Tucker Carlson recycles an old trope
I’m at home today, allegedly resting before I pull an all-nighter to help bring you election coverage from NPR.
So like any sane person in my position on a day like this, I’m hunched over my laptop with dirty hair in my pajamas, reading all the headlines - having called upon my sweet husband to bring in breakfast because “I need to relax.”
Naturally, this headline caught my eye:
“Tucker Carlson Says Abortions Cause Hurricanes On Election Eve Broadcast”
As the New York Times and other outlets have reported, Carlson made that claim on a podcast hosted by former Trump advisor Steve Bannon, who was recently released from federal prison after serving four months for contempt of Congress. Carlson rejected the conclusions of researchers who’ve shown that climate change is making hurricanes more severe.
But I want to point out something else. This idea - that perceived moral failures are somehow causing disasters and crises of various kinds - is nothing new.
A decade ago, James Dobson - the psychologist and longtime Christian right leader whom I’ve written about for Time Magazine and in my book The Exvangelicals - blamed the Sandy Hook shooting on abortion and gay marriage.
The late Pat Robertson also repeatedly blamed natural disasters and terrorist attacks on much the same.
I’m not going to quote either one of them here, but I want to highlight the fact that this is an old trope.
For the record - and to state what I think is obvious to most - there’s no evidence that any hot-button culture war issue is contributing to hurricanes or human violence - realities which have sadly been with us always, and don’t appear to be going anywhere anytime soon.
Anyway, Happy Election Day. I’ve stocked up on energy drinks and protein bars and my colleagues and I will be here all night.
Take care of you.
I lived in a suburb of New Orleans when Hurricane Katrina hit. During the chaos afterward, Robertson, Falwell, Hagee and other evangelist blamed the "sinfulness" of New Orleans for the destruction. I noticed that after TWO hurricanes recently hit Florida in a very short period of time no evangelist came forward to put the blame on sin. A huge apology is owed to the city of New Orleans, but I know that will never come. Shame on those hypocrites. BTW, I bought and read Exvangelicals a few months ago and it was very comforting to me, even though I never really called myself an evangelical. I became a born-again Christian as an adult, but witnessed much of what you cover in the book during the 18 years I was part of the Southern Baptist Church. Thanks for this book.
I grew up hearing that gay people would make hurricanes flood Florida and earthquakes break California off from the mainland. Old trope indeed. Good luck tonight and thank you for your work.