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🇺🇸 Tucker’s Tapes

🇺🇸 Tucker’s Tapes

Plus, 20 of the most unforgettable taglines of all time.

March 10, 2023

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Good morning, and happy Friday! Rest in peace to Pearl Harbor survivor Jack Holder, who recently died at 101 years old. Here’s his story.

Plus, 20 of the most unforgettable taglines of all time.

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FLAG POLLS

🟰 Monday, March 6, President Biden Job Approval: Approve 45, Disapprove 45 (IBD/TIPP)

📉 Thursday, March 9, President Biden Job Approval: Approve 49, Disapprove 50 (Rasmussen Reports)

📉 Monday, March 6, Direction of Country: Approve 38, Disapprove 55 (Rasmussen Reports)

📉 Wednesday, March 8, President Biden Job Approval: Approve 48, Disapprove 50 (Rasmussen Reports)

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QUICK CLICKS

McConnell on the Mend, Biden's Budget, Shaw's Vow

US: GOP Leader McConnell remains in hospital after concussion (AP)

World: Chinese rocket that put spy satellites in orbit breaks up over Texas (Daily Mail)

US: Trump invited to appear before grand jury in hush-money probe (NBC News)

US: Biden's budget mentions fentanyl twice, 'queer' 7 times (Fox News)

World: Russia fired hypersonic missiles on Ukraine in its latest barrage (NPR)

World: Deadly shooting at Hamburg Jehovah's Witness hall (BBC)

US: Norfolk Southern CEO Alan Shaw vows to "make it right" in East Palestine in Senate testimony (CBS News)

Sports: Colin Kaepernick accuses white adoptive parents of 'problematic' upbringing, perpetuating racism (NY Post)

JANUARY 6

Tucker's Tapes

Credit: Gage Skidmore CC 2.0

Throughout his primetime TV show this week, Fox News host Tucker Carlson has played never-before-published video concerning January 6. Intense criticism has been lobbed at both him and the network, while his reporting has caused some to question what really happened that day.

Reporting from the Left: What to know about the Tucker Carlson January 6 footage (CNN)

Reporting from the Right: Biden Scolds Republicans Over Tucker Carlson Airing January 6 Tapes (Daily Wire)

From the Flag: Commentators and politicians on the left continue to see the events of January 6 as a riot at best, and a violent insurrection and/or attack on democracy at worst. Meanwhile, some on the right argue the event is either overblown – or potentially indicative of a larger conspiracy. Here’s more from both sides.

RIGHT-LEANING SENTIMENT

Confusion on the Right, Anger on the Left? Jan. 6’s Bizarro World

Democrats in Congress clearly lied about what happened that day, but their anger at being called out is most stunning.
Even right-leaning commentators who have blamed former President Trump for January 6 have questions after seeing these tapes.
Carlson is an effective communicator, but these surveillance camera images say more than words ever could.

“We knew there was a reason leaders hid the January 6 tapes” Tucker Carlson, Fox News Opinion: “We're living through one of those clarifying moments. Actually, we're thankful for it, where we're learning exactly who the liars are. … three of the most important claims our leaders have made about that day were untrue. Their claims were lies. We were not shocked to discover that. We knew there was a reason that congressional leaders had been hiding the tape and that reporters in Washington weren't demanding to see it. They were lying to us obviously. That's why you hide things. But what was actually surprising, what we can't quite get over even now, is how they responded when they were caught lying. They didn't seem embarrassed. They didn't apologize. They weren't even curious to learn more about what actually happened on January 6. … No, they don't want to see it. They exploded in rage. And then as liars tend to do, they doubled down.”

“You can condemn Capitol riot and still have questions about that day” Editorial Board, New York Post: “Jan. 6, 2021, was a shameful day in American history, a riot stirred up by sore loser Donald Trump… There are also questions about the actions of the Capitol Police that day, and whether some of the people who entered the building were treated unfairly by the courts. Both things can be true. But it’s a mark of how polarized we are as a society — and the way that elites insult the intelligence of Americans — that such balance is vilified and even censored. … Tucker Carlson aired Jan. 6 footage the public hasn’t seen. Some of it was very familiar: people breaking through windows and doors, flooding into the Capitol… But some of the material is frankly bizarre. … The behavior and effectiveness of the Capitol Police (should have been investigated) but the Jan. 6 committee didn’t even nod in that direction.”

