Tucker Carlson calls Obama ‘one of the sleaziest and most dishonest figures’ in US political history

Tucker Carlson described former President Obama as “one of the sleaziest and most dishonest figures in the history of American politics” after his eulogy at the funeral of civil rights icon Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.) on Thursday.

Carlson also described the former president as “a greasy politician” for calling on Congress to pass a new Voting Rights Act and to eliminate the filibuster, which Obama described as a relic of the Jim Crow era that disenfranchised Black Americans, in order to do so.

“Barack Obama, one of the sleaziest and most dishonest figures in the history of American politics, used George Floyd’s death at a funeral to attack the police,” Carlson said before showing a segment of Obama’s remarks.

Obama gave lengthy remarks about Lewis at Thursday’s funeral, but the part that got the most attention was his vehement push for Congress to pass a new Voting Rights Act, which was an issue that Lewis had pursued. The Supreme Court in 2013 struck down the heart of the 1965 law, allowing nine states, mostly in the South, to change their voting laws without federal approval.

“Bull Connor may be gone. But today we witness with our own eyes police officers kneeling on the necks of Black Americans. George Wallace may be gone. But we can witness our federal government sending agents to use tear gas and batons against peaceful demonstrators,” Obama said. 

Conner was the commissioner of public safety in Birmingham, Ala., and in the 1960s directed the use of fire hoses and attack dogs on people demonstrating for civil rights. He’s since become a symbol of that era’s most racist leaders.

Carlson cut off the clip at that point with his own commentary, decrying Obama for comparing today’s police officers to such a noxious historic figure. 

“Bull Connor?” Carlson stated. “The country falling apart, riven by racial strife and tribalism, and one of the most respected people in the whole country decides to pour gasoline on that and compare the police to Bull Connor? As if America or Minneapolis is like Birmingham, Ala., in 1963? It’s insane. It’s reckless.”

“Of course, Obama doesn’t care. It’s only about November and the coming election,” Carlson said.

Protests and demonstrations in favor of reforming police and addressing racial equality broke out across the country after the death of Floyd, who was killed after a police officer knelt on his neck for nearly nine minutes as Floyd said he could not breath and asked for help.

The killing has been described as a modern-day lynching that evoked the worst episodes of the 1960s and before, and all of the officers involved face criminal charges, with one facing a second-degree murder charge. 

Obama went on with his remarks to call for the passage of the new voting rights measure.

“Once we pass the John Lewis Voting Rights Act, we should keep marching,” Obama said. “And if all this takes eliminating the filibuster — another Jim Crow relic — in order to secure the God-given rights of every American, then that’s what we should do.”

The filibuster is a procedural tool that effectively requires legislation to be approved by 60 votes. It was long used to block legislation in the civil rights era.
 
Carlson, whose head writer resigned last month after it was discovered he had posted racist and sexist material on an online forum, accused the former president of exploiting the funeral to throw around “stupid partisan talking points about Senate procedure.” 

“Imagine if some greasy politician showed up at your loved one’s funeral and started throwing around stupid partisan talking points about Senate procedure. Can you imagine that?” Carlson asked.