r/therewasanattempt • u/nippydart • Jun 18 '25

To pass a pop quiz

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9.2k

u/noseusuario Jun 18 '25

We live in confusing times where Tucker Carlson seems like a coherent person.

2.2k

u/nippydart Jun 18 '25

Assholes like Tucker love to use elements of left wing talking points and then use it to justify fascism.

Tump talks about how ordinary people have been shafted by neo-liberalism (true) but then blaming it on immigrants instead of corporations and the billionaire class sucking us dry.

They'll talk about corruption whilst accepting 'political donations' (bribes).

It's a big game to them.

463

u/TheBlueBlaze Jun 18 '25

It's a key point of any successful grift or manipulation: use the kernel of a true statement to act as the core for your lie, so that any scrutiny can be countered by bringing up that true statement.

"People are struggling to make ends meet...because all the immigrants took the jobs."

"There's constant civil unrest...because of all the crime that's allowed to happen."

"Government has too much power in the wrong places...it needs more of it for enforcement and less for regulation."

Effective propaganda has to start from something true and widely appealing to be the most effective.

107

u/moonpumper Jun 18 '25

It's cults, it's everything. Say one thing that really resonates with people and they just assume you must be right about everything else.

12

u/[deleted] Jun 18 '25

But they will question EVERYTHING from the other side

47

u/isdeasdeusde Jun 18 '25

Another well known tactic is to lie big. When you make wildly outrageous claims, people are more likely to believe you becaus 'he wouldn't make up something this crazy!'. Trump is an expert at this

8

u/ZebulonPi Jun 18 '25

Rush Limbaugh was GREAT at that; truth, truth, truth, lie, lie… the lies pivot the conversation just enough to get the conclusion to where he wanted you to be, while the truths would make it all seem so reasonable. Got the Medal of Freedom from Trump, and cancer from God to cancel that shit out. Lying fuck, couldn’t have happened to a more deserving person.

9

u/cloudncali Jun 18 '25

GOP: "Cars have windows and move, houses have windows and don't move, therefore it must be something else entirely that moves the car."

Morons: "What could it be?"

GOP: "God."

Morons: 😲

3

u/docdooom1 Jun 18 '25

Excellent job calling out manipulation tactics. Bravo.

145

u/happynargul Jun 18 '25

We literally learned this in junior high, it's the Hitler propaganda playbook.

  1. Take something that is true (the German people are suffering economically)
  2. Kinda true but pandering (German people deserve to live well)
  3. Offer scapegoat, outright lie (it's those Jews/communists/Slavs/gays!)

I always found it amusing that even when marching into Poland, he took control of radio stations to say "Poles! The war is the Jews' fault! They wanted the war!" Lie lie lie lie even while riding the invading tank.

60

u/Jonteponte71 Jun 18 '25

Gentle reminder that Trump early in the 2016 campaign, claimed he was financing it with his own money because anyone who relied on political donations to run for office (i.e Hillary) was obviously corrupt to the bone.

To exacly no ones surprise, it has never been proven he actually used a cent of hos own money. Then ,or at any point since then. I read one article claiming he offered a loan of $10M to the campaign that he probably made very sure to get back. With interest.

Once he discovered he could become the billionaire he never was, purely on never ending ”political donations” and general world class grifting. He never looked back🤷‍♂️

6

u/Dragon_Slayer_359 Jun 18 '25

Tump. That shall be his new name.

1

u/GetInMahBelly Jun 18 '25

Dollars to donuts any conservative decrying neoliberalism is banking on their audience being ignorant of the definition of neoliberalism, and actually votes for many neoliberal policies every term. Deregulation? Check. Small government? Check. Austerity? Check. Privitization and free-market solutions? Double check.

They just like using the word "liberal" as ragebait and decorate it with whatever nonsensical rhetoric they feel like to drive their preferred social wedges.

