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Justin Pearson sounds "like a sharecropper"? That's the best you've got, Tucker? [1]

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Date: 2023-04-15  

Tucker Carlson thought it was incumbent upon him to denigrate Tennessee State Representative Justin Pearson after Pearson delivered an eloquent yet energized message to his supporters. Pearson, one of the Tennessee Three who were targeted by the TN House supermajority for ‘breaching decorum’ and expelled, gave a resounding rejoinder to his colleagues in his meteoric bid to be reinstated. Many commentators have noted the lilting notes and cadence of Rep. Pearson.

Tucker Carlson, not to be outdone, apparently felt that it was time to attempt to chop Pearson’s knees from underneath him, by going after the gift that was seems so self-evident in this case: Pearson’s oratory.

x "You never see politicians transition into, say, Malcolm X. Why is that? Maybe because Malcolm X didn't sound like a sharecropper. He spoke dignified, standard English." pic.twitter.com/uxnKgVkKFx — Kat Abu (@abughazalehkat) April 13, 2023

Carlson: But you’ve gotta ask yourself, as long as we’re mimicking civil rights leaders who died almost sixty years ago, why not some variety? You never see politicians transition to, say, Malcolm X. Why is that? Maybe because Malcolm X didn’t talk like a sharecropper—he spoke dignified, standard English.

That’s the best you’ve got, Tucker? Pearson “talks like a sharecropper”?

What kind of insult is that? Have you met a sharecropper? I haven't, not that I know of. I would wager most Americans haven’t.

And that means that the simile falls flat. It has no reference, Tucker. No one outside of the 19th century is going to feel that zing, Tucker.

I know it was meant to highlight Pearson’s race without actually referring to race. Right. Tucker thinks he’s the ultimate in flinging racial invective over the airwaves. But this one didn’t land. And thus it was made obvious. It’s more an opportunity for us to feel sorry for Carlson that he thought this would be the outrageous comment of the moment. Instead it’s limp and pitiful.

Pearson has a bright and strong future ahead of him, electrified by the trial, the literal trial, that he and his colleagues have withstood this past week. And here’s the thing: Pearson didn’t ask to be expelled. This was not a stunt. He didn’t want his constituents to be disenfranchised over his standing up for their concerns about gun rights. He didn’t look to elevate himself through these machinations. The Tennessee House GOP supermajority did all of that for him. He was merely the recipient of their anger, and he transformed that into a durable charisma. People like a fighter.

Tucker, in classic conservative fashion, tried his best to neutralize Pearson by going after his strongest suit. Conservatives did the same with John Kerry’s military service. Though twenty years ago it was a shocking tactic, these days it’s rather to be expected, if not actually old hat. So to see Tucker reach for this page out of the playbook is, well, unimpressive.

It didn’t work. It just exposed what a tiny man Carlson is, doing his best to be vexatious. Instead, it’s like air seeping from a balloon.

As for the rest of what Tucker was selling:

He [Malcolm X] was running a shake-down racket to fleece guilty white liberals. Malcolm X had self-respect: he despised guilty white liberals, and he said so. He believed in self-improvement. He knew who the enemy was.

Funny how Carlson never mentions why many Black leaders from sixty years ago are no longer with us (um, murder), and that many of the white liberals Tucker mentions from that time period went on to become neoliberals—you know, the same folks who “transitioned” into Ronald Reagan and his ilk. I’m not surprised if Malcolm X despised them. That’s standard.

“He knew who the enemy was.” Unfortunately, for Tucker’s audience, they don’t realize they’re looking at their enemy right in front of their face as he feeds them this dreck.

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[1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/4/15/2164094/--Sounds-like-a-sharecropper-That-s-the-best-you-ve-got-Tucker

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