Fox News anchor Maria Bartiromo again covered national security and immigration this week on her program Mornings with Maria. Bartiromo asserted that “there are 10 million illegals in the country” and “a lot of people are worried about, you know, illegal kids coming and replacing their kids, taking over schools, taking over buildings, where American citizens are.”
Maria Bartiromo on immigration: “A lot of people are worried about illegal kids coming and replacing their kids, and taking over schools, taking over buildings.” pic.twitter.com/fxwiO5nCfF
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) May 23, 2024
Bartiromo’s commentary echoes ‘The Great Replacement Theory‘ — a theory that suggests native-born whites are being intentionally displaced as ethnic majorities in their countries — which has been touted by far-right former Fox News star Tucker Carlson and others.
Bartiromo did not provide details about the group she refers to as “a lot of people” though among influential conservatives prominently featured in the media this is a frequent topic.
Elected officials who have endorsed the theory include U.S. Rep. Brian Babin (R-Texas) who said of his Democratic colleagues: “They want to change America, they want to replace the American electorate with third-world immigrants that are coming in illegally.”
Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick (R-Texas) said of Haitian migrants arriving at the border: “This is trying to take over our country without firing a shot.”
Conservative activist and radio host Charlie Kirk said on his show that the Biden administration’s immigration policy “is about bringing in voters that they like and, honestly, diminishing and decreasing white demographics in America.”
Those who push back against the theory call out its racist roots (and “white extinction” fears) and, more pressingly, the sometimes tragic results of its adoption.
After a mass shooting in Buffalo in 2022, where a white supremacist exclusively targeted Black victims, then-Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-Illinois), a Republican and Air Force Lt. Colonel who rejects the theory, said: “The replacement theory [that GOP leaders] are pushing/tolerating is getting people killed.”
(Kinzinger, mainly for his staunch opposition to Donald Trump including a vote to impeach him, has found himself out of office — replaced? — and out of favor in the increasingly MAGA-flavored GOP.)
Note: Not all prominent conservatives endorse the theory, even if the most vocal among them do. Former President George W. Bush has criticized the great replacement theory for being anti-American and for its roots in white supremacy.