Tucker Carlson is a "useful idiot"
PLUS: Nikki Haley will lose to Donald Trump because her campaign strategy is awful
Tucker Carlson called the Jewish president of Ukraine “rat-like,” the vermin with which Hitler and Göbbels compared Europe’s Jews.
Like Hitler, Vladimir Putin invaded a neighboring nation without cause, claiming self-defense. The Russian army has desecrated Ukraine and kidnapped tens of thousands of children, while raping scores of thousands of Ukrainian children, women and grandmothers.
The Russian invasion is a criminal act that has the potential to engulf Europe and the world. Already, it has killed nearly one million people. Putin’s aims are as clear as his methods. He seeks a restoration of the Soviet Empire, minus the communism, in favor of a criminal kleptocracy over which men like Donald Trump drool. Vladimir Putin is the law in Russia. He is above and beyond it. Putin is an aggressive fascist and a sworn enemy of the United States.
Why is Tucker Carlson in Russia?
The answer is simple. Carlson despises America as much as Putin does, though for different reasons.
Tucker Carlson is what the Russians call a “useful idiot.” That is important to remember in the months ahead when his name drifts to the top of Trump’s vice presidential selection list, along with a parade of awfuls, such as the cynical Elise Stefanik, the “pathological prevaricator” Sarah Huckabee, and Corey Lewandowski’s mistress, South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem, who was gave Trump a replica of Mount Rushmore with the Donald’s head added.
Here is how CNN’s media reporter Oliver Darcy reported the Tucker Carlson interview:
Tucker Carlson’s interview with Vladimir Putin hasn’t been posted online yet, but he is already doing the Russian authoritarian’s bidding.
In a video posted to X announcing the sit-down Tuesday — the first interview Putin has granted with a Western media figure since his full-scale invasion of Ukraine two years ago — Carlson predictably and dishonestly villainized the press. The right-wing extremist, who has lauded autocrats in recent years, claimed English-speaking outlets are “corrupt” and “lie” to their audiences as they disseminate “propaganda of the ugliest kind.”
Tucker Carlson has become something of a Lord Haw Haw for our tumultuous times. He is a vessel for foreign poison to reach our free society, in which he seems to delight, undermining with lies, omissions and utter nonsense. It is important to remember that Tucker Carlson is not engaged in an act of dissent or speech. He is a propagandist carrying water for a Russian war criminal who hates the United States, and is committed to conflict with the west. He is a purveyor of racial malice, election denialism and dozens of conspiracy theories. He is being covered in Russia by state TV like the NFL covers Taylor Swift at a Chiefs game. It is a sickening display.
Tucker Carlson has become a dangerous demagogue in recent years. His actions and conduct are reprehensible. He is no journalist. He is a very bad American. Tucker Carlson is a stooge, and specifically he is Putin’s stooge. What a disgrace.
VIDEO COMMENTARY: Nikki Haley will lose to Donald Trump because her campaign strategy is awful
As I said in yesterday’s essay, anything remains possible in America — with the exception of Nikki Haley beating Donald Trump. What began as an audition for vice president has become a meaningless slog against the most dangerous demagogue in American history. Her campaign is exquisitely awful, small and uninspiring, calling Trump a “grumpy old man” (along with President Biden), as if that is the problem with Trump. More on that here:
What does it take to declare Carlson a traitor and ban him from reentering the US? There is a law against terrorism and this is worse tha terrorism!
Carlson needs to have his passport revoked.