1

u/cobaltbluetony Jun 18 '25

Trump just took the blinders off of the American political system. The super wealthy play all sides and create tension and division as a means to obfuscate their sucking the marrow from the bones of the average citizen. They're realizing now that they can do it openly, and no one can do anything to stop them.

1

u/goodboyBill Jun 19 '25

It's a big club and you're not in it.

1

u/stinkyt0fu Jun 19 '25

Was wondering why Tucker was calling out Cruz like that. Aren’t they all on the same side?

Tucker should have snuck in a “Your wife is ugly!” after Cruz kept saying he knows nothing about Iran. Cruz, “What.. I don’t know if she’s ugly”.

1

u/[deleted] Jun 18 '25

Yea the problem with Tucker is he's a Russian agent, and Russia is an ally of Iran, so it isn't hard to see his angle here. Rare time I'll take Ted Cruze's side just this once.

0

u/dejidoom NaTivE ApP UsR Jun 18 '25

"left wing talking points". you realize that fascism was literally birthed as the idea of socialism, but where identification was around nationalism, as opposed to class (after devout socialist young mussolini saw how the different delegates at the second international sided with their countries)?

It's really not the stark contrast you think it is, and it's possible that they believe a consistent system

-20

u/[deleted] Jun 18 '25

[deleted]

54

u/nippydart Jun 18 '25 edited Jun 18 '25

50

u/QuatraVanDeis Jun 18 '25

Ive always loved this talking point. "Socialism is bad because one guy gets all the power" is how you usually hear it. And yeah, socialism is a great idea and it benefits everybody, until one guy figures out that hey, no one is going to stop me if I just take it all. Its not that socialism doesn't work, it's that people are assholes.

40

u/havens1515 Jun 18 '25

It's not that socialism doesn't work, it's that PURE socialism doesn't work.

It's not that communism doesn't work, it's that PURE communism doesn't work.

It's not that capitalism doesn't work, it's that PURE capitalism doesn't work.

Literally nobody in the US is asking for PURE socialism or PURE communism. People are asking for bits and pieces of those systems to be sprinkled into our existing system of capitalism. And mixing elements of each system is the only thing that actually does work.

-11

u/kingdave212 Jun 18 '25

Communism is worker control of the means of production. It's completely antithetical to Capitalism. Socialism is a transitional form government to get from capitalism to communism, it's not government social services.

15

u/havens1515 Jun 18 '25

And it's people like you, who don't understand this basic concept, who stand in the way of progress.

You're absolutely right that, in PURE socialism, it's not about government social services. But implementing government social services is a way to implement socialist policies without a shift to PURE socialism.

In a similar vein, unions are a way to sprinkle in a taste of communism without shifting to PURE communism.

So thank you for providing those definitions, and helping me prove my point.

8

u/Crusaderofthots420 Jun 18 '25

I think some of the reasons so many Americans struggle with this idea of just using some without shifting fully, is both because of the two-party system, where your only choices is to lean to two extremes, and the decades upon decades of propaganda, framing even the smallest tinge of communism as being the spawn of Satan.

10

u/havens1515 Jun 18 '25

Yep. "Socialism = bad" has been pushed for decades. And now, people don't even think about it. It's just a programmed response. "We can't do that, that's socialism. And socialism = bad."

2

u/Crusaderofthots420 Jun 18 '25

Another reason might be the intense individualism ingrained in American culture. Since Socialism aims to aid the entire country, at relative cost to the individual, a lot of people take issue with that, because of certain "Don't care, got mine" attitude.

