TUCKER CARLSON IS A GOOD LITTLE STALINIST

Tucker Carlson has duped a number of non-conservatives in recent months, persuading them that he's a fiercely independent thinker who doesn't toe the GOP/Trump party line. And while he might deviate from Fox News orthodoxy every so often, when Bob Woodward exposed the president's cover-up of the coronavirus's dangers, Carlson knew just what to do: Protect Dear Leader!

We know that President Trump chose to speak to Woodward on the record and on tape. We know that he and his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, thought speaking to Woodward was a swell idea. We know that Trump was so eager to talk to Woodward that, as Woodward has told The Washington Post's Margaret Sullivan, the president began calling Woodward up to talk. But Carlson told his viewers last night that the president cannot fail -- he can only be failed. His decision to talk to Wood ward was someone else's fault.

" ... What’s surprising is that Donald Trump participated in making the book. The president sat for repeated interviews with Bob Woodward. Why in the world would he do that?”

Tucker, of course, had a scapegoat ready. Though he didn’t name his source.

“Well tonight, from a source who knows the answer to that mystery: Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina. It was Lindsey Graham who helped convince Donald Trump to talk to Bob Woodward. Lindsey Graham brokered that meeting. Lindsey Graham even sat in on the first interview between Bob Woodward and the president. How’d that turn out?” Carlson complained.

And that’s when Tucker went directly at Graham, taking the blame entirely off Trump for willingly participating in 18 separate interviews with Woodward.

“Now remember, Lindsey Graham is supposed to be a Republican, so why would he do something like that? You’d have to ask him, but keep in mind that Lindsey Graham has opposed — passionately opposed — virtually every major policy initiative that Donald Trump articulated when he first ran from ending illegal immigration, to pulling back from pointless wars, to maintaining law and order at home. Lindsey Graham was against all of that more than many Democrats. So maybe you already know the answer.”

BREAKING! Tucker Carlson is throwing Lindsey Graham under the bus over the Trump Woodard interview. pic.twitter.com/OewJ48pDMR

— gregarious (@mistergeezy) September 10, 2020

Like the good little Stalinist he is, Carlson knows that the leader must be protected, and therefore Graham must be rendered an unperson.

This despite the fact that Graham is in a reelection fight that's proving to be tougher than expected, in a year when every contested race could decide control of the Senate. Carlson is the most popular host in the Fox prime time lineup. His words are taken very seriously by Republican voters. If he continues attacking Graham, it's likely that some South Carolina voters will withhold their vote for him. In other words, there's an outside chance that Carlson might get a Democrat elected to Lindsey Graham's seat.

But the most important goal is to enforce loyalty to the leader. So Graham must be purged.