Last night, Fox News host Tucker Carlson opened his show by offering some trenchant analysis of Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s recent town hall with MSNBC’s Chris Hayes. Carlson called Ocasio-Cortez a “moron,” “nasty,” “awful” and mocked Hayes’ masculinity.
In mocking MSNBC's Chris Hayes last night, Fox News' Tucker Carlson—who has a documented history of white nationalist, racist & misogynist comments—blamed feminism for everything from Hayes' glasses to climate change, coming dangerously close to spouting male supremacist ideas. pic.twitter.com/t8a7ec9CTl
— Hatewatch (@Hatewatch) April 2, 2019
“Chris Hayes is what every man would be if feminists ever achieved absolute power in this country: apologetic, bespectacled, and deeply, deeply concerned about global warming and the patriarchal systems that cause it,” Tucker Carlson said. He later compared Hayes to Ellen Degeneres, saying “It looks like Ellen—kind of a fusion show.”
Whew, alright there’s plenty to unpack here (mostly for Carlson’s therapist), but suffice it to say that Carlson’s suggestion that Hayes isn’t masculine because he’s an empathetic, glasses-wearing wonk who’s smart enough to be concerned about climate change says less about Hayes’ masculinity than Carlson’s insecurity in his own.
Carlson has expressed similar fears of emasculation by powerful women in the past. In interviews with shock jock Bubba the Love Sponge unearthed by Media Matters, Carlson—on multiple occasions—voiced his castration anxiety when contemplating a possible Hillary Clinton presidency.
“Now, if [Clinton] were to get real power—let’s say she were to get absolute power, how long do you think it would take before she castrated you?” Carlson wondered. Days later he said, “Now the problem with Hillary is you look at Hillary and you know in your heart that if she could castrate you, she would.”
So obviously, Carlson and his ridiculously immature ideas about what constitutes a “masculine” man got roasted on Twitter.
the weirdest thing about tucker carlson is that he thinks he's an alpha male https://t.co/PxON02ncXv
— Marlow Stern (@MarlowNYC) April 2, 2019
One way you know Tucker Carlson is super confident in his masculinity is how much time he spends talking about how other men aren’t masculine enough https://t.co/WYMYzhn74j
— Judd Legum (@JuddLegum) April 2, 2019
Imagine your alphas are donald trump and tucker carlson
— Atrios (@Atrios) April 2, 2019
howling at the nerve of Little Lord Fauntleroy-ass Tucker Carlson calling anyone else a pussy
— Brandy Jensen (@BrandyLJensen) April 2, 2019
100% @TuckerCarlson is afraid to go to actual bars because he’s scared he’ll be confronted
— Marlow Stern (@MarlowNYC) April 2, 2019
And plenty of people agreed that Carlson’s characterization of men under an imagined matriarchy was… pretty good!
What an amazing self-own https://t.co/DRjd8HUZHA
— Matthew Yglesias (@mattyglesias) April 2, 2019
Good point from the guy who wore a bow tie until he got made fun of it on TV so bad his show got canceled https://t.co/red50KEZbW
— Dan O'Sullivan (@Bro_Pair) April 2, 2019
That’s… supposed to be bad? https://t.co/zvJtlxosm3
— Julian Sanchez (@normative) April 2, 2019
For his part, Hayes weighed in on Carlson’s comments on his Instagram story with a video of himself engaged in the traditionally masculinist pursuit of weight lifting.

“Every quarter the Feminarchist Junta requires all adult males to present themselves for a fitness inspection. Failure to pass results in summary execution,” Hayes wrote.
R.I.P. Tucker Carlson, I guess.
h/t: Daily Beast, Media Matters