Shameless: Tucker Carlson Blames Putin for the Aggression that He Has Been Defending for Months

Tucker Carlson offered a stunning reversal Thursday night: after months of defending Russian President Vladimir Putin, he blamed the Russian dictator for invading Ukraine.

“What is happening in Ukraine, whatever its scale — and it’s not totally clear right now — but whatever it is it’s a tragedy because war always is a tragedy,” he opened, before blaming the Russian president for the deadly incursion.

“Vladimir Putin started this war,” Carlson said. “So whatever the context of the decision he made he did it, he fired the first shot. He is to blame for what we are seeing in Ukraine.”

Normally this sort of cable news observation wouldn’t merit any attention at all, as it’s the most reasonable, even banal understanding of the crisis. But regular viewers of Tucker Carlson Tonight, or at least those who think critically, should have been taken aback.

Why? Because for the past few months, Carlson has regularly defended the build-up of Russian troops on the Ukrainian border, parroted Putin’s talking points, and even mocked American citizens who were openly siding with democratic Ukraine — as it faced invasion by its neighbor — which he often derided as America’s client-state.

What’s more, his pro-Putin commentary has been aired, repeatedly, on Russian state propaganda outlet RT, complete with Cyrillic subtitles so Russian-speaking viewers can fully understand the praise of Putin that the Fox News host has offered.

Carlson has blamed Biden for provoking Putin into this crisis, he’s framed the Russian build-up of troops as a “border conflict,” he’s defended Putin from American criticism, and blasted Ukrainian President Voldymor Zelensky as a “dictator.” His pro-Russia coverage even earned fawning praise from the head of Russian television.

In short, Tucker Carlson has been in the tank for Russia and Vladimir Putin and it was clear as day for anyone paying attention.

In the event you need a visual reminder of just a handful of examples of Carlson’s parroting Putin rhetoric or defending Russia’s military action, watch this from Twitter user and self-described “internet hooligan” Acyn:

On Thursday night, Carlson glossed over ALL of this and instead insisted that the U.S. do everything we can to prevent getting drawn into a direct conflict. He said that “would require wisdom and emotional control.” It’s not clear where he feels his completely irresponsible pro-Putin rhetoric falls