Watch:
CARLSON: “The collapse of the cryptocurrency exchange FTX. … The biggest single-day loss of assets in the history of money. … Billions of dollars evaporated in just moments, and it’s still not clear what happened to a lot of that money. It just disappeared, and as it did it sparked a growing financial crisis across entire sectors of the economy. But the story of the FTX implosion is bigger even than the global recession it may cause. It is the story of the complete and utter corruption of the people who run our country. The very people who should have been covering and regulating and reining in FTX and its 30-year-old founder Sam Bankman-Fried were instead profiting from the scam. From the news media paid off by Sam Bankman-Fried, to the leadership of the Democratic Party, also paid off by Sam Bankman-Fried, to the chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission, the SEC [chair] himself, Gary Gensler. They all knew that FTX was not a real company. And if they didn’t know that, they certainly should have known that, because it was very obvious to anyone who bothered to pay attention.”
Yeah, he donated to Democrats. The Democrats who took his money should be ashamed of themselves, huh? Well, about that.
In a new interview with cryptocurrency blogger Tiffany Fong, Bankman-Fried admitted that he’s donated just as much to Republicans over the years as he has to Democrats.
Weird, right?
BANKMAN-FRIED: “I donate to both parties. I donate about the same amount to both parties. … That was not generally known because, despite Citizens United being literally the highest-profile Supreme Court case of the decade and the thing everyone talks about when they talk about campaign finance, for some reason, in practice, no one can possibly fathom the idea that someone in practice actually gave dark. So, I don’t know, all my Republican donations were dark. … And the reason was not for regulatory reasons, it’s because reporters freak the fuck out if you donate to a Republican. They’re all super liberal, and I didn’t want to have that fight, so I just made all the Republican ones dark.”
Yeah, one second while I fix Mr. Bankman-Fried’s quote. Ah, yes, here we go: “All my Republican donations were dark. And the reason was not for regulatory reasons, it’s because reporters decent humans freak the fuck out if you donate to a Republican.”
So, yeah, Citizens United—the landmark Supreme Court case that most Democrats decry and most Republicans defend as a sacrosanct defense of free speech. That’s the lever that charlatans like Bankman-Fried use to magically create the regulatory environment they want.
So what does Tucker think about tighter crypto regulations, considering that government overreach is Democrats’ original and abiding sin?
From the Nov. 17, 2022, edition of Tucker Carlson Tonight, via Media Matters:
CARLSON: “Sam Bankman-Fried was considered a moral leader even as he was ripping off millions of people. But no one benefited long-term from FTX’s collapse or will benefit more than government regulators. They’re pointing to FTX and demanding more control over cryptocurrency and ultimately the end of the cash economy. Why do we think they’re going to do that? Because they’re already working on it. SEC commissioner Hester Peirce said this week the demise of FTX could be a, quote, catalyst for more regulation. So why should you worry about that? Well, because as we saw in Canada last year, crypto is a huge problem for governments. Governments can’t control, ideally, cryptocurrency. You can’t freeze someone’s personal cold wallet with crypto in it if you don’t like what they say.”
Carlson: “Democrats let this crypto company run wild, and now its collapse is threatening the world economy! Where are the regulators?”
Also Carlson: “Democrats better not use this story to impose more regulations on crypto companies! That’s socialism!”
RELATED STORY: Did this CEO slip up and brag to Fox News’ Tucker Carlson about illegally bribing an FTC regulator?
Meanwhile, Fox News’ Jesse Watters, the Edward R. Murrow of basement carpet mushrooms, plainly stated that “the Democratic Party finds itself in the middle of the biggest financial fraud case in U.S. history.”
Hmm, yeah. Well, the Republican Party is right in the middle of that muddy scrum, too. Wonder if this new revelation will lead these frauds’ shows for the next several days. That would only be fair, right?
Of course, Republicans have always been hostile to government regulations. Even after the financial sector collapsed the economy in the late 2000s, they seemed to have little appetite for holding the bad guys accountable or meaningfully changing the regulatory environment. In fact, in 2016, nearly every Republican presidential candidate favored either a full or partial repeal of the Dodd-Frank Act, which sought to create a stricter regulatory environment on the heels of the 2008 financial crisis. (Ben Carson’s stance was reportedly “unclear,” like virtually everything else he says.)
Now, the cynic in me wonders if maybe, just maybe, Carlson, Watters, et al, are less interested in keeping the financial industry in check than in using FTX’s abrupt collapse as a cudgel against Democrats. But come on, you’d have to be a monster to think like that, right?
At one point, Carlson even asked, “What about the money Sam Bankman-Fried gave to the Democratic Party? Will the Democrats have to give it back to the people who were defrauded?” Good question! Now do Republicans.
So tune in tonight for Tucker’s lengthy mea culpa. Or maybe tomorrow night. Or perhaps weeks from now. Or months. He has to address this at some point, right?
Right?
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