Wednesday, during his show’s opening monologue, FNC host Tucker Carlson reiterated his criticism of the United States’ involvement in the Ukraine-Russia conflict.
Carlson mocked Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s address to a joint session of Congress, likening the Ukrainian leader to a strip club manager.
Transcript as follows:
CARLSON: Remember when Sam Bankman-Fried showed up in Washington wearing a t-shirt and spouting nonsense, and all the self-described geniuses declared him a hero? The media, the Congress, the White House, they all love this weird little guy called Sam Bankman-Fried. Do you remember that?
Somehow we were reminded of it today when the President of Ukraine arrived at the White House, dressed like the manager of a strip club and started to demand money. Amazingly, no one threw him out. Instead, they did whatever he wanted.
American taxpayers declare Joe Biden will continue to give Zelensky whatever he demands for, “as long as it takes.” Tellingly, Biden never specified what “it” is. As long as it takes to do what? Push the Russian army back to pre-invasion borders? Sounds reasonable.
That’s what most Americans likely assume, those who are still paying attention. But that is not what Zelensky means, and it is not what he is asking for.
Zelensky is demanding regime change in Russia, just like in Iraq and Libya, and a long list of other failed states. Except this time, in the heart of the Eurasian landmass, next door to the entire civilized world. That’s what Zelensky has called for repeatedly, and every dollar we send to him goes toward that end. At this point, he’s getting a lot closer to achieving it.
So what happens if he “wins?” What does the ensuing chaos look like? Thought about that? Who is going to secure the world’s largest nuclear arsenal once we help Zelensky topple the Russian government? Who replaces Putin?
Strangely, those topics did not come up today because that wasn’t the point. The point of today’s visit to Washington was not to make the world more stable or make wise decisions, much less to help America. That’s always at the bottom of the list.
The point was to fawn over the Ukrainian strip club manager and hand him billions more dollars from our own crumbling economy. It is hard, in fact, it may be impossible to imagine a more humiliating scenario for the greatest country on earth. And we would love to blame Joe Biden for it, but we can’t really, not entirely, at least.
This was bipartisan masochism. The uniparty is alive and well despite the best efforts of voters, including last month. And if you doubt that it’s alive and well, here’s a picture of Zelensky that he had taken with a group of elderly Republican senators in Kiev back in May.
They stand grinning next to him in their orthopedic shoes: 70-year old Susan Collins, John Barrasso, John Cornyn, led by their 80-year old ringleader, Mitch McConnell. Forty-four-year old Zelensky poses between them in a skintight polo shirt, flexing like a weightlifter and trying to look ferocious. They seem awestruck.
Not since a young Fidel Castro showed up in New York wearing battle fatigues has this country’s aging leadership class tittered more loudly in delight. They love a man in uniform. What a hunk. So strong and decisive. Look at the expression in Mitch McConnell’s face, you could almost hear the giggles of pleasure.
No rational person assessing the issues ever would have predicted this moment. If you were a Republican officeholder and Zelensky came to Washington, maybe you would for a moment, ask him about his current and ongoing war against Christianity in Ukraine. Especially if you were, say, Mitch McConnell or John Cornyn and a lot of your own voters go to church on Sunday. They might care about that issue.
But McConnell and Cornyn didn’t mention it. They didn’t say a word. You will not hear a word on television tonight about the fact that Zelensky has banned an entire ancient Christian denomination in Ukraine and then seized churches and then thrown priests into jail.
According to Mitch McConnell, who apparently hasn’t left his office since the mid-eighties, anti-Christian despotism is what most Republicans want above all. They don’t get enough. They’re just begging for it. Watch McConnell explain.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. MITCH MCCONNELL (R-KY): Providing assistance for the Ukrainians to defeat the Russians, that’s the number one priority for the United States right now, according to most Republicans. That’s sort of how we see the challenges confronting the country at the moment.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CARLSON: And two other senators stand behind him, nodding like it’s true. Defeating Putin is, “the number one priority among Republicans,” says Mitch McConnell, who leads Republicans in the Senate. Number one? Before our own economy? Or our own children’s schools? Or, for that matter, before the more than 2,000 young people killed last year by fentanyl in Mitch McConnell’s “home state” of Kentucky?
Punishing Vladimir Putin for putting Donald Trump in office is more important than all of that says Mitch McConnell. Ukraine’s borders matter. Ours don’t matter. You may have suspected they thought that. But at this point, they’re just coming out and saying this right in your face.
And of course, the White House agrees completely. Watch Joe Biden announce today that you’ll be paying for evermore advanced weapons systems to be sent to Ukraine, whether you like it or not.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We’re going to continue to strengthen Ukraine’s ability to defend itself, particularly air defense. And that’s why we’re going to be providing Ukraine with Patriot missile battery and training your forces to be able to accurately use it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CARLSON: He is reading his little script. Maybe it was written by the Defense contractors that just hosted an event in Washington for the Ukrainian Ambassador. Literally, they put their logos on the invitation just in case there was any question about what’s going on here.
So this is a big change from what we had last month, but you wouldn’t know that from the media coverage of it. Your average reporter in Washington likes Zelensky a lot more than he likes you. So nobody asked about it. But this is a major policy change.
It was just a few months ago that a senior US Defense official said, and we’re quoting, “There is no discussion about putting a Patriot battery in Ukraine. In order to do that, you would have to put US troops with it to operate.”
In other words, you would have to fight a hot war against Russia, which has not only not been approved by the Congress, but most Americans have no idea that’s happening. But now it is happening. Did you know that? Are you for that? Is it the most important thing? More important than your nephew dying of fentanyl? Yes, says Mitch McConnell. But it’s just the beginning. Because as you just saw, Zelensky has arrived in Washington to make more demands.
He is the houseguest who would not leave, and every moment we tolerate him, the demands become bigger. In case you missed it. Here’s part of what he said just a moment ago.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ZELENSKY: Financial assistance is also critically important. And I would like to thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you for both financial packages you have already provided us with and the ones you may be willing to decide on.
Your money is not charity. It’s an investment in the global security and democracy that we handle in the most responsible way.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CARLSON: So the leader of a foreign government dressed in a sweatshirt waltzes into the United States Congress and starts demanding money. And then has the gall to tell the people sitting there, who are giving him tens of billions of dollars more of your money, that it is not charity, it’s an investment. Really, what are the returns on that?
And by the way, what’s the point of it? What is the goal here? What’s the justification for it? Do we have a historic debt to Ukraine? Do we have a historic animosity with a non-Soviet Russia? No, no. How do we win here? What’s in it for us? Isn’t this our country?
And where do you get off talking to us like that? Do we hate ourselves so much? Do we have so little respect for the United States of America that we put up with that, that we’ll applaud it? Thank you, sir. May I have another? What’s wrong with us? What’s wrong with our leaders? And where is this going?
Follow Jeff Poor on Twitter @jeff_poor