‘You Need to Get Out More’: CNN’s Fareed Zakaria Roasts Tucker Carlson For Praising Russia’s Cheap Groceries
CNN anchor Fareed Zakaria slammed Tucker Carlson for praising Russia for cheap groceries and clean subways following his interview with Russian leader Vladimir Putin.
Carlson aired footage from Russia where he visited a grocery store and a subway station in Moscow following his interview with Putin. The former Fox News host praised Russia during those visits.
Zakaria pointed out that Russia’s inflation rate is actually higher than in America, noting that “stuff costs more in rich countries than in poorer ones.” The CNN host then encouraged Carlson to visit Mexico if he wanted to find even cheaper groceries.
Well, it’s Tucker Carlson’s interview with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Got a lot of attention, but I was more struck by Carlson’s reaction to his visit to Moscow, his first ever. He was not just impressed. It left him radicalized and enraged at his own government. Where to begin, perhaps with the obvious reminder that living in Moscow. If you criticize the government, can mean prison or death. Sometimes both.
Then I was in Dubai a few days after the interview. Carlson put forward a bizarre hodgepodge of assertions he thought the architecture, food and service in Moscow was better than in any American city. Really? Moscow? Outside of a small historic center, is filled with drab Soviet era concrete buildings. And while the food in Moscow can be quite good…Better than New York or San Francisco? You need to get out more. Tucker.
He went on to criticize Carlson’s praise for Russia’s central planning and architecture by pointing out those features are the product of authoritarian governments and conformist culture.
“Carlson speaks enviously of cities like Tokyo, Singapore, Abu Dhabi and Dubai,” he continued. “And they are indeed wonderful in their own distinctive ways. But what’s striking about all of them is that they are somewhat tame and subdued. The product of authoritarian governments or conformist culture, or both. American cities are different.”
Zakaria added, “American cities are expressions of democracy. Places where people have to negotiate differences and find ways to live together that makes them messier and dirtier and sometimes chaotic. But perhaps that is what has made these cities so vibrant and innovative, and why they have been at the forefront in making America the country that leads the world in economics, technology, culture and power.”
Watch the clip above via CNN.
