Tucker Carlson: Meghan Markle latest example of elites' unseemly victimhood

Sunday's interview of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle by Oprah is everywhere in the news. The other news outlets are going wall-to-wall with it. (They’re natural fangirls, so of course they love the royals.) But we’re Americans. The idea of discussing the details of some dispute within a decayed monarchy felt too much like European history class. Who cares?  

It’s not like prince whatever-his-name-is and his angry wife from Los Angeles are compelling. You know exactly who they are.  He’s weak and unhappy. She’s a manipulative opportunist. So who do you root for in this? How about nobody? We were going to take a hard pass on the whole thing, but then we heard some of it:

MARKLE: A few days before the wedding, she [Kate Middleton] was upset about something pertaining to, yes, the issue was correct, about the flower girl dresses, and it made me cry, and it really hurt my feelings."

The princess, or duchess, or whatever she is – not that we know the difference – one of the most famous and fawned-over people in the world, told Oprah that she was incredibly wounded because she got into some kind of petty argument about dresses with her sister-in-law at her wedding three years ago. Stop the presses: She and her sister-in-law had a tiff about clothes. That’s never happened before. She thinks this is important enough to bring up in a television interview. It was her 9/11, so of course she considers it newsworthy.  

TOMI LAHREN RESPONDS TO MEGHAN MARKLE AFTER OPRAH INTERVIEW: DO YOU THINK YOU'RE SOME KIND OF VICTIM?

Meghan Markle is a narcissist. We guessed that. But that’s not the whole story. What she’s really saying is that despite her enormous wealth and fame; despite the fact she never has to cook her own dinner or drive her own car ever again for as long as she lives; despite the fact that every time she heads to the gym, the journey is treated like the moon landing by an army of awestruck reporters; despite the fact that she’s literally a princess — sorry, duchess — she is actually an oppressed victim. She may look powerful, but she’s powerless, which she explained to Oprah.

MARKLE: That's the sad irony of the last four years, is I've advocated for so long for women to use their voice, and then, I was silent.

OPRAH WINFREY: Were you silent or were you silenced?

Meghan Markle: The latter ... I came to understand that not only was I not being protected, but that they were willing to lie to protect other members of the family, but they weren't willing to tell the truth to protect me and my husband

"I had bodyguards but I was not protected. I was silenced!" says the lady doing a TV interview with Oprah Winfrey. "When I speak, only 100 million people hear it around the world — though to be fair, that number rises considerably once you count DVR and internet views. But the point remains: I have been silenced. I am a victim."

A rational person might consider this claim absurd. But, amazingly, no one else seems to think it is. Oprah clearly doesn’t think it’s absurd. She’s deeply empathetic. Oprah’s worth more than a billion dollars, but she knows the pain, because she sees herself as a victim too. She often says so. You’re not allowed to make fun of this, and you’re definitely not allowed to mock the oppressed duchess.  

Our friend Piers Morgan just did that on television in the U.K., and had to resign from his job.

PIERS MORGAN LEAVES 'GOOD MORNING BRITAIN' AFTER RIPPING MEGHAN MARKLE

Rich people are oppressed, period. And if you claim otherwise, they will use their total powerlessness to get you fired. It’s not just duchesses, by the way. A member of America’s own royal family told us how incredibly difficult her life is from her castle in Martha’s Vineyard,

MICHELLE OBAMA, Aug. 17, 2020: Now, I understand that my message won't be heard by some people. We live in a nation that is deeply divided, and I am a Black woman speaking at the Democratic convention.

Yeah, no one can hear you, Michelle. It was just a prime-time speaking slot at the Democratic National Convention. When, oh when, will your voice be heard, Michelle Obama? When will you get the credit you’re so sorely due for all of your remarkable achievements? Unfortunately, America’s not quite ready for you yet. And, honestly, that’s our fault. We’re a backward country. We apologize.   

One person we should definitely apologize to more is Hillary Clinton. Four years ago, in a weak moment that we’re now ashamed of, we stole something from Hillary, something that was hers, something that she owned. It was the presidency of the United States. That office belonged to Hillary Clinton. We knew it at the time. It had a little dry cleaning tag on the back with her initials on it. But we stole it anyway — we and the Russians, and the FBI director and Facebook and the Macedonians and the Democratic Party itself. We’re all guilty here, as Hillary has repeatedly explained.

HILLARY CLINOTN: "The Russians -- I say WikiLeaks, same thing, dumped the John Podesta e-mails ... I have my complaints about former [FBI] Director [James] Comey ... The use of my e-mail account was turned into, you know, the biggest scandal since Lord knows when ... They covered it like it was Pearl Harbor ... If you look at Facebook, the vast majority of the news items posted were fake ... There's all these stories about you know, guys over in Macedonia who are running these fake news sites ... I inherit nothing from the Democratic Party.

HILLARY CLINTON, WHO SAYS NEW YORKERS DESERVE 'ANSWERS' TO CUOMO ALLEGATIONS, ONCE HEADLINED 'WOMEN FOR CUOMO'

Remember, they gave Hillary Clinton a Senate seat because her husband was the president. They listened to her in rapt attention, despite the fact she’d never said a single word that wasn’t banal and predictable. By most standards, she would be considered a fairly accomplished overachiever. How many of her classmates in high school thought she’d get this far? Probably not too many. But because we didn’t hand her the keys to the most powerful country in the world, she believes she’s been deeply wronged. She’s a victim, and she’s mad about it. 

You see this attitude everywhere all of a sudden — the most powerful claiming to be powerless and wronged.  

Taylor Lorenz, for example, writes for the New York Times. She’s at the very top of journalism’s repulsive little food chain. Lorenz is far younger than prominent New York Times reporters used to be, and also much less talented. You’d think Taylor Lorenz would be grateful for the remarkable good luck she’s had. But no. 

Destroyed her life? By most people’s standards, Taylor Lorenz would seem to have a pretty good life. One of the best in the country, actually. Lots of people are suffering right now, but no one’s suffering quite as much as Taylor Lorenz is suffering. People have criticized her opinions on the internet, and it’s destroyed her life. Let’s pause on International Women’s Day and recognize that. You thought female Uighurs had it bad. You haven’t talked to Taylor Lorenz.  

What’s going on here? A lot of things, probably. For rich people, deciding that you’re a victim has many levels of appeal. For one thing, it gives meaning to your decadent, empty life. There are only so many expensive vacations you can take to St. Barth’s, only so many overpriced clothes you can buy, only so many dumb parties you can go to in Aspen before you begin to realize that none of it is enough. None of it really means anything. It’s empty. Victimhood solves that problem. When you’re a victim, you’re inherently significant. Martyrdom means you’re forever the hero of the story. So you can see why narcissists love it, and there are a lot of those right now.

But there is another, darker effect of all this, an effect that has changed our country. When powerful people decide they’re oppressed, the balance of power changes. If you were very rich, you might imagine that you owed something to the people below you. Noblesse oblige, they used to call it, back when we had a responsible ruling class that thought about other people.

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Previous generations of rich people understood this very well, and they taught their children this: To whom much is given, much is expected. That was the deal for centuries. But self-identified victimhood instantly nullifies this deal, and restores power to the powerful. No one expects anything from a victim. Victims don’t give, they receive.

"That poor duchess," you think to yourself, "I hope she’s OK". Of course, she should be thinking that very thing about you, but she’s not.

This article is adapted from Tucker Carlson's opening commentary on the March 9, 2021 edition of "Tucker Carlson Tonight"