — of hating America. After Duckworth fired back, Carlson followed up with another monologue calling her a “moron” and a “coward” for not coming on his show.

Both Stelter and Darcy really went off on Carlson for his “smear” attacking Duckworth.

Stelter remarked that “this is the state of the GOP, that name-calling and insults from the president to Tucker on down, that is how this entire game is played.”

“The unifying thing in the GOP really comes down to what they call ‘owning the libs,'” Darcy said. “That’s what Carlson’s show often has been. What he was saying about Duckworth was less of an attack, really, it was more of a smear. He was trying to smear her as an anti-American fanatic. Someone who has gone to war, lost both of her limbs in service of this country, received a Purple heart, come back and worked at the VA to improve the lives of veterans — he was trying to smear this United States senator as an anti-American fanatic. That goes beyond the normal ‘I disagree with your policies on taxes’ or whatever it may be.”

“It’s pathetic!” Stelter exclaimed. “It should be beneath him. Tucker Carlson is so smart. He doesn’t have to go to the gutter like that!”

“It should really be outside what the public discourse allows for, even at Fox News,” Darcy said, calling Carlson’s commentary “abhorrent and reprehensible.”

You can watch above, via CNN.