Tucker Carlson's "We Have to Fight to Preserve Our Nation & Heritage" 14 Words Chyron

Overview

Tucker Carlson's "We Have to Fight to Preserve Our Nation & Heritage" 14 Words Chyron refers to a viral image from Tucker Carlson's news commentary show, which many interpreted as bearing a striking similarity to the infamous white supremacist slogan the 14 Words. The chyron on Carlson's show underneath photographs of the U.S. lawmakers Representative Ilhan Omar and Senator Tammy Duckworth read "We Have to Fight to Preserve Our Nation & Heritage." The 14 words are "We must secure the existence of our people and a future for white children."

Background

On July 7th, 2020, Fox News aired an episode of Tucker Carlson Tonight that featured a segment on Senator Duckworth.^[1] Towards the end of the segment, Carlson refuted a quote from Representative Omar, who said, "As long as our economy and political systems prioritize profit without considering who is profiting, who is being shutout, we will perpetuate this inequality. So we cannot stop at the criminal justice system. We must begin the world of dismantling this whole system of oppression wherever we find it." Carlson responded, "Dismantle the American economy and the American system of government. Institutions that generations of Americans have built over hundreds of years […] We have every right to fight to preserve our nation and our heritage and our culture." As he said this, the chyron showed the phrase "We Have to Fight to Preserve Our Nation & Heritage" (clip below).

Developments

Online Reaction

Many online were offended by the segment, saying that they resembled the white supremacist "14 words" slogan. Media Matters editor Andrew Lawrence shared the image on Twitter,^[2] receiving more than 25,000 likes and 5,100 retweets in less than 24 hours (shown below, left). Twitter user @varsha_venkat_ tweeted,^[3] "this is so fucking dangerous and disgusting my god." The tweet received more than 2,100 likes and 14,000 retweets (shown below, center). Journalist Jordan Uhl tweeted,^[4] "he even cut it down by 4 words." The tweet received more than 9,700 likes and 1,100 retweets in less than 24 hours (shown below, right).

The Twitter^[5] account for the conservative group the Lincoln Project shared the image with the caption, "Just put on a white hood and save us the energy." The post received more than 87,000 likes and 16,000 retweets in less than 24 hours (shown below).

On July 8th, the HuffPost^[6] published a report on the segment and response.

Search Interest

Not available.

External References