Tucker Carlson appears to endorse Harvey Milk's murderer in college yearbook

Fox News opinion host Tucker Carlson, in his 1991 Trinity College yearbook, identified himself as a member of the Christian Fellowship, the Jesse Helms Foundation, and something called the "Dan White Society," The Wrap confirmed Wednesday night. "Dan White" isn't a terribly uncommon name, but probably the most famous Dan White is the man who murdered San Francisco Mayor George Macone and city Supervisor Harvey Milk — California's first openly gay elected official — in 1978.

Trinity College said it has no records of a "Dan White Society" and there's no other mention in the 1991 yearbook, The Wrap reports, but the college did confirm that Carlson's yearbook entry is real. The Christian Fellowship and Jesse Helms Foundation are also real, the latter calling itself a "nonprofit, non-political foundation" that's "focused on the principles of our founding fathers, traditional American values, and the causes which United States Senator Jesse Helms championed throughout his 30-year career." Helms is best known for opposing civil rights, abortion, homosexuality, and AIDS funding.

Carlson appeared to get try to get ahead of the story on Tuesday night's show, warning of yearbook revelations "from the world of Big Tech" — evidently because The Washington Post is owned by Amazon's Jeff Bezos. He also suggested his old yearbook might be politically damaging. "This is a news show," Carlson opined, "it's not a political campaign. No one here is running for anything or plans to." (Sorry, Tucker 2024 hopefuls.)

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"It's not yet clear what exactly the Dan White Society was," The Wrap says, but clearly "Carlson believes inappropriate old yearbook content is fair game for criticism: In 2020, he called Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam 'Governor Klan Robes Blackface,' referring to a previously uncovered set of yearbook photos showing the then-student in a Ku Klux Klan costume and blackface."

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Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.