Chuck Schumer Shouldn’t Be Demanding His Critics Be Taken Off the Airwaves

Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer wants Tucker Carlson taken off the air:

Now, I happen to agree that Carlson is being dishonest, for reasons detailed by Noah Rothman and Andy McCarthy and echoed by multiple Senate Republicans. As I discussed over the weekend, Carlson is deserving of less benefit of the doubt here given how he knowingly aired and effectively endorsed conspiracy theories about Dominion Voting Systems long after their debunking was not just obvious to everyone of good sense, but specifically acknowledged by Carlson in private text messages.

As a public official, Schumer is entirely within his rights to call this sort of thing out, and to blame Fox News for it. But it is irresponsible and dangerous for Schumer, as a man of high public position, to be calling on Fox and Rupert Murdoch — as Schumer does here — to pull Carlson off the airwaves. That is not a step one of the most powerful people in the national government should be taking, knowing the weight it carries. Schumer has been all too quick to untruth and demagoguery himself. In 2020, he stood on the Supreme Court steps and threatened two justices by name: “I want to tell you, Gorsuch. I want to tell you, Kavanaugh. You have unleashed the whirlwind, and you will pay the price. You won’t know what hit you if you go forward with these awful decisions.” An armed assassin later showed up at Kavanaugh’s house. In 2022, he called American elections a “rigged game.” Schumer is 72 years old; it is past time for him to start acting as if he is a grownup responsible for the power of his megaphone.