Even though other conservatives have stopped publicly cheering for Vladimir Putin and Russia, or at least most of them, Tucker is still pushing Putin’s propaganda. Even Donald Trump sees that public praise for Russia is a political liability, and it must be extremely painful for him to be biting his tongue to refrain from gushing out love for Vladimir Putin. The public may frown on calling a guy a genius who just bombed a baby hospital. But Tucker’s still in.
Yesterday, Mother Jones reporter David Corn exposed a leaked memo from the Kremlin to Russian media outlets stating to them that it is “essential” to feature as much Tucker Carlson as possible.
The 12-page memo says: “It is essential to use as much as possible fragments of broadcasts of the popular Fox News host Tucker Carlson, who sharply criticizes the actions of the United States [and] NATO, their negative role in unleashing the conflict in Ukraine, [and] the defiantly provocative behavior from the leadership of the Western countries and NATO towards the Russian Federation and towards President Putin, personally.”
The state-produced document titled, “For Media and Commentators,” sums up Carlson’s position with, “Russia is only protecting its interests and security.” The memo includes a quote from Carlson: “And how would the US behave if such a situation developed in neighboring Mexico or Canada?”
Those situations have developed in neighboring Mexico or Canada as both nations, like Ukraine, are democracies. Unlike Putin and Tucker, we’re fine with democracies.
The document was leaked to Mother Jones from an anonymous contributor to a Russian “news” outlet. Expect Tucker and the rest of Fox News to decry it coming from an anonymous source, though that source would probably trip off a 15-story building if he or she wasn’t anonymous. Then, Tucker could cover that saying Putin’s critics are clumsy oafs.
The document reads as if Tucker wrote it himself. It tells the media/propaganda outlets that the Russian invasion is “preventing the possibility of nuclear strikes on its territory”; Ukraine has a history of nationalism (never mind Russia’s nationalism); the Russian military operation is proceeding as planned; Putin is protecting all Russians; the “losing” Ukrainian army is shelling residential areas of eastern Ukraine controlled by Russia; foreign mercenaries are arriving in Ukraine; Europe “is facing more and more problems” because of its own sanctions, and there will be “danger and possible legal consequences” for Russians who protest the war. The memo says it is “necessary to continue quoting” Putin.
The memo claims the “hysteria of the West had reached the inexplicable level” of people calling for killing dogs and cats from Russia. The memo instructs the Russian “journalists” to ask, “Today they call for the killing of animals from Russia. Tomorrow, will they call for killing people from Russia?”
The memo orders Russian “journalists” to report that “the Ukrainian military is beginning to collapse; the Kyiv government is guilty of ‘war crimes’; and Moscow is the target of a ‘massive Western anti-Russian propaganda’ operation.”
It orders Russian media to raise questions about Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky’s state of mind and suggest he is not in charge of Ukraine. The memo encourages outlets to “broadcast messages” highlighting the law recently passed by the Russian Duma that makes it a crime to impede the war effort or spread what the government deems “false news” about the war, punishable for up to 15 years in prison. This section of the memo instructs Russian “journalists” to emphasize that these penalties apply to anyone who reports news about Ukrainian military victories or Russian attacks on civilian targets, like baby hospitals. Has Tucker reported on the shelling of a baby hospital, or the kindergarten, or apartment complexes, etc, etc?
No other western journalist, as if Tucker is a journalist, is mentioned in the memo.
Before the war, Carlson asked his viewers, “Why do Democrats want you to hate Putin? Has Putin shipped every middle-class job in your town to Russia? Did he manufacture a worldwide pandemic that wrecked your business? Is he teaching your kids to embrace racial discrimination? Is he making fentanyl? Does he eat dogs?”
Tucker repeatedly argued there is no reason for the United States to support Ukraine as it’s not a democracy and is really just a “client-state” of the U.S. He told his viewers it was “not treason, it is not un-American” to support Putin. Actually, it kinda is.
After the invasion began, Carlson shifted to blaming the United States for Russia’s attack, claiming the U.S. goaded Putin into the war.
After Russia claimed the United States set up biowarfare labs in Ukraine, Tucker said, “Russian disinformation they’ve been telling us for days is a lie and a conspiracy theory and crazy and immoral to believe is, in fact, totally and completely true.” Of course, it’s not proven yet Tucker repeats the pro-Russian talking points. I’m not sure where Tucker gets that “totally and completely true” part…oh yeah. From the Kremlin.
The memo includes all sorts of crazy conspiracy theories such as the United States creating a virus in Ukraine to destroy Russians (does that sound familiar?), and that the U.S. will transmit the pathogens “by wild birds migrating between Ukraine, Russia, and other neighboring countries.” It’s not much crazier than Tucker’s “great-replacement” conspiracy theory.
The Kremlin wants Russian media outlets to feature as much of Tucker as possible as he’s making all the same talking points in the memo. Just like with Donald Trump, the lines got blurry with who was directing who between Trump and Fox News. At times, it seemed like Fox News was pushing Trump’s lies and at other times, it seemed Trump was repeating Fox News. Here, the lines get blurry between Tucker and the Kremlin. Hell, maybe Tucker wrote the Kremlin memo.
The worst part may be that Tucker is broadcasting his show from the United States when he should be broadcasting it from Moscow.
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