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Is Tucker Carlson the Next Trump?
It may be hard to admit that the rise of Donald Trump really was a singular event.
Two weeks ago, a political media moment occurred that gave many observers a flashback to the Trump presidency. The CDC issues guidelines on April 27 stating that outdoor mask usage outside of close groups was no longer necessary. Many liberals and conservatives had supported this change for months due to new research about the lack of outdoor coronavirus transmission.
But Fox News host Tucker Carlson took the suggestions further. He insinuated on his 8 P.M. television show that people should call out and shame those who wore masks outdoors. He even argued that his fans should call child protective services on any parents who placed a face mask on their child. Immediately, the discourse around outdoor masks shifted. Many people took wearing them as a sign of caring about others and modeling good behavior. They defended the right to wear a mask outdoors and the right to make one’s own decision about mask-wearing, even though that particular behavior was no longer recommended by the leading public health agency in the country.
This power to reshape a political narrative, of course, used to be wielded by Donald Trump when he was the president of the United States with a sizable Twitter following. There are countless instances of Trump realigning debates over social and cultural issues with just one tweet. One of the later and most egregious examples was the discussion over reopening schools last year. Throughout the summer months, there seemed to be momentum towards opening schools in-person for the fall. Guidelines were issued and preliminary evidence from Europe showed that such re-openings could be done safely. Then Trump took a public stand last July, ordering that schools be reopened and castigating those who wanted them closed.
That announcement realigned the country. Americans had to take a stand. Many Trump critics decided to argue forcefully against reopening, not wanting to be seen as supporting Trump in general and his poorly considered reopening plan in particular. The nation’s schools remained online only in many places as a result. As of late March, only 47% of schools were open in the U.S., while countries like France have kept all of their schools open for most of the past year.
