- Fox News presenter Tucker Carlson attacked Barack Obama for discussing police violence in his funeral prayer for civil rights icon John Lewis.
- “Imagine if a greasy politician showed up at your loved one’s funeral and started talking silly and partisan about the Senate procedure,” said the host.
- In his speech, Obama called for reform of voting laws in the US, and drew parallels between racist police in the 1960s, which Lewis experienced first-hand, and the response to anti-racism protests by George Floyd.
- In an opinion piece written before he died, published on the day of his funeral, Lewis discussed the same issues raised by Obama.
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Fox News presenter Tucker Carlson lashed out at Barack Obama for delivering a prayer at civil rights icon John Lewis’ funeral in which he drew parallels between racist police in the 1960s and the police response to protests in George Floyd.
In the Thursday night edition of “Tucker Carlson Tonight,” the presenter played a clip of Obama’s prayer delivered at Lewis’s funeral that same day.
In the speech, Obama addressed the ongoing protests against police brutality that has swept across the United States, and praised Lewis as the founding father of “a better and more complete United States.”
—Acyn Torabi (@Acyn) July 31, 2020
In service at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, Obama established a direct connection between racist police and 1960s politicians who fought Lewis and other civil rights figures, and the police response to George Floyd’s anti-racist protests of today.
“Bull Connor may be gone, but today we are witnesses with our own eyes, police officers kneeling on the neck of black Americans,” Obama said. “George Wallace may be gone, but we can witness how our federal government sends officers to use tear gas and batons against peaceful protesters.”
He called for the removal of the Senate filibuster rule, which has been used as a partisan technique to avoid passing legislation on electoral reform.
Obama’s prayer at the funeral was greeted with standing ovations, but Carlson accused the former president of using the event to earn political points.
“It’s hard to believe that that clip is real, but it is, down to the coined false accent, Mister of Hawaii. Imagine if a greasy politician showed up at your loved one’s funeral and started talking about stupid partisan talking points about the Senate procedure, “Carlson said.
“Can you imagine that? You’d be surprised if that happened. You’d probably leave. Desecrate a funeral with campaign slogans? What kind of person would do that?”
“Does the crumbling country divided by racial strife and tribalism and one of the most respected people in the entire country decide to pump it up and compare the police to Bull Connor?
“As if the United States or Minneapolis were like Birmingham, Alabama in 1963? It’s crazy. It’s reckless,” Carlson said of Obama’s words.
In a tweet, historian Kevin Kruse noted that the issues Obama addressed in his speech were those that Lewis wrote about in an op-ed in The New York Times that was scheduled for publication on the day of his funeral.
—Kevin M. Kruse (@KevinMKruse) July 31, 2020
