Fox News host Tucker Carlson on Tuesday accused House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) of sounding like “an MSNBC contributor” after the California Republican was revealed to have discrepancies between public remarks he has made about Big Tech and complaints he has made in private about the social media activity of his own members.
“Kevin McCarthy of California told his good friend Liz Cheney that he hopes the social media companies would censor more conservative Republicans in Congress,” Carlson said during his show on Tuesday, referring to the House Republican from Wyoming. “Donald Trump, the sitting president, had already been silenced by those companies. But McCarthy wanted the tech oligarch to do more.”
Carlson was referencing new reporting in The New York Times this week that revealed McCarthy, in private remarks to colleagues, had worried that controversial statements being made by members of the party’s most conservative wing could create vulnerabilities for the GOP ahead of the fall’s midterm elections.
“Mr. McCarthy expressed a wish that the big social media companies would ban some members of the Republican conference,” the Times wrote. “ ‘Can’t they take their Twitter accounts away, too?’ Mr. McCarthy asked.”
Recordings of the leader’s comments had been obtained by the Times.
“Those are the recorded words of Kevin McCarthy,” Carlson said. “A man who in private sounds like an MSNBC contributor.”
Carlson warned that unless conservative members of the house GOP “get their act together,” McCarthy or “one of his liberal allies like Elise Stefanik” is likely to be Speaker of the House next year. Stefanik (R-N.Y.) is the current chairwoman of the House Republican Conference.
“That would mean we would have a Republican Congress led by a puppet of the Democratic Party,” he said.
Conservatives have long raised concerns about what they say is a bias against Republicans and conservatives within Big Tech companies, alleging censorship and double standards when it comes to content moderation. Many have cheered the sale of Twitter this week to Elon Musk, who has vowed to take the company private and implement policies more focused on freedom of expression.
“For the sake of preserving free speech and a free economy, it’s time Big Tech faces the music,” McCarthy said last summer. “House Republicans are ready to lead.”
Carlson, the most-watched cable news host in the country, is seen as one of the country’s most influential conservatives, especially among former president Trump’s base. Ambitious Republican lawmakers and candidates for office have used his nightly show as a proving ground for their causes and agendas.
The bombastic host has attacked McCarthy in the past, airing a segment last year on McCarthy’s part-time living arraignments with pollster Frank Luntz and arguing the arrangement is evidence of elitism and poor ethics.