This week, Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) criticized the Murdochs — who lead Fox Corporation, the parent company behind Fox News — for the continuing appearances by Douglas MacGregor, a retired Army colonel, who consistently spreads startlingly brazen propaganda for Russia on Fox with the help of Tucker Carlson, who hosts MacGregor on his show.
“Rupert and Lachlan Murdoch – Why do you continually put Douglas MacGregor on [Fox News] to spread Putin’s propaganda and lies?” Cheney said on Twitter. “This is absolutely not in America’s interest.”
Rupert and Lachlan Murdoch – Why do you continually put Douglas MacGregor on @FoxNews to spread Putin’s propaganda and lies? This is absolutely not in America’s interest.
— Liz Cheney (@Liz_Cheney) September 23, 2022
MacGregor’s comments are far off-base. “Seven months later, and the Ukrainian army is bled white, tens of thousands of Ukrainian troops have been killed or wounded,” MacGregor said Thursday on Fox, discussing the progression of the war. “Ukraine is really on the ropes and trying to create the illusion that that’s not the case.” That’s not a realistic assessment of the war, although it’s certainly an image the Russian government would like to present. Recently, Ukrainian troops have driven Russian soldiers from key areas in the country, like a central hub for part of the Russian assault on Ukraine’s Donetsk province, the capture of which is one of the key ambitions underlying Russian violence in the country. MacGregor also rather explicitly defended recent threats of the prospect of nuclear weapons by Russia, where he said observers were simply scared of supposed possibilities of a nuclear strike from some interest like the U.S. and just reacting in self-defense.
MacGregor has previously shared similar, wildly self-confident sentiments about the supposedly imminent defeat or unfolding devastation of the Ukrainian army. Since February, MacGregor has been proclaiming that Ukrainian troops are losing or essentially already lost, although the country’s army stopped Russian soldiers from taking Kyiv and has consistently pushed Russian troops out of stolen territory. He also blamed the U.S. for supposedly seeking and encouraging the war. Although any notion of some U.S. conspiracy driving the continuation of the conflict is just unconnected to reality, it’s worth considering the alternatives to Ukraine continuing the fight — and that alternative is brutal subjugation by violent Russian troops who have already inflicted devastating impacts on civilians of all sorts inside Ukraine. That’s what those, like MacGregor and Carlson, are pushing or trying to push Ukrainians towards as they promote the prospect of appeasement.
“The war is really over for the Ukrainians,” MacGregor insisted in March. “They have been grounded to bits. There’s no question about that despite what we report on our mainstream media.” Those comments came several months ago, before numerous Ukrainian victories. Why does anyone take this clearly incompetent guy seriously?
