Gov. Greg Abbott (R-TX) is blaming Dominion Voting Systems for Tucker Carlson leaving Fox News (read story here).
He’s knee-jerk reacting to an Axios report that Carlson was fired as part of Fox’s settlement with Dominion Voting Systems. Other reporting has portrayed Carlson as an out-of-control employee whose internal comments were the last straw for Fox’s owner and top managers.
Abbott is demanding that Dominion “answer questions about what role, if any, they played in silencing a prominent conservative journalist.”
Not so fast. Carlson isn’t a journalist, he’s a propagandist and a lying one at that. He was a key participant in the scapegoating of Dominion for Trump’s 2020 election loss, and Fox’s defaming of the company that resulted in a $787 million out-of-court settlement.
But The Hill says, “A Fox News spokesperson in a statement to Axios said that the idea that Carlson was let go of as part of the settlement was ‘categorically false.’ An attorney for Dominion also told the news outlet that it did not insist on Carlson being fired.”
Given that both Fox and Dominion deny the assertion Abbott is relying on to criticize Dominion, and at this point it’s only an unproven allegation that Carlson’s lawyers have made in their efforts to get him out of his Fox contract (he’s still being paid), the onus is on Abbott to either come up with facts or hold his fire until there’s facts.
“We may disagree with other’s positions, but we should never try to improperly silence views contrary to our own,” Abbott said in his tweet. That’s fine, as far as it goes, but he should practice what he preaches. This governor has muzzled teachers on the subjects of slavery, racism, and discrimination (see story here).
It’s pretty darn transparent what Abbott is up to. He’s trying to stir up Carlson’s fan base against Dominion for political gain.
To the extent that harms Dominion’s ability to do business outside of Texas, that could be another lawsuit — this time against the State of Texas and its governor.