Whitlock: New York Times labels Tucker Carlson racist to mask its secular agenda

This weekend, the New York Times unloaded more than 20,000 words arguing that Tucker Carlson hosts “what may be the most racist show in the history of cable news.”

As a somewhat regular guest on Tucker Carlson Tonight the past two years, I found the description shocking and offensive.

I’m black. I’ve spent the past decade of my career – at ESPN, Fox Sports, and now at TheBlaze – building media platforms that showcase black content creators. I volunteer to appear on Carlson’s show. It’s the only cable news program I watch on a nightly basis. In the past year, Carlson’s show has hosted two black contributors from my show – Delano Squires and Royce White.

Off the air, I frequently exchange ideas and friendly banter with Carlson via texts. I’ve dined with Carlson in Florida and came away impressed with his intellect, authenticity, and passion.

The New York Times claimed it analyzed virtually every episode of TCT since its Fox News inception. America’s newspaper of record, the alleged bastion of journalistic integrity, framed Carlson as the most racist man in modern TV history without quoting a single black person and apparently without probing a single black person who contributes to his show.

If Tucker Carlson is the Grand Wizard of cable news, the New York Times story insinuates that black (and white) contributors to his show participate in nightly cross burnings and lynchings. An editor at the Times should have instructed one of the nine reporters assigned to the Carlson stories to interview Carlson’s unwitting co-conspirators, especially black ones.

Nicholas Confessore, a regular contributor to Fox News competitor MSNBC, wrote the main two stories that attempted to assassinate Carlson’s character and reputation. The Times listed eight other reporters as contributing to the three-part series. Nine reporters couldn’t find one black person with something relevant and worthy to say about a man who is supposedly racially radicalizing millions of Americans through his show.

Did they even look? Or do black lives only matter when their dead bodies can be used to argue that America is irredeemably racist and oppressive?

The New York Times series impugned my character. I’m sure other regular contributors to Carlson’s show feel the same way. Is Glenn Greenwald, one of the best and most courageous journalists on the planet, a tool of white nationalism? For years, Greenwald, a white Jew, was a darling of left-wing media platforms. In the post-Trump-presidency era, Greenwald’s steadfast commitment to reporting truth has made him persona non grata at MSNBC, CNN, and NPR. Greenwald is gay. He’s married to an Afro-Brazilian, a man of color. Greenwald appears on Carlson’s show almost once a week. Greenwald’s thoughts on the alleged bigotry of Carlson’s show would be fascinating.

So would Victor Davis Hanson’s. Hanson, a senior fellow at the Hoover Institute of Stanford University and one of this country’s most brilliant minds, is a former Democrat and a former respected voice at the New York Times. Is he now just a tool of "Tucker Carlson Tonight’s" white supremacy?

Am I?

I’m no mystery to the New York Times. I’ve been fairly profiled twice in its pages. Once in 2010, when I noisily left the Kansas City Star after 16 years. And a second time in 2015, when ESPN appointed me to lead "The Undefeated," a media platform designed to analyze sports, race, and culture. Given the projects I’ve been involved in – ESPN’s "The Undefeated," Fox Sports’ "Speak for Yourself," and now "Fearless with Jason Whitlock" – it’s awfully difficult to suggest that I’m anti-black. If so, my career choices and actions are at odds with my alleged animus toward black people.

The New York Times thinks so little of me, Delano Squires, and Royce White that it apparently didn’t cross the minds of one reporter or editor to ask us why we would contribute to the most racist show in cable news history.

I’m not thirsty to appear on Fox News or any cable news network. When I was younger, before CNN and MSNBC shied away from diversity of thought, I regularly appeared on all the major cable news networks. Now the only network that invites me is Fox News. The only show I make it a priority to appear on is Tucker’s.

The show is smart. He allows me to express my biblical worldview. I get to say “Jesus” when I want to and when it’s appropriate. I get to remind people that America and Western civilization are founded on biblical principles and that those principles are worthy of defense.

I like Carlson’s show because it is not hostile toward Christian values and it regularly features guests and segments that defend Judeo-Christian culture.

The New York Times spent 20,000 words trying to convince readers that the success of Carlson’s show is because it appeals to white bigots. I watch it because it appeals to me as a Christian and a proud American. I believe in this country. I believe in the documents that founded this country. I believe the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution are responsible for black people in America having the highest standard of living and safety of any black people on earth.

I’m concerned that politicians, global corporations, and institutions such as the New York Times want to rewrite the U.S. Constitution into a secular document that does not adequately protect individual freedom or a system of governance that allows for class mobility.

The Times posited that Carlson’s show is racist because he constantly complains about a “ruling class,” shifting gender roles, discrimination against white people, the destruction of society, and America’s laissez-faire approach to illegal immigration.

Again, I’m black. I believe there is a ruling class, a cabal of global elites, selling this country out to China. As a career-long sports journalist, I can easily see China’s impact on American culture just by following the NBA. I’m frustrated by shifting gender roles. I’m bothered that biological men are being allowed to compete in women’s sports. I don’t like discrimination. The race of the victim is irrelevant to me. The fact that a white man pushes back against the discrimination he feels is directed at him does not surprise me. The New York Times published a series of stories – the 1619 Project – aimed at portraying white men and this country as the worst plague to hit earth. Should anyone be surprised a white men are fighting back?

Given the breakdown of American family structures, it’s also not surprising that a married father of four would decry the destruction of society. Christians believe the nuclear family is at the foundation of an orderly society.

And as for illegal immigration, I don’t have a black, brown, or white friend who is for it. Mass illegal immigration does make America poorer and dirtier. Carlson stated that on his show in 2018. The New York Times opened its three-part series on Carlson offering that statement as proof of Carlson’s runaway bigotry.

Tucker Carlson Tonight is popular because there are millions of Americans who believe there are powerful corporate, media, political, entertainment, and institutional forces working to redirect this nation away from its biblical founding.

The New York Times wants anyone uncomfortable with this new direction to believe it is their racism – not common sense – that’s making them uneasy.