Tucker Carlson, murderer and traitor
I’m tired of watching murdering psychopaths who spew a constant stream of lies, promote conspiracy theories and gaslight the world with deceits get away with it. No, I’m not talking about Vladimir Putin this time. I’m talking about Putin’s very own unpaid propaganda minister abroad, Tucker Swanson McNear Carlson.
So it’s not a rhetorical question when Tucker Carlson asked, “Why is it disloyal to side with Russia but loyal to side with Ukraine?” To answer his question, it’s not disloyal to favor Russia over Ukraine if you’re a rightwing radical fan of fascism and you hate democracy. Indeed, it’s downright consistent. Like Donald Trump, Tucker Carlson is an enemy of democracy and a proponent of totalitarianism.
Let’s be honest, no one is going to persuade Tucker Carlson that he’s made a mistake. He’s doing propaganda work for Russia because Russia is fascistic and so is Carlson. Fascism is rightwing by definition and no one is more rightwing than Tucker. Every disgusting, pro-Putin anti-Ukraine lie out of his stupid, treasonous mouth gets rebroadcast every night on Russian TV. Carlson envies Putin for his wealth, power and his totalitarian ethnonational government. He hopes one day that America, just like Russia, stops electing people to Congress and instead elects a fascist Republican president-for-life dictator like Donald Trump.
In short, Tucker Carlson is a traitor. Ironically, the only reason he gets away with his treason is precisely because he lives in a democracy. Tucker Carlson lives in a country where everyone is free to say whatever they like, within certain reasonable limits. Had Carlson lived in a fascist country and spoke out against the actions of the people in charge, as he is doing now, he would be dead. So if Carlson wants to side with a brutal dictator’s rape of a peaceful, democratic neighbour, then he can go right ahead, by the very ironic grace of where he lives and the very quality of that freedom he wishes to destroy.
Besides hypocrisy the problem with Carlson’s rhetoric is that it carries influence and that influence costs lives. His support of the lie that Ukraine has bioweapons, for example, could one day soon embolden Putin to use his own arsenal of bioweapons against the Ukrainian people. If he does, watch Tucker Carlson blame Ukraine for Putin’s murders.
But he needs to stop pretending he’s a patriot. He is not. Tucker Carlson is a traitor. I predict that one day his treasonous proclivity will cross the line between anti-American rhetoric and actual criminal conspiracy. When that day comes no one would like to see him behind bars more than I would.
Tucker Carlson understands perfectly that words are weapons that can kill. He has used his bully pulpit to discourage Americans from taking life-saving vaccines, and because his voice is a powerful one, they have done so and died. That makes him a murderer. He is happy to use his words in such a way that Ukrainians wind up dead as well, again, because Tucker Carlson is an evil psychopathic fascist traitor with blood on his hands. And, as ever, ladies and gentlemen, brothers and sisters, comrades and friends, stay safe.
Robert Harrington is an American expat living in Britain. He is a portrait painter.