According to specialists who monitor extremism and a report from Advance Democracy shared exclusively with USA TODAY, Tucker Carlson’s portrayal of the deadly Jan. 6 attack as a largely peaceful event on his prime-time Fox News show sparked a dangerous new wave of social media chatter that includes death threats against Capitol police officers and Democratic leaders.
The programme that aired last week minimised the violence that occurred at the Capitol two years prior by portraying the crowd of Washingtonians who broke in as “orderly and modest” tourists.
Right-wing users were incensed by Carlson’s accusations, which were supported by excerpts of Capitol security footage, and threatened legislators who had undertaken public inquiries into the violence, including the House Jan. 6 committee, on Twitter and in pro-Trump forums.
The Advancing Democracy report states that these threats increased significantly after the broadcast.
Experts on extremism are concerned about the recent escalation of violence and claim that Carlson and Fox News are taking a risk by disseminating false material that could incite people to harm the subjects of their reporting.
“If there were an attack right now on one of the groups or individuals that was identified in Tucker’s report – one of the dumping grounds for his ire – I would not be surprised at all,” said Megan Squire, deputy director for data analytics at the Southern Poverty Law Center. That’s essentially what we anticipate at this time, I suppose.
threats made public online
Users on the pro-Trump website Patriots.win encouraged violence, with one posting the comment “SOLUTION HAS NEVER CHANGED.” “GALLOWS,” he continued. FOR EVERYONE OF THEM.
According to the Advance Democracy research, inflammatory remarks were shared on other social media sites like Gab, Getter, 4chan, and Trump’s own Truth Social. Threats to lynch Democratic lawmakers and members of the Jan. 6 Committee included the phrases “hang ’em high” and “hang ’em all.”
“God does not slumber,” a Gettr user wrote. “Every single member of the January 6 committee will be held accountable for their actions,”
