Everyone from the CNN communications department to late-night talk show host Stephen Colbert has expressed their support for Fox News host Tucker Carlson after Carlson’s home was surrounded by Antifa protesters Wednesday night, forcing his wife to hide in a closet and damaging his front door. Most were clear that they don’t always agree with Carlson, but that attacking a man’s home and family is out of bounds.
Except Vox’s Matt Yglesias, who admitted on Twitter Thursday that he “honestly cannot empathize with Tucker Carlson’s wife” after her ordeal, and defended Antifa’s tactics as a legitimate response to Tucker Carlson’s “racial incitement.”
What a trashbag human being. pic.twitter.com/oqdV2oUU5l
— neontaster (@neontaster) November 8, 2018
“I honestly cannot empathize with Tucker Carlson’s wife at all — I agree that protesting at her house was tactically unwise and shouldn’t be done — but I am utterly unable to identify with her plight on any level,” Yglesias tweeted.
That’s right, “tactically unwise” is the best condemnation he can muster.
The official police report for the incident says that protesters blocked off Carlson’s private drive, then gathered on his lawn, spray painted an “anarchy” symbol on his driveway (ironic for protesters agitating for more government control), and then rammed his front entryway, leaving permanent damage to his oak door.
Carlson’s wife, who was home at the time, fled into a room at the rear of the house fearing a home invasion. She called 911 and the protesters disbanded (but not before leaving a pile of their literature and posting the full incident to YouTube). Law enforcement officials reportedly noted that one of the attackers said he had a “pipe bomb” (a statement police say can be heard on security camera footage), but it’s not clear whether Carlson’s wife heard the threat.
Instead of condemning the action — particularly given that, as commentator Stephen Miller noted, “‘Actually kicking in the front doors of political pundits I don’t like is good’ is not a standard I’m guessing Yglesias wants applied to him” — Yglesias attempted to explain why Antifa might have decided to bust down the door of a Fox News pundit who hasn’t physically harmed anyone.
I think the idea behind terrorizing his family, like it or not as a strategy, is to make them feel some of the fear that the victims of MAGA-inspired violence feel thanks to the non-stop racial incitement coming from Tucker, Trump, etc. https://t.co/hmBTBtcTBM
— Matthew Yglesias (@mattyglesias) November 8, 2018
“I think the idea behind terrorizing his family, like it or not as a strategy, is to make them feel some of the fear that the victims of MAGA-inspired violence feel thanks to the non-stop racial incitement coming from Tucker, Trump, etc.,” Yglesias wrote.
He continued, “I agree that this is probably not tactically sound but if your instinct is to empathize with the fear of the Carlson family rather than with the fear of his victims then you should take a moment to reflect on why that is.”
He followed with an example of a female illegal immigrant who didn’t leave her house for months for fear she might be discovered and deported, though it’s not entirely clear how Tucker Carlson is directly connected to immigration interdiction efforts (other than occasionally expressing support for some of President Donald Trump’s immigration reforms).
Speech isn’t violence, and Carlson doesn’t have “victims.”
This is utterly disgusting as well as moronic. @TuckerCarlson doesn’t have victims, he has viewers. They can turn him off if they like. You are demonizing speech and have lost your way. https://t.co/BU6KtxAa1s
— Andrew Klavan (@andrewklavan) November 8, 2018
Yglesias has not apologized for his tweet. Rather, he’s taken some “time off” Twitter in order to “cool down.”