Carlson interviewed six presidential candidates at the Family Leadership Summit in Des Moines Friday. It was “supposed to be a showcase of Christian values, where social issues like abortion and transgender rights were expected to be center stage,” The New York Times reported, but Russia’s invasion of Ukraine became the dominant topic and “Ukraine became the bad actor in the conflict.”
Did Carlson get his talking points directly from Russia? It sure sounded that way. In his interview with Mike Pence, who has been there twice, Carlson suggested he knew more about what’s happening in Ukraine.
“It’s very clear that the Zelensky government has arrested priests for having views they disagree with," Carlson claimed. "That’s not consistent with religious liberty, it’s an attack on it and we’re funding it.” He added, “I sincerely wonder” how a Christian leader like Pence “could support the arrest of Christians for having different views.”
The “different views” Carlson referred to are likely pro-Russian and affiliated with Russia. It’s hardly an attack on religious liberty to target Russian affiliates when that country has invaded Ukraine and remains at war with it.
Pence told Carlson that he had asked a Christian leader in Kyiv if that was happening and was assured that it isn’t, that there is no persecution for religious beliefs. Carlson claimed he did not mean to be disrespectful “at all” but he interrupted Pence to suggest that he must have been lied to.
As Pence tried to continue, Carlson interrupted again, then bowed his head as if he couldn’t stand to listen to what was being said.
The sad thing is, the audience was with Carlson and Putin. In another exchange, there was almost total silence when Pence said that “real progress” is being made in Ukraine. “A year and a half ago, Russia had the second-most powerful military in the world. Today they have the second-most powerful military in Ukraine.”
But Carlson got huge applause when he went on a typical Tucker rant accusing Pence of caring more about Ukraine than the U.S. which Carlson painted as a country on the verge of collapse. “There's not one city that's gotten better in the United States, and it's visible. Our economy has degraded, the suicide rate has jumped, public filth and disorder and crime have exponentially increased.”
Whether he gets compensated from Russia or not, Tucker Carlson is definitely a Russian asset.
