Dakota Beacon

On Tuesday, 2/22/22, Tucker Carlson offered an opinion piece on Fox News. The topic was the Ukraine, the US, and our national interest. As a contrarian, Carlson easily grabs his listeners’ attention using scorn, irony, and most of all, hyperbole. Those who have never learned hyperbole are destined to be sucked in by it. It may startle those who seldom “think outside the box.” His lampoon targeted foolish policymakers and leftist media. I confess. I’m prejudiced left and biased right.

Carlson’s thesis: “…Democrats in Washington have told you it's your patriotic duty to hate Vladimir Putin… Hating Putin has become the central purpose of America's foreign policy…Very soon, that hatred of Vladimir Putin could bring the United States into a conflict in Eastern Europe.

“Before that happens, it might be worth asking yourself…What is this really about? Why do I hate Putin so much? Has Putin ever called me a racist? Has he threatened to get me fired for disagreeing with him? Has he shipped every middle-class job in my town to Russia? Did he manufacture a worldwide pandemic that wrecked my business and kept me indoors for two years? Is he teaching my children to embrace racial discrimination? Is he making fentanyl? Is he trying to snuff out Christianity?... These are fair questions, and the answer to all of them is no. Vladimir Putin didn't do any of that. So why does permanent Washington hate him so much?”

At this point Washington swamp dwellers and their media acolytes heads exploded.

Newsweek (2/23/22): “Carlson called on his viewers to question whether the Russian leader should be considered dangerous…Carlson has repeatedly defended Vladimir Putin and Russia's military action as tensions rise in eastern Europe.” He did nothing of the sort. Carlson asked rhetorical questions to make a point. Only an illiterate person would confuse his questions as a defense of Putin.

Politico (2/23/22): “In his Tuesday evening broadcast, Carlson didn’t strike a pro-Putin pose as much as an anti-anti-Putin one. Putin, Carlson explained, has never done him -- and by extension -- the viewer, any wrong.” Wrong again. Carlson encouraged his readers to ask questions.

LA Times (2/24/22): “As Putin started a war, the conservative news outlet’s top talent [Carlson] sympathized with the former KGB-agent-turned-despot over the U.S. and its allies…” Same song, second verse. Context, context, context.

Carlson adds, “If you've been watching the news, you know that Putin is having a border dispute with a nation called Ukraine. Now, the main thing to know about Ukraine…is that its leaders once sent millions of dollars to Joe Biden's family….Biden has pledged to defend Ukraine's borders even as he opens our borders to the world. That's how it works. Invading America is called equity. Invading Ukraine is a war crime.” Are you getting his gist?

Carlson, “…The point here is to defend democracy, not that Ukraine is a democracy. It is not a democracy. Ukraine's president has arrested his main political opponent. He has shut down newspapers and television stations that have dared to criticize him.” Carlson is right. Freedom House has labeled Ukraine a “partly free” country.

Continuing his monologue, “How will this conflict affect you? Will affect you quite a bit, actually. Energy prices in the United States are about to go way up, [and they have] and that means that everything you buy will become much more expensive… You're about to become measurably poorer. That's not a guess. Joe Biden has admitted this.”

“So what are we missing here?” Carlson asks. “What we're missing is the big picture, and that's why Joe Biden has dispatched Kamala Harris to explain that picture to us. Kamala Harris’ old job was to open America's border. She did that. Her new job is to keep Ukraine's borders closed. Kamala Harris was in Europe the other day to explain the whole thing.”

Carlson quotes, “Kamala Harris explains, ‘And the allied relationship is such that we have agreed that the deterrence effect of these sanctions is still a meaningful one, especially because, remember also, we still sincerely hope that there is a diplomatic path out of this moment and within the context then of the fact that that window is still opening, although open, although it is absolutely narrowing, but within the context of a diplomatic path still being open, the deterrence effect we believe has merit.’ Got that. Take a breath and let it sink in.”

Continuing, “Well, of course it has merit. The only question is what the hell are you talking about? And the answer is, Kamala Harris has no real idea what she's talking about…. Her mouth opens and predigested chunks of language come tumbling out in no particular order. It's soothing to listen to until you try to understand what it means. You could just imagine Vladimir Putin's reaction to all of this when an aide drops a translated transcript of Kamala Harris remarks on his desk.… Clearly, Kamala Harris must be setting some sort of trap for the Russians here. Her words don't make sense, but she can't possibly be dim and childish. America is a superpower. It would never put a senile man and an imbecile in charge of the country.”

Go to https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/tucker-carlson-hate-putin-americans-suffer and read the entire Tucker Carlson transcript for yourself. An eye opener if ever there was one. Is Carlson the only broadcaster asking if the swamp rats in Washington are capable of generating coherent policies before they send our kids and grandkids to die in another fatal adventure?

And China watches.

Dennis M. Patrick can be contacted at (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).