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CNN's Jim Acosta calls Tucker Carlson a 'human-manure spreader' for his 'race-baiting' attacks on Afghan refugees

Left: Jim Acosta; right: Tucker Carlson
Left: AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana; right: AP Photo/Richard Drew, File
  • CNN's Jim Acosta referred to Tucker Carlson as a "human-manure spreader" after the Fox News host fear-mongered about Afghan arrival in the US. 
  • Carlson claimed that the US is taking in Afghan refugees to increase the pool of Democratic voters.
  • "It's the far right, not Afghan refugees, posing a threat to democracy," a CNN chyron read as Acosta spoke.

CNN's Jim Acosta ripped into Tucker Carlson on Saturday for vilifying Afghan refugees fleeing the Taliban. 

Carlson on Friday claimed that the United States is taking in Afghan refugees to increase the pool of Democratic voters in the country and sway future elections. 

"Over on Fox, human manure-spreader Tucker Carlson has floated yet another race-baiting conspiracy theory that tens of thousands of Afghan refugees are being welcomed into this country to change the outcome of future elections," Acosta shot back on Saturday. 

The US for weeks has been frantically trying to get Americans and fearful Afghans out of Taliban-run Afghanistan. A Homeland Security official said recently that the United States expects to welcome in at least 50,000 Afghans to resettle in the US. 

Carlson called the evacuation effort "Operation Change America Forever." In response, CNN put up a chyron as Acosta tore into Carlson, reading, "It's the far right, not Afghan refugees, posing a threat to democracy."

Carlson has been fear-mongering about the arrival of Afghans to the US for weeks. In another segment earlier in August, Carlson ominously warned of an invasion. 

"We will see many refugees from Afghanistan resettle in our country in coming months, probably in your neighborhood. And over the next decade, that number may swell to the millions," he said. "So first we invade and then we're invaded."

As of Wednesday, more than 23,000 Afghans have arrived in the US since evacuations from Kabul began, Axios reported. The Biden administration appointed former Delaware Gov. Jack Markell to oversee Afghan resettlement in the US.

But the resettlement effort has been rocky. Refugee resettlement agencies in the US have been scrambling to pull together staff, funding, and housing to accommodate the droves of arriving Afghans, Insider's Kenneth Niemeyer and Charles Davis reported.  These groups are trying to ramp up hiring efforts after severe program cuts made by the Trump administration. 

Funding from the federal government will likely bolster resettlement efforts. A State Department official told Bloomberg each evacuee could receive up to $2,275 to be spent on food, housing, or other necessities like enrolling children in school.