Fox News Channel (via Twitter)
February 19, 2021, 6:45 am
Fox News Channel host Tucker Carlson went live on Sunday—specifically, on Valentine’s Day—to insinuate that the long and happy marriage of Joe and Jill Biden is actually a PR stunt that political consultants concocted.
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He specifically noted, “The Bidens’ affection is totally real” in a segment dripping with sarcasm, adding, “It’s in no way part of a slick PR campaign devised by cynical consultants determined to hide the president’s senility by misdirection.”
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(Insider notes the Bidens married on June 17, 1977, at the United Nations Chapel in New York City, though presumably, this elaborate ruse would have also have involved a courtship phase after they first met in 1975.)
Carlson punctuated his musings with a line that means something totally different to a conspiracy theory-loving Fox News audience than The Rest of Us: “Their love is as real as climate change.”
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Carlson’s riff on Sunday seemed to be responding, in part, to a Politico article titled, “‘It just symbolizes everything’: Bidens bring presidential PDA back to the White House.”
The article observed, in part, “On a mission to rebuild institutional norms and help heal a hurting nation, Joe and Jill Biden are trying something novel after four years of the Trumps: a little tenderness.”
After listing a few of their public displays of affections—including the couple’s walk on the White House grounds, amidst cutesy candy heart decorations that Jill Biden conceived—the article went on to say, “The romantic gestures between the Bidens — who are spending Valentine’s Day weekend with family at Camp David — are representative not only of their resilient, 43-year marriage, but also of the new president’s self-proclaimed ‘tactile’ style of interpersonal communication.”
It also contrasted their touchy-feely style with the “sometimes chilly public interactions” of Donald and Melania Trump, which “shattered the steady cultural progression of first couples growing increasingly comfortable expressing affection in front of the cameras.”
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Carlson delivered a sarcastic monologue about the Bidens and their love, including the observation, “Not since Antony dined with Cleopatra in downtown Antioch—before they killed themselves, obviously—has a country witnessed a love story as poignant as Jill and Joe’s. Together, they are like besotted teens, yet, at the same time, they are the wise and knowing parents of a nation.”
People on Twitter had fun at Carlson’s expense, with one going to a now-infamous photo from the Trump Inauguration that, for many, provided visual evidence of the Trumps’ lack of marital bliss.
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Another observed, “This is just weird, I really don’t think they have any idea how to go after him.”
Another person then jumped in with a history and literature fact check, noting, “Downtown Antioch? Does he mean Tarsus? Even @TuckerCarlson‘s attempts at pedantry are ridiculous and mocking long-term monogamy is just vile.” Then, referencing Cleopatra’s suicide, she added, “I pity Mrs. Carlson. If I were married to a vicious yet whiny aging frat boy posing as an intellectual, I’d be ordering myself an asp.”
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Stephen Colbert weighed in to observe, “Tucker Carlson said Joe and Jill Biden’s marriage is “as real as climate change.” Because it’s been around since the Carter administration, and it’s only getting hotter?”
*First Published: February 19, 2021, 6:45 am
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