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| Image: Fox News |
POLITFACT published an article, which was also promoted by CNN, titled "Tucker Carlson film falsely claims Jan. 6 is ‘pretext to strip millions’ of ‘constitutional rights’", the author makes false claims.
Constitutional Rights
Carlson's paraphrasing "pretext to strip millions of constitutional rights" appear to refer to the "shaming" and "defaming" activity that the media and political figures have repeatedly taken part in.
What Carlson appears to mean (in our opinion) is that many "Trump supporters" have been banned from social media, lost their jobs due to political affiliation (which is legal in some states), are afraid to speak for fear of retribution, thrown out of restaurants, and other similar actions or behavior as a result of continued persecution due to their support of political policies they prefer.
It also appears to be solely an opinion and one that POLITIFACT appears to have taken literally. Either way, there is no available evidence to say Carlson is correct, nor is there evidence to say that he is wrong.
The only thing offered is:
There is no evidence that the government response to the Jan. 6 insurrection is a “pretext to strip millions of Americans” who voted for former President Donald Trump of their “core constitutional rights,” experts said.
They then cite two individuals who both say that they "unaware" of any such threat to constitutional rights. Being "unaware" of something does not make something false. It does not make it true either.
This is not evidence of a falsehood, this is a difference of opinion and perception.
Moreover, in watching more of "Patriot Purge", which is the video released on Fox Nation being fact checked, Carlson clearly refers to the media reporting, depiction, and framing of "Trump supporters" in a negative and in our opinion, this is what he is referring to in regards to the pretext rather than a legal effort which is never mentioned. Carlson evidences this with several video clips of media personalities making questionable and baseless statements and claims.
POLITIFACT ignored this and instead asserted that "There is also nothing pretextual about the prosecutions". While that is true, the media reporting is certainly pretextual and was overlooked or omitted by POLITIFACT.
Overall, the article is using the "Evidence of Absence" argument to justify calling Carlson's statement a false claim which is not credible and never holds up in a court of law for one very simple reason. That is that "the absence of evidence is not evidence of absence".
POLITIFACT is making a false claim.
This does not mean that what Carlson said is true, it may well be a false claim, however, there is no evidence available to conclude the veracity of either opinion. We believe that Carlson's statement, if he meant it literally, would be certainly questionable and a demand for credible evidence would be warranted, however, it didn't appear to be meant in that context.
Even if it had been, as POLITIFACT themselves admitted:
Fox News did not offer a comment for this fact-check.
Indicating that any evidence Carlson may have in support of a literal statement, wasn't even obtained by POLITIFACT for review, much less scrutinized.
Summary
POLITIFACT claims that Tucker Carlson makes a false claim in the video "Patriot Purge", however, offers no evidence to support its claim. Moreover, Carlson does not appear to be literal in intent. Either way, POLITIFACT clearly makes a false accusation.
References:
- POLITIFACT Article
- Patriot Purge
- Image credit: Fox News
