Nicolle Wallace Slams Trump and Tucker Carlson: ‘Associating Themselves With An American Adversary At A Time of War’
MSNBC’s Nicolle Wallace ripped into Donald Trump and Tucker Carlson on Wednesday for what she sees as their role in supporting Russian President Vladimir Putin.
“I want to put up this kind of axis of Putin, Trump, Tucker Carlson, because I think we have mistakenly thought that world events or tragedies or a red line or the slaughter of innocents or as Tony Blinken says, ‘the commission of war crimes,’ that these things could be defrosted and put on ice,” started off Wallace, arguing that Trump and Carlson have not changed their tunes regarding Putin.
“But it is clear they are not. Tucker Carlson has been amplifying Russian disinformation: March 8th blamed America for Russia’s war, March 12th far-right embrace of the bio weapon conspiracy theory as the bombs were falling on Mariupol and other Ukrainian cities. And then on March 13th, we learned that the Kremlin feels it is essential to feature Tucker Carlson,” she continued.
“Have you ever covered one of the two American political parties associating themselves with an American adversary at a time of war?” Wallace asked her guest.
Washington Post investigative journalist Carol Leonnig responded, “Almost never. I still remember, Nicolle, and I’m so glad you framed this the way you do. I remember one of the most conservative Republicans Jesse Helms famously saying we draw a line at the border of this country.”
Leonnig continued:
We are not Democrats and Republicans, when we leave the border of this country and when we are facing, facing against an adversary, I’m paraphrasing him there obviously. But it is so striking because Donald Trump speaks today or rather yesterday in that interview with real America’s Voices Network, this Uber conservative news site, he speaks of Putin as if he’s just another guy that maybe has some cross feelings with the United States.
And in fact he’s a national security threat to our country. And he’s a security threat right now to the stability of Europe. And all Americans know that. And Republicans know that.
“We know he sees what Tucker Carlson does every night and he sees what Donald Trump said and does every night,” Wallace then added.
“We know as Carol is talking about that there is a call and answer. To what Donald Trump calls for and what his political interests are. I wonder if you could speak to this — I hate the words like red line and tripwires because they’ve all been annihilated by the Trump era. But what does this represent, sort of in the world of dealing with an adversary like Russia?” Wallace then asked.
“Well, Nicolle, I think this is extraordinarily dangerous. We’re in the middle of the most consequential war in 80 years and what the NATO alliance and the United States are trying to do are walk a fine line to support Ukraine,” answered former FBI agent Peter Strzok.
“Because of Trump saying things like this and asking for aid after acknowledging that Putin was not a fan of the West and he should do this, Trump himself, the potential, presumptive nominee if he chooses to run in 2024 is signaling to Russia that there is not a united front, that there is some ambiguity of how the West might respond and that ambiguity in the context of a large conventional war is extraordinarily dangerous,” Strzok concluded.
Watch the full clip above via MSNBC
