Tucker Carlson Baffled at CNN Attacking Joe Biden on Afghanistan: 'What Is Going On?'
Fox News host Tucker Carlson has said it "does not make sense" that journalists on CNN have criticized President Joe Biden over the ongoing situation in Afghanistan.
Carlson told his prime-time audience on Friday that those who work for CNN don't decide what they say for themselves but instead "say precisely what they are told to say" by management, specifically mentioning NBCUniversal CEO Jeff Zucker.
There has been significant criticism of the Biden administration's handling of Afghanistan from some on CNN in recent days as the Taliban have rapidly gained control of Afghanistan.
In his show's opening monologue on Friday, which has also been published as an op-ed at the Fox News website, Carlson argued that Biden's officials are "turning on him" and specifically highlighted recent reporting from CNN.
Carlson showed a clip of CNN's Clarissa Ward, who has been reporting from the capital city of Kabul.
In the clip, Ward said: "It is just an absolute mess. And we heard President Biden say yesterday in his comments to ABC News that this is not a failure. And I think a lot of people outside that [Kabul] airport, particularly those taking the kinds of extreme actions we're just talking about, would like to know: if this isn't failure, what does failure look like exactly?"
Carlson commented: "So, Joe Biden failed. And he's lying about it. That's what CNN just told us. It is hard to overstate the significance of the clip you just saw. CNN is not a news network. CNN is a political organization. Its anchors and reporters don't decide for themselves what to say on camera.
"They are told what to say. They are told in highly specific terms, every weekday morning on a call with their commander, Jeff Zucker. There is no intellectual freelancing at CNN. 'Here's what I think.' No. It's a united front — a single hymnal for the entire congregation. When CNN takes a position or changes its position on something, it changes as one — everybody, from the chirpy morning dingbats to Don Lemon on the night shift," Carlson said.
"They all say precisely what they're told to say. Ever watch the channel?" he said.
Carlson went on to show a clip of CNN anchor Brianna Keilar criticizing the Biden administration's approach. Keilar said: "Many of the promises, predictions, and the words of the president and his White House are coming back to haunt them."
"What is going on here?" Carlson asked. "These are literally the people who got Joe Biden elected president. He wouldn't be president without these people. And now, just seven months in his administration, they're telling you he has failed personally? It does not make sense."
Carlson said that Afghanistan wasn't Biden's first "disaster" as president and suggested there was some other reason CNN was criticizing Biden now: "Call us cynical, but we don't buy it. Something else is going on here. We don't know what it is, exactly, but it's pretty obvious."
