Fox News host Tucker Carlson admits media is right about Trump’s lying: ‘He’s a full-blown BS artist’
A leading Fox News host has issued a bizarre defence of Donald Trump, in which he described the president as a "liar" and a “full-blown BS artist”.
Tucker Carlson said the president makes misleading statements because “that’s who he is” and compared Mr Trump to a “salesman”.
“He's a talker, a boaster, a booster, a compulsive self-promoter. At times, he's a full-blown BS artist,” Mr Carlson said.
The Fox News presenter also rejected the White House’s claim that Mr Trump’s 2017 inauguration was “the largest ever measured on the national mall”.
“We're not going to lie to you: that was untrue,” he added.
A Washington Post report published in October found Mr Trump had made more than 13,000 false or misleading claims since taking office in January 2017.
However, despite acknowledging that the president often lies, Mr Carlson claimed the media hates him because he “tells the truth”.
As an example of the president’s supposed truth-telling, the conservative commentator referred to Mr Trump’s anti-immigration comments during his presidential campaign.
In 2015, Mr Trump referred to Mexican immigrants as “rapists” in a sweeping attack on immigration.
“When Mexico sends its people, they’re not sending their best,” he said.
“They’re sending people that have lots of problems… They’re bringing drugs. They’re bringing crime. They’re rapists. And some, I assume, are good people.”
However, the majority of studies in the US have found lower crime rates among immigrants compared to non-immigrants, contradicting the perception that immigration increases crime.
A 2019 study by The Marshall Project, an online journalism organisation which covers criminal justice, found no causal connection between immigration and crime in the United States.
The Fox News presenter ended the segment by mockingly saying: “Let's just agree that Trump is a racist liar and move on.”
Mr Carlson, who is a staunch defender of the president, has been repeatedly accused of making sexist and racist comments on TV and radio shows during his career.
In August, advertiser started deserting his primetime show after he called white supremacy “a hoax” after the El Paso mass shooting in which 22 people were killed.
However, Mr Carlson has been willing to criticise Mr Trump in relation to the Ukraine scandal that is the subject of an ongoing impeachment inquiry.
Last month, he admitted Mr Trump should not have pressured Ukraine to investigate his 2020 election rival Joe Biden but stopped short of backing impeachment.
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