“This comes within the context of the Kyle Rittenhouse trial, which had nothing whatsoever to do with race, but for more than a year, our national media have framed it as some sort of referendum on American race relations and white supremacy,” Fox News host (and person who always leaves his credit card at home when going out on a group lunch, but he’ll hit ya back later) Tucker Carlson declares.  “They made it all about race.  It’s possible that Daryl Brooks bought into the propaganda.  It seems to be all over his Facebook account.  So the media may be responsible for these murders, having convinced this man and certainly a lot of other people in the country that the Kyle Rittenhouse case was about race.  They had a role in this, in other words.”

Pay attention to how Carlson craftily takes something that he cannot prove or apparently doesn’t have evidence of–the claim that Daryl Brooks drove his vehicle into the Waukesha holiday parade because of political reasons–into a full-blown claim that the media “may be responsible for” those killed… even though there’s no evidence of a that motive at all. 

Step 1 – Create the false background:  “…our national media have framed it as some sort of referendum on American race relations and white supremacy…”  The media didn’t say Rittenhouse shot people because of race.  Rittenhouse inserted himself into a situation that was caused by an event with racial implications, but the Rittenhouse killings were an issue of gun rights, militias and self-defense laws.

Step 2 – Create the false premise:  “… It’s possible that Daryl Brooks bought into the propaganda. …”  Oh, it’s “possible.”  Yeah.  That’s possible.  It’s also possible that a Rothschild Space Laser severed his cerebellum and caused him to lash out.  Or maybe he didn’t like the colors green and red.  Or… anything.  “Possible” is not a journalistic standard for broadcast.

Step 3 – Make your case:  “… So the media may be responsible for these murders, …”  Yeah, so because the driver might have bought into the racial angle you assert without evidence the media superimposed on the event, we should just assume the media did it.

Step 4 – Expand the accusation:  “… having convinced this man and certainly a lot of other people in the country…”  Oh, we know this happened, Tucker asserts, and if it happened in this case, you KNOW that darn media infected others.

Step 5 – Restate the assertion:  “…They had a role in this…”  What was once a proposition is now a definite assertion.