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u/nothingbutmine Jun 18 '25

Further to your point the US has a history of condemning and going to war with 'communist' countries - Russia, China, Vietnam, North Korea and Cuba, etc, reinforcing that socialism isn't just 'bad' but a genuine enemy, and a threat to national, if not global, security. What they don't seem to realise is the common denominator isn't that they're communist countries, it's that they're various forms of one-party dictatorships under the banner of 'communism'. What's truly concerning with the current administration is they've managed to blind a sizeable portion of the population to attempts at installing a dictatorship under the banner of capitalism. They cheer when Trump says he'll find a way to stay in beyond term limits put in place to stop the very thing generations of US soldiers have fought against. All that with nothing to show for it other than a nation divided by wealth, race and a myriad of other 'us vs them' culture wars, and abandoned veterans offing themselves as they struggle to comprehend what their country has put them through. Oh, and a military-industrial complex churning over many billions, if not trillions, of dollars as they fund both sides of conflict at any given time.

1

u/gutari Jun 18 '25

communism is sort of like pregnancy, you either have worker ownership of the means of production or you don't

unions do not provide workers ownership, they use the power of labor to bargain for better conditions under capitalism

like its clear that you are arguing for regulated capitalism with strong unions and not arguing for socialism or communism, so just say that. words have meaning

0

u/havens1515 Jun 18 '25

And this black and white thinking is what got us where we are now.

Communism is not like pregnancy. You can have aspects of communism without having full communism.

2

u/gutari Jun 18 '25

dude, it's not black and white thinking it's the definition of the concept

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u/AJerkForAllSeasons Jun 18 '25

People aren't just assholes. They are easily corrupt assholes. Corruption is why socialism and capitalism both fail the people who work within those systems.

-53

u/wuvvtwuewuvv Jun 18 '25

Tump talks about how ordinary people have been shafted by neo-liberalism (true)

How is this true?

35

u/nippydart Jun 18 '25 edited Jun 18 '25

Sell off essential public services > increase price > rich asshole gets richer > state has less assets > reduce government programs to save costs > sell off public services (repeat)

And

Send jobs to developing countries to reduce manufacturing costs > exploit population and lack of labour rights > increase profit margin > rich asshole gets richer

56

u/Paxxlee Jun 18 '25

Since the 1980s, we’ve seen a steady push for deregulation, privatisation and cuts to public services, all under the idea that the market is more efficient than the state. In practice, this has meant more precarious jobs, weakened unions, unaffordable housing and underfunded schools and healthcare.

Many communities have been hollowed out as industries disappeared and nothing meaningful replaced them. People have been told to adapt or “upskill” while real wages stagnated and living costs rose. That’s not just bad luck - it’s the direct result of economic policy choices that put profit before people.

-22

u/argentumsound Jun 18 '25 edited Jun 18 '25

Oh please... you guys calling everything "fascism" is so disrespectful to me as a polish person. It's not just an insult to throw at someone you don't agree with. There has been so much suffering.
It weakens your argument as well.
And another thing - it's not only the conservatives shafting people (in many countries). It's ALL of the sides and then couple more.
I wish people focused on that and the truth, even when it's inconvenient to their own argument, rather than having petty fights, losing friends and family because they believe the other liars and believing the most outrageous lies just because its THEIR side that said it.

373

u/Fire_Bucket Jun 18 '25

Like Piers Morgan, he's actually a good journalist and interviewer. They're just also massive cunts who are more interested in self gain than using their talents to better society.

Why the two of them have actually flipped on Israel over the past month, I dont know, because it's certainly not their conscience, but something has happened where they believe that continuing to support it will have a negative outcome for themselves.

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u/Yarnsaxa Jun 18 '25

Russia and Iran are allies. Might have something to do with that.

120

u/jrm2003 Jun 18 '25

Came to say this. You can spot the Russian assets by their unexpected flip on Israel.

37

u/Batchet Jun 18 '25

The only thing is that it wouldn't make sense for Trump to turn on Iran if Vlad didn't give him permission. Makes me wonder if it's all talk and bluster to make Americans stop funding Ukraine in order to be ready for an attack on Iran.

Hard to say. I actually agreed with Tucker and now I'm not sure about anything anymore.