One more opinion piece from the Right: Tucker Carlson and the Forbidden Tapes Bradley Devlin, The American Conservative

LEFT-LEANING SENTIMENT

This False Victim Narrative Is an Attempt to Boost Trump’s Chances

Carlson’s video presentation provides the right with a new narrative of martyrdom regarding January 6.
Carlson, and by extension Fox News, have decided to engage in a rewriting of history in order to benefit Trump’s candidacy.
Republicans want to forget January 6 ever happened, including prominent politicians, but Carlson is opening up old wounds.

“Tucker Carlson’s Pathetic Whitewashing of the January 6 Insurrection” Alex Shephard, The New Republic: “The first images we saw from the Capitol on January 6, 2021, were more surreal than chilling. After breaking through a series of barricades and busting through doors and windows, a flood of people, many wearing red Make America Great Again caps… found themselves right in the heart of the temple of American democracy. … On Monday, Tucker Carlson, Fox News’s star anchor, made perhaps the most prominent entry into the right’s counternarrative on January 6. … (His) warped video collage is now an important piece of the far right’s canon of lore. January 6 is no longer an awkward moment when the full implication of Trump’s corruption manifested itself; something that demands harboring some measure of shame or regret. January 6 is a seminal part of the new right’s mythos. Going forward, every Republican with an actual shot at winning the presidency will embrace this narrative and honor its alleged martyrs.”

“Tucker Carlson amplifies Jan. 6 lies with GOP-provided video” Mascaro, Jalonick & Amiri, Associated Press: “Handed some 41,000 hours of Jan. 6 security footage, Fox News’ Tucker Carlson has launched an impassioned new effort to explain away the deadly Capitol attack, linking the Republican Party ever more closely to pro-Trump conspiracy theories about the 2021 riot. The conservative commentator aired a first installment to millions of viewers on his prime-time show Monday, working to bend perceptions of the violent, grueling siege that played out for the world to see into a narrative favorable to Donald Trump. A small additional bit was shown Tuesday amid calls from critics to stop. The undertaking by Fox News comes as Trump is again running for president, and executives at the highest levels of the cable news giant have admitted in unrelated court proceedings that it spread the former president’s false claims about the 2020 election despite dismissing Trump’s assertions privately.”

One more opinion piece from the Left: Trump and Carlson Won’t Let Republicans Forget About January 6 Ed Kilgore, New York Magazine

FLAG THIS

Around Half Said It Was an “Attack on Democracy”

Polling conducted in December found 54% consider January 6 an “attack on democracy that should never be forgotten,” while 41% say too much is being made of the incident and it’s time to move on (Quinnipiac University).

A separate survey conducted last summer found 50% consider that day’s events to be “an attack on democracy,” while 19% characterized it as peaceful protest protected by the constitution. A quarter called the event unfortunate but said it's time to move on (NPR/PBS/Marist).

After analyzing relevant data, Brookings Institution, a left-leaning think tank, suggests future generations will not place January 6 in the same category as Pearl Harbor and September 11th. While those events inspired national unity, the storming of the capitol is more likely to, “serve as a reminder of the deep political divisions that characterized the current era of American politics.”

Have the so-called Tucker Tapes changed your perception of January 6, 2021?

FLAG FINDS

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WATERCOOLER

First Speech Transmitted by Telephone, World’s Greatest Dogsledder, Big Lebowski Birthday

On This Day in 1876: The first discernible speech is transmitted over a telephone system when inventor Alexander Graham Bell summons his assistant in another room by saying, “Mr. Watson, come here; I want you.” Bell had received a comprehensive telephone patent just three days before.

GQ: The Saga of the World’s Greatest Dogsledder—and the Fight Over the Future of the Iditarod

Hollywood Reporter: ‘The Big Lebowski’ Turns 25: “People Didn’t Get It,” Jeff Bridges Recalls

Southern Living: Does Anyone Mend Clothes Anymore?

Today I Learned a man on a ski trip in New York went to his car, entered a fugue state, and ended up in California six days later.

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