Adam Kinzinger Scolds Tucker Carlson For Being A Putin Stooge

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Caleb Newton
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Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.) — who, it’s worth noting, is an active member of the U.S. Air National Guard in addition to his service in Congress — is not a fan of Fox host Tucker Carlson. Recently, Kinzinger’s been consistently going after Carlson on social media for the Fox host’s repeated advocacy on behalf of what amount to pro-Putin talking points. Carlson has repeatedly propped up the Putin regime’s agenda amid the unfolding war in Ukraine, where Russian government forces recently invaded. Carlson even explicitly sought to absolve Putin of at least some responsibility for the conflict — he ranted that “getting Ukraine to join NATO was the key to inciting war with Russia,” but the war wasn’t “incited” in any meaningful sense. Putin chose to launch it. Nobody made him do it.

On Twitter this Tuesday, Kinzinger quipped that a reported Ukrainian strategic success in the effort to beat back the Russian invasion would leave Carlson in a bad mood. The specific piece of news to which Kinzinger responded was the reported Ukrainian liberation of the Kyiv-area town called Moschun. Kinzinger remarked:

‘Well this is gonna ruin [Tucker Carlson’s] morning.’

On Tuesday, Kinzinger also highlighted a troubling remark Carlson recently made denigrating the concept of “caring about Ukraine.” As Carlson self-confidently exclaimed: “And by the way, caring about Ukraine means prolonging a bloody war on Ukraine until the entire country of Ukraine has been destroyed and millions of Ukrainians are refugees.” In his original remarks, Carlson mockingly added that “real patriotism is caring about Ukraine first” — all of which is just nonsense.

What would Carlson suggest? Having Ukrainian leaders give up the defense of their country and let Russian invaders take over? We’ve seen what happens when Russian soldiers enter Ukrainian areas. Mariupol Mayor Vadym Boychenko “said Saturday that thousands of people who had been sheltering in a sports hall in Mariupol had been deported at gunpoint to Russia,” The Washington Post recently reported. And in the temporarily Russian-occupied city of Kherson, demonstrators against the occupation were recently fired upon. Carlson is offering rhetorical support to the Putin regime’s notion that Ukrainians should surrender and their allies should step back — although the outcome of the conflict is not determined, as the host suggested. Ukrainians have scored significant strategic victories against Russian invaders, who’ve been held back from encircling the capital city, Kyiv — although the pro-Putin lobby might prefer to ignore the strategic success of these Ukrainian defenses. What is Carlson standing for, exactly? Letting violent authoritarians win?

A Russian government memo to Putin regime-aligned media outlets recently insisted it was “essential” to use Carlson in their coverage. As the March 3 materials put it, “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.” This is what Tucker Carlson is doing — providing ignorant, loudmouthed support for the ambitions of Putin.



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