Fox News host Tucker Carlson argued that Democrats are using COVID-19 and the hitherto unknown risks of the new Omicron variant as an excuse to seize more power and further trample on Americans' their civil liberties, raising the specter of a strict lockdown like the one in Australia.
The anchor opened his top-rated show, Tucker Carlson Tonight, on Wednesday by mocking the Biden Administration for imposing a travel ban on the citizens of Mozambique, where no Omicron cases have been identified, as part of a possible mix-up with the country of Botswana, where two people may have succumbed to the new COVID variant.
'Either way, Mozambique and Botswana don't even share a border, so people in Mozambique were highly confused and probably a little hurt,' Carlson remarked.
He then took aim at Dr Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, whom he compared to Benito Mussolini earlier this week, calling him out for dodging an African reporter's question about the inexplicable travel ban targeting Mozambique.
Fox News' Tucker Carlson on Wednesday accused Democrats of using the Omicron variant of COVID-19 as a pretext to trample Americans' civil liberties
Omicron was first detected in South Africa earlier this month, igniting worldwide panic and leading to a new round of restrictions
Dr Angelique Coetzee, chair of the South African Medical Association and the first person to spot the new variant in a patient, said her patients infected with Omicron reported different and much milder symptoms, including tiredness, muscle aches, a sore head and a dry cough. But none reported the tell-tale symptoms of a loss of smell or taste or breathing difficulties
'So as of right now, we still don't know why there is a White House travel ban on Mozambique,' Carlson told his audience. 'Presumably, the answer is because it's in Africa and Africa is where all of this started.'
Carlson then brought up Dr Angelique Coetzee, chair of the South African Medical Association and the first person to spot the new variant in a patient, who the Fox News presenter said has been 'horrified' to witness politicians in the US and other countries taking extreme measures to try to contain Omicron.
'I have been stunned at the response,' Coetzee wrote in an article for the DailyMail.com. 'No one here in South Africa is known to have been hospitalized with the Omicron variant, nor has anyone here believed to have fallen seriously ill with it.'
On Wednesday, Dr Fauci announced that the first known case of the Omicron variant in the US has been detected in California.
Fauci said the patient was 'fully vaccinated,' experienced only mild symptoms and was on the mend.
Carlson said what this case should teach us is that even the the most stringent COVID restrictions, including wearing masks, social distancing and vaccinations cannot stop the spread of COVID.
Carlson slammed Dr Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, for dodging questions about a travel ban on the Omicron-free Mozambique
'So maybe the lesson here is viruses are very hard to stop,' he said. 'Sometimes they're virtually impossible to stop because they spread with remarkable efficiency.'
Carlson then blasted the Biden Administration for apparently not
