LOS ANGELES.–Slamming former Fox News host Tucker Carlson, 54, for his two-hour interview with 71-year-old Russian President Vladimir Putin, Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) ripped Tucker for praising Moscow’s beauty and affordability. “Ah, yes, Russia is so much better than the U.S. with all those cheap groceries and lavish subway stations,” Tillis wrote on X, formerly Twitter. “The Soviets had a term for people like Tucker, useful idiots,” ripping Tucker for saying some positive things about life behind the Iron Curtain. Tillis and others, like former Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wy.), can’t stop slamming Carlson for his time spent in Russia, knowing that under 81-year-old President Joe Biden, Americans are not welcome. Biden joined Ukraine’s War against the Kremlin, funding a $200 billion proxy war, in effect destroying 80-years of post WW II diplomacy, détente and arms control
Tillis and Cheney among others can’t stand the fact that an American journalist would try to keep the lines of communication open with Putin, knowing that for the last 22 years, he’s been the main man between the U.S. and Russia. Biden has done everything possible to destroy decades of pragmatic, cooperative relations between the two nuclear superpowers, where the U.S. and Russia once worked on a host of cooperative ventures, including the International Space Station. Under Biden, U.S.-Russian relations have hit a post-WW II low, far worse than the Cuban Missile Crisis when President John Kennedy stared down Nikita Khrushchev to remove nuclear weapons planned for Cuba. Back then, U.S.-Russian relations were called the Cold War, replaced now with Biden actually funding a hot war against the Kremlin, a far more dangerous situation.
Biden has been openly hostile toward Putin since taking office Jan. 20., 2021, calling him a “murderous thug,” the same day his national security team led by 61-year-old Secretary of State Antony Blinken and 45-year-old National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan accused Beijing of genocide against Muslim Uyghurs. Only recently, Biden met with Chinese President Xi Jinping in San Francisco, trying to mend fences, but calling Xi as “dictator,” only hours after face-to-face meetings. So, when it comes to Tillis, what would he prefer Carlson did, not meet with Putin at all or leave it to the State Department? Carlson got an audience with because he keeps a balanced approach in dealing with Russia and China. Members of Congress on both sides of the aisle have pushed to escalate the Ukraine War and war-talk, that Biden’s ready to commit U.S. troops to defend Taiwan against Beijing.
Tillis wants to call Tucker as “useful idiot,” but has no answer how to stop Biden’s escalating belligerence with Russia and China. When it comes to Russia, things could get a lot worse, as Putin says, if Biden commits U.S. or NATO troops to the Ukraine War. It’s bad enough that Biden supplies lethal weapons to Ukraine with the stated intent of degrading the Russian military. What plan does Tillis and Cheney have for fighting WW III, if Biden continues the collision course he’s on? Tucker was slammed by jealous U.S. officials and journalists who say they wanted to ask Putin tough question about war crimes in Ukraine. Why would Putin meet with any Western official or journalist to be confronted about his actions in Ukraine or anywhere else on the planet? CNN’s Christiane Amanpour said she’s been rejected in all her attempts to interview Putin. Can you wonder why?
Carlson was accused by his critics of asking softball questions, actually throwing Putin for a loop because he said he was fully prepared for a more combative interview. Tucker explained he didn’t want the typical interview in which Putin was confronted and forced to defend himself or communism. Many Western journalists are obsessed with 47-year-old Russian dissident Alexi Navalny who died Feb. 16 in a Russian penal colony. Western officials and journalists turned Navalny into a pro-democracy Russian folk hero, when he was anything but. Navalny’s organizations took cash from a variety of nonprofit groups to continue his work to subvert Putin’s government. He said he was an anti-corruption activist and whistleblower trying to create revolution against Putin’s Kremlin. In the end, Navalny martyred himself and died in a Russian gulag.
U.S. officials and the press need to ask themselves what they hope to accomplish backing Biden’s proxy war in Ukraine and harsh talk about the Kremlin. Every respectable military expert says there is no military solution in Ukraine, including Biden and Zelensky’s top generals. Tucker did the U.S. a service keeping some line of communication open with Putin, rather than pushing the Russian leader to the brink. When it comes to China, the same harsh rhetoric could get the U.S. into a shooting war with Beijing, having disastrous consequences to the U.S. and world economy. Tucker tried to continue the long U.S. tradition of diplomacy with U.S. adversaries. Since Biden took over, his approach has been one of hostility and provocation leading to the current breakdown in diplomatic relations. Unless things change soon, the world becomes a more dangerous place.
About the Author
John M. Curtis writes politically neutral commentary analyzing spin in national and global news. He’s editor of OnlineColumnist.com and author of Dodging The Bullet and Operation Charisma.
