Fox News host Tucker Carlson on Thursday ripped into former President Barack Obama for delivering a "divisive at deeply dishonest campaign speech" at the funeral service of Rep. John Lewis, a Georgia Democrat.
Carlson linked Obama's eulogy at the Atlanta gathering to ongoing violent protests against policing and racism, suggesting both were part of a "passive aggressive" "power grab" that is "being coordinated by the most ruthless and cynical figures in American politics."
"Obama claimed he was there to eulogize his old friend. But that’s not true and that’s not what he did. Instead, Obama gave a divisive and deeply dishonest campaign speech in church," Carlson said.
The populist host then played a clip of Obama telling the mourners that Democrats should end the Senate filibuster if it gets in the way of their efforts to expand voting rights once they take power.
- Obama called the filibuster, a "Jim Crow relic," even though the practice, which empowers a minority of lawmakers to delay or block legislation, predates the Civil War.
- It was also used by Obama during his Senate term.
Carlson, shaking his head, said, "It’s hard to believe that clip is real, but it is, down to the coined fake accent, Mr. Hawaii guy."
"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? You would be shocked if that happened. You’d probably walk out. Desecrating a funeral with campaign slogans? What kind of person would do that?" Carlson continued.
"But Democrats in the audience didn’t seem offended. They didn’t blink. They cheered. It all seemed normal to them. And why wouldn’t it? Political power is their religion. It’s not out of place in a church. It’s what they worship."
According to Carlson, Democrats are "working systematically to dismantle the core institutions of American life," including family, faith and justice, via both the state and street violence.
- Carlson alleged Democratic leaders seek to lock in "complete control of the United States" by "packing the Supreme Court, packing the United States Senate, packing the electorate itself by importing tens of millions of new voters."
Obama has lately stepped up campaigning and fundraising for Joe Biden, his former vice president and the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee.
- The New York Times reported on Thursday that Obama has also been privately savaging Donald Trump to donors, suggesting the president is pushing American down a "nativist, racist, sexist" path that leads to Nazi Germany.
- Obama reportedly warned Trump's base is "just glued to Fox News and Breitbart and [radio host Rush] Limbaugh and just this conservative echo chamber — and so, they’re going to turn out to vote."
Former Presidents George W. Bush and Bill Clinton and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a California Democrat, also spoke at the funeral service for Lewis, an icon of the civil rights movement who died earlier this month at age 80.
- Trump did not attend.
