Tucker Carlson has been slammed on social media this week for suggesting that the perceived relationship between President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden is a "PR stunt".
According to MSNBC News, the Fox News anchor made his controversial comments in response to some Valentine's Day-themed coverage of the First Couple's relationship over the weekend.
Carlson made his comments in the video below:In a segment on the news program, the journalist took particular issue with a piece in Politico which referred to Joe and Jill Biden's public displays of affection as "genuine" and "restorative".
In an angry tirade, an acutely-sarcastic Carlson stated:
"Not since Antony dined with Cleopatra in downtown Antioch - before they killed themselves, obviously - has a country witnessed a love story as poignant as Jill and Joe's.
"Together, they are like besotted teens, yet, at the same time, they are the wise and knowing parents of a nation."
Carlson continued:
"So it's official: The Bidens' affection is totally real.
"It's in no way part of a slick PR campaign devised by cynical consultants determined to hide the president's senility by misdirection.
"Not at all! Their love is as real as climate change."
On social media, a number of viewers of the rant have decried what they view as baseless conspiracy theories pushed by Carlson, and have criticized his suspicion as to the validity of the President's marriage.
For instance, one Twitter user compared Carlson's comments with a picture of Donald and Melania Trump looking forlorn together, and joked: "Tucker went on to note that this is the picture showing true love."
Meanwhile, someone else stated: "They're so jealous of them because: 1) She will never swat his hand away. 2) He will never have to pay off a porn star.
"3) There are no tacky naked pics of Jill. 4) There are no rape charges against Joe. 5) Jill will never have to go into hiding while her kidneys are fluffed. [sic]"
Another person commented: "This is just weird, I really don’t think they [anti-Biden commentators] have any idea how to go after him"
Finally, someone else chimed in: "My Biden love story is that I once watched Joe walk onto AF2 and get very concerned that Jill wasn’t already there... she was hiding in the overhead compartment to prank him. Also, climate change is real."
According to Vogue, Jill Biden first Joe Biden on a blind date set up by his brother Frank while he was serving as a senator back in March 1975.
Although Joe was nearly nine years her senior by the time of their first meeting, Jill was impressed by his cordial manners, and Vogue reports that after their first date she allegedly told her mother: "Mom, I finally met a gentleman."
Jill divorced her first husband, former college football player Bill Stevenson, in May of that year, and pursued a relationship with Joe from that point onwards.
Joe proposed to Jill several times, but she was wary about accepting and being forced into the public eye through her personal connection to a senior politician.
Eventually, Jill accepted, and per The New York Times, the two of them were married by a Catholic priest on June 17, 1977, at the Chapel at the United Nations in New York City.
