Donald Trump is the key to returning democracy to America, political commentator and veteran talk-show host Tucker Carlson said Thursday night at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee.
“The entire point—from the famous escalator ride nine years ago until today—for Donald Trump’s public life has been to remind us of one fact, which is a leader’s duty is to his people, to his country, and to no other,” Carlson said. “Another word for this is democracy.”
Democrats and many in the media repeatedly have claimed that Trump is an existential threat to democracy. But, Carlson noted, politicians in Washington have refused to respond to the will of the people for generations.
“Democracy, in case you’re a little sick of being beaten in the face with ‘democracy’ on television, actual democracy is the proposition that the citizens of the country own that country,” Carlson said, referring to Democrats’ Trump-is-a-threat-to-democracy narrative.
“They are not renters, not slaves, not serfs,” he said of Americans. “They are the owners.”
Carlson talked about the moments after Trump was shot, when he stood back up surrounded by Secret Service agents and put a hand in the air to reassure and inspire his watching supporters. He then repeatedly shook his fist and shouted, “Fight! Fight! Fight!”
“The effect that it had on Donald Trump—he was no longer a political party’s nominee or a former president or a future president. This was the leader of a nation,” Carlson said.
And being a leader means more than being a president, he said.
“You can’t name someone a leader,” Carlson said. “A leader is the bravest man. That’s who the leader is. That is true in all human organizations. This is a law of nature.”
The former Fox News host noted that Trump’s reaction to the shooting has not been that of the divisive, irresponsible figure that the media tries to portray Trump as.
“He turned down the most obvious opportunity in politics to inflame the nation after being shot—to inflame the nation—which is an opportunity almost every politician I’ve ever met and certainly his opponent would have taken instantly,” Carlson said.