(Michael Ramirez via the Washington Post) Looks like Tucker Carlson’s ploy to boost his and/or Putin’s ratings for an American audience may have backfired on *both* participants… and it could not happen to a more deserving duo. Do you know who loves Russia? Russians who were willing to be murdered or imprisoned to speak …
Late Night Open Thread: Tucker Carlson in MoscowPost + Comments (48)
What Putin Saw When He Was Interviewed by Tucker Carlson
Here was an easy mark. Carlson meekly tried to interrupt Putin a couple of times, to ask a question he seemed stuck on: Why hadn’t all this history and these territorial issues come up when Putin first became President, in 2000? It was an ill-informed question—Putin has trafficked in historical revisionism from the start and became increasingly obsessed with Ukraine after the Orange Revolution, in 2004—and an easy one for Putin to ignore. It seemed to show that Carlson was less well briefed than Putin, who dropped biographical trivia about Carlson into the conversation, a trademark intimidation tactic of a K.G.B. agent. He mentioned, for example, that Carlson had unsuccessfully tried to join the C.I.A…Most important from Putin’s point of view, Carlson seemed to share two of his basic assumptions: that the war in Ukraine is a proxy war with the United States and that any negotiations will take place between the Kremlin and the White House, presumably without involving Kyiv. Carlson even nudged Putin to call President Biden and say “Let’s work this out.” To which Putin responded that the message Russia wishes to convey to the U.S. is “Stop supplying weapons. It will be over within a few weeks.”…
Whiter. He means whiter. Just so we're being crystal clear. https://t.co/lLMTNXB89g
— zeddy (@Zeddary) February 13, 2024
Yes, the Russian government pools all the nation resources into creating and maintaining a Potemkin showpiece city, while the rest of the nation has no plumbing or drivable roads, precisely because morons like @TuckerCarlson will come away awed to spread tales of Russia's glory. https://t.co/268enHrL2e
— Slava Malamud ???????? (@SlavaMalamud) February 13, 2024
Once Carlson was canned for the third time, Russia was the inevitable final stop. https://t.co/Iuwd4YgM5g
— Tom Nichols (@RadioFreeTom) February 6, 2024
"Carlson, in a tweet, expressed pride in his accomplishment in having sat down for a state-managed lecture by one of the world’s great monsters. Putin, on the other hand, insulted Carlson throughout the interview." Russian officialdom liked it. https://t.co/PpV05hPwPx
— The Bulwark (@BulwarkOnline) February 13, 2024
TUCKER CARLSON’S TRIP TO RUSSIA for an interview with Vladimir Putin was the subject of extraordinary hype in Moscow, treated by the official media almost like a visit from a head of state. State-controlled news outlets breathlessly chronicled his comings and goings: the visit to the fast-food joint Vkusno i Tochka, rebranded from McDonald’s after the latter pulled out of Russian markets; the trip to the Bolshoi for Spartacus, the iconic Soviet-era revolutionary ballet; the metro ride; and, finally, the departure.
Carlson, in a tweet, expressed pride in his accomplishment in having sat down for a state-managed lecture by one of the world’s great monsters. Putin, on the other hand, insulted Carlson throughout the interview. At first watch, it wasn’t clear if either side got exactly what it wanted. Among Russian observers, theories and explanations abound…
“It’s one thing to do your own exposés of globalist conspiracies, and another to find yourself attending an alternative history lecture from Putin in the role of student,” noted TV-Rain host Mikhail Fishman, who knows enough about Carlson’s history to peg him as a conspiracy theorist, in his own sarcastic analysis of the interview. Fishman also mentioned a conspiracy theory about Carlson himself: namely, the rumor that he was in Moscow on a special mission for Donald Trump and had an off-camera conversation with Putin playing emissary rather than journalist. Fishman didn’t necessarily credit this story, but he suggested that Putin almost certainly sees Carlson as “the same as Trump,” or a Trump stand-in. Along the same lines, Russian journalist Igor Yakovenko, a former Duma deputy and general secretary of the Russian Union of Journalists, told the Ukrainian Freedom Channel that Carlson’s visit and the Putin interview was unquestionably meant to boost Trump’s electoral chances for 2024 and to sink any congressional deal that would include aid to Ukraine. Yakovenko sees Trump, Carlson, and Putin as the unholy trinity of this story—or, with Elon Musk (who assiduously promoted the interview), an unholy quadrinity…
Will the interview help or hurt Putin? Nacke, for his part, has unironically thanked Carlson for giving Putin enough uninterrupted time to show himself as a paranoid, rambling, grievance-obsessed fascist. Yakovenko, less optimistic, believes that many viewers outside Russia will naïvely see many of Putin’s claims as at least partially valid, especially since the debunkings will have far less reach.
Whatever the outcome, independent, Russian-speaking journalists have certainly had a field day with the Carlson interview, if only for the “Karlsson-on-the-roof” memes. The famous 1968 animated movie based on Lindgren’s books was called Junior and Karlsson. The jokes practically write themselves.
Romney: Now, I know that the shock jocks and online instigators have riled up many in the far reaches of my party. But if your position is being cheered by Vladimir Putin, it's time to reconsider your position. pic.twitter.com/5c0haSFwi9
— Acyn (@Acyn) February 13, 2024
Seems like a good day to remind people of this.https://t.co/GFNq4Gx91i
— David Corn (@DavidCornDC) February 6, 2024
I wish people would stop referring to Tucker Carlson as a journalist. A journalist is someone who is objective. Tucker Carlson has an agenda and brazenly lies to support that agenda. His lies cost Fox News $787m. His work in Moscow for Putin will cost the world far more than that https://t.co/FhjuRxo6xt
— Bill Browder (@Billbrowder) February 5, 2024
New from me: While in Moscow to interview Putin, Tucker Carlson also met with Edward Snowden and Tara Reade.https://t.co/B2ReaEIrL8
— Max Tani (@maxwelltani) February 8, 2024
Now that Tucker's interview tanked, Margarita Simonyan is quoting my article but seemingly trying to distance herself, pretending she is not responsible for encouraging Putin to sit down with Carlson, except she is on video (see below). Whoopsies. https://t.co/iiIcgATH76 pic.twitter.com/7VWIk7hMcP
— Julia Davis (@JuliaDavisNews) February 10, 2024
I suppose we shouldn’t be surprised if Carlson is playing some kind of MAGA negotiation role. Officials in Kyiv think Trump is trying to work a deal with Moscow independently & they link the hold up in aid to this. https://t.co/tEVsTWOshc
— Oliver Carroll (@olliecarroll) February 3, 2024
Chris Wallace: calling Tucker Carlson a “useful idiot” is “unfair to useful idiots” ?? pic.twitter.com/Dpf49bFdFc
— Republicans against Trump (@RpsAgainstTrump) February 10, 2024