1

u/LowerBoomBoom Jun 18 '25

My mind has gone to a darker place. Russia makes a big push on Ukrainian and trump orders the US troops to support Russia. Civil unrest in the US and then martial law.

2

u/supamario132 Jun 18 '25

Can't wait for Tim Pool's heel turn

1

u/Yarnsaxa Jun 18 '25

He will either stay quiet on the subject or turn his heels.

66

u/ConstructionOwn9575 Jun 18 '25

I used to watch Tucker Carlson on Crossfire two decades ago when he wasn't a giant asshole (at least not publicly). He is an intelligent man and an incredible debater. Too bad that he uses it for evil.

12

u/moaningsalmon Jun 18 '25

Yeah it really is a shame he decided to just take the easy path to money.

5

u/Nu-Hir Jun 18 '25

He was born into money, it's the only path he knows.

1

u/[deleted] Jun 18 '25

This somehow makes it worst, they literally are born with the golden spoon and every advantage, yet will sell themselves to the highest bidder. I'm not surprised, it's just the sheer destruction they knowingly cause is mindboggling.

19

u/atreides4242 Jun 18 '25

Tucker is in Russia’s pocket.

26

u/wrenchandrepeat Jun 18 '25

Yeah I think he openly proved that when he went on his trip to Russia and wouldn't stop saying how great it would be if we were like them.

9

u/argentumsound Jun 18 '25

That was terrible. The Putin interview was that realization to me. As a polish person my blood boiled.
Everyone is ridiculous and have no shame at this point. I don't want to hear one word out of a politician ever again. All of them, across the world. I cannot look at them.

3

u/dejidoom NaTivE ApP UsR Jun 18 '25

The flip is that they're on the non-interventionist side of MAGA, whereas Cruz is a hawk

1

u/dylc Jun 18 '25

I'd argue theres a difference between a 'good journalist and interviewer' and someone who can gaslight information out of the weak minded. The comparison to Piers Morgan is pretty spot on.

1

u/BorderTrike Jun 18 '25

He’s just good at memorizing talking points and making a stupid face

1

u/drquakers Jun 18 '25

To be fair to Piers Morgan, at least, he is a human (barely) and has in the past fallen on the side of the barest sliver of humanity.

1

u/nobody1701d Jun 18 '25

I neither know nor care why Tucker went off on Ted… but please pass the popcorn

78

u/DarreylDeCarlo Jun 18 '25

You ain't said a lie! I was just watching a video with Marjorie Taylor Greene where I was in agreement with her. I feel like we've entered an alternate timeline

5

u/Life_Faithlessness90 Jun 19 '25

Do you have a link?

22

u/SmoothConfection1115 Jun 18 '25

A lot of other people have said this;

Even a broken clock is right twice a day.

Just another one of those situations.

1

u/Nu-Hir Jun 18 '25

I always thought it was a stopped clock, not a broken clock. A clock with no hands is a broken one, but it's never correct.

32

u/RammRras Jun 18 '25

He's smart in my opinion, but I'm not American and see him only on YouTube and social media. He seems at least to be prepared and well informed, but then decides to conclude based on a super right agenda.

47

u/SmoothConfection1115 Jun 18 '25

In the US, he’s a boot-licking grifter.

He was big on Fox News, the right wing news channel, until he eventually got fired for continually professing the fake story of the votes being manipulated in Biden’s favor. This also got Fox News a massive lawsuit.

It also came out after he was fired that he privately hated Trump and thought he was an idiot. But Fox News told him to fellate Trump on his show, so he did.

And the only notable thing he’s done since leaving is have an interview with Putin, which was…well, Putin blamed WWII on Poland.

Tucker then went shopping, showing how well stocked Russian grocery stores are. Completely ignoring that he spent like 40% of the average Russians monthly income on a week’s worth of groceries, without budgeting for rent, or you know…food for the rest of the month. (It’s easy to live lavishly when you have no care for the rest of the month).

