Fox News host Tucker Carlson took the opportunity to use a public health crisis to bludgeon a mayor with outspoken progressive politics.
On Wednesday, Carlson attacked the Democratic mayor of Jackson, Mississippi, Chokwe Lumumba, because the city is experiencing a water shortage.
Flooding in the city forced the closure of a water-treatment plant that is reportedly long overdue for maintenance and upgrades. That has forced citizens to wait in lines for potable water and for water to use in bathing, cooking, and toilets.
The Fox News host played a clip of Mr Lumumba — whose name he scoffed at — saying he wanted to make the state's capital the "most radical city on the planet."
"We're going to make certain that we change the whole scope of electoral politics," he said in the clip.
Carlson then mocked the majority-Black city.
“So that’s truly a radical city. So radical that you literally can’t have water. Next step, take away roads and indoor heating," he said. "Once you’ve taken away flush toilets, there’s really no limit to the radicalism Mayor Lumumba can bring to Jackson, Mississippi.”
Carlson appears to be placing the blame for a flood and a faulty water treatment facility on the mayor. However, according to the mayor, his predecessors kicked the can down the road when it came to updating the treatment facility.
This kind of issue is not uncommon in poorer areas where upgrading city-maintained infrastructure likely means either selling it to private operators where applicable or raising the money for the upgrades through levys, which are almost always unpopular with residents.
Approximately a quarter of Jackson's residents live in poverty. The city's median household income is $40,064, according to US Census data. The US median household income is $67,521.
During the 2021 power outages in Texas – blamed by some on mismanagement of the private energy grid company ERCOT and a powerful winter storm – Carlson blamed the Green New Deal, a policy that has never been implemented in law.
"Unbeknownst to most people, the Green New Deal came to Texas; the power grid in the state became totally reliant on windmills," he claimed.
While the state produces the largest amount of wind power of any state, wind only accounts for 17.4 per cent of the its energy. Natural gas and coal make up the bulk of the state's power generation, at 47.4 per cent and 20.3 per cent, respectively.
The state government under Republican governor Greg Abbott was accused of failing to winterize wind turbines and natural gas infrastructure, which froze during Winter Storm Uri and ground energy production to a halt.