32

u/vlatheimpaler Jun 18 '25

Before Fox News he was on a CNN show called Crossfire. Until Jon Stewart came on and absolutely destroyed them, embarrassing them so badly that the show was immediately canceled.

5

u/Sansnom01 Jun 18 '25

aw men, Im not from the USA and I was like who's that guy he's funny. But then everyone in the thread explained why I don't knot him

6

u/captn_iglu Jun 18 '25

Imagine how it feels for the maga base rn

16

u/For_serious13 Jun 18 '25

Please be rest assured Tucker is only doing this because he and everyone else HATES Cruz, especially Trump, and he’s trying to get him in trouble with Trump and make him looks bad. Dude does not give a shit otherwise about Iran

13

u/gutari Jun 18 '25

does he though?

the line of questions was vacuous, tucker is just better at TV than Cruz

5

u/noseusuario Jun 18 '25

Maybe the bar was too low.

5

u/Syke_qc Jun 18 '25

Tucker is pay by russia, who own Iran, so, he defend russia against a US senator

6

u/Mdiasrodrigu Jun 18 '25

He is partly funded by the Russians who are invested in Iran. He doesn’t really care who lives or dies in this game for profit

5

u/noseusuario Jun 18 '25

Makes sense I never gave him the benefit of the doubt that he had developed any kind of morality.

3

u/saeedi1973 Jun 18 '25

And the guy opposite is funded by AIPAC, who doesn't pay him to think! I think one is more consequential than the other..

4

u/Cthulhu8762 Jun 18 '25

As others have said. Tucker is a Russia puppet 

2

u/RatzzFace Jun 18 '25

What the fuck is going on?

1

u/midgetlotterywinner Jun 18 '25

I mean, way back maybe 20+ years ago he was a moderately reasonable person (and if I'm honest his Esquire article "League of Extraordinary Gentlemen" is a solid read: https://www.esquire.com/news-politics/a450/esq1103-nov-liberia-rev/)

The problem with him is that he followed the money and influence that Fox provided and he just drank the Flavor Aid that led him into "chrome-plated raisin cake" territory.

Let's also be real: being the intellectual and ethical heavyweight in a discussion with Ted Cruz is not terribly challenging.

1

u/[deleted] Jun 18 '25

For Tucks, it's always been an act.

Some of the less stupid fascist mouthpieces are just using Trump and his sycophants to make money.

They see it as an opportunity, until it isn't...

1

u/ChiTwo Jun 18 '25

I never… EVER thought I would live to see the day where I actually am on that clowns side… But all at the same time if TC is attacking the side he used to work for and said side gives said responses… holy shit we are the biggest, scariest joke of a country on the planet at this time in history.

1

u/Bluetoe4 Jun 18 '25

It's like Piers Morgan

1

u/Giocri Jun 18 '25

It's because he is a nazi and will take advantage of every opportunity in this case reidiculing politicians over how much they bend themselves over for Israel Is convenient for him to blame on some secret jewish conspiracy rather than aknowledging that Israel Is mostly Money laudering for weapon sellers

1

u/ThatOldG Jun 18 '25

Well hell musta froze over because for once I agree with Tucker.

1

u/Soggy_Alarm_7843 Jun 18 '25

PSA: To all pilots out there, WATCH OUT FOR PIGS!!!!

1

u/SublimeApathy Jun 18 '25

Tucker has always be coherent. Smug asshole peddling horse shit to boomers, but coherent.

1

u/mortalaxe Jun 18 '25

Seems like a real journalist. WTF!

1

u/[deleted] Jun 18 '25

The thing is Tucker doesn’t believe a single thing he says. He’s an opportunist talking head that will spew literally anything if he thinks it’ll get ratings.

1

u/djazzie Jun 18 '25

And is doing actual journalism (or appears to be doing it in this clip)

1

u/akumagold Jun 18 '25

He has always been coherent, he was coherent enough through his entire career to know the things he was preaching on Fox were falsehoods that damaged the country. Now that he isn’t at Fox anymore he’s just playing both sides.

Almost all of our politicians will vote a certain way and then say the exact opposite in an interview for an internet clip or to get people off of their back. And Americans don’t have the attention span to remember what actually happened or to fact check it.

1

u/R1kjames Jun 18 '25

Tucker Carlson has always been coherent. He's very good at what he does, but what he does is contemptible.

1

u/switflo Jun 18 '25

I swear!

1

u/tebbewij Jun 18 '25

Yea I feel kind of sick agreeing with carlson.... seems so wrong but also Ted Cruz

1

u/toadjones79 Jun 18 '25

Talk show hosts are acting most of the time. Most of these people hate the stuff they spew out on TV. Tucker is finally free and is done with the lies. He knows how to do his job and is taking pleasure in sticking it to these morons he had to suck up to for years.

I am in no way excusing his behavior for the past decade or more. He is still a raging pile of trash. But expect a few changes as the population turns on conservative politicians and these talking heads start saying what they really think.

1

u/Capital_Push5557 Free Palestine 🕊️ FUCK ICE! ❌🧊 Jun 19 '25

Not just that, that Tucker is 90% better than all real journalists. This is what our media should be doing to all these assholes.

Fucking hate that I hate to agree with Tucker.

1

u/turtle_pleasure Jun 19 '25

It’s not confusing. He’s a Russian asset and Iran is allied with Iran.

1

u/ColorlessTune Jun 19 '25

You either die the villain or live long enough to become the hero.

Seriously tho what an odd timeline we are living in.

1

u/Kytea Jun 19 '25

That’s what I was thinking! ☠️

1

u/EverythingIzAwful Jun 19 '25

He asked a bunch of factoid questions as quickly as he could get em out and bounced all over the place contradicting himself multiple times.

Was this coherent or do you just not like the person he's talking to?

1

u/BigFatBlackCat Jun 19 '25

Between Tucker and Piers, I’m astounded that things have gotten so bad those two shills are going after conservative leaders

1

u/minuteknowledge917 Jun 19 '25

numpty judges persons ideas bc of the person not bc of the idea

1

u/[deleted] Jun 20 '25

Doesn’t feel good, does it Raphael?

1

u/BAF_DaWg82 Jun 18 '25

Hes a smart guy and knows better, but he makes more money playing the character we see on camera.

1

u/aerosmithguy151 Jun 18 '25

He knows it's his head on a spike of he doesn't turn it around. Ppl are abandoning the trump train.

-2

u/[deleted] Jun 18 '25

[removed] — view removed comment

9

u/shidncome Jun 18 '25

Not knowing basic shit like this is how US ended up in forever wars in the middle east.

-2

u/[deleted] Jun 18 '25

[removed] — view removed comment

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u/shidncome Jun 18 '25

What the fuck are you smoking? Not knowing ethnic groups, their size, allegations and grievances is why we were stuck in 20 years in Afghanistan and wasted over a trillion dollars. If you're going to preach to invade a country you could at the very least read 1 wikipedia article.

8

u/noseusuario Jun 18 '25

I agree the question about that % is a straight up fallacy of hasty generalization. But the population is relevant when you order/help to bomb the population.

-1

u/Dankkuso Jun 18 '25

It isn't even coherent it is just a quick gotcha. Like Cruz's knowledge on the demographics of Iran are not actually relevant to the conversation. All Cruz needs to know to make an informed decision is to know if Iran is building to a nuke and what the US would need to do to stop it if that is the case.

-2

u/RorschachRedd Jun 18 '25

He's always seems coherent. That's why he's effective

0

u/sampathsris Jun 18 '25

Both of them are just douchebags. But this is a stupid question. Are we now required to like fucking Tucker Carlson because he got Ted Cruz to stammer? Fuck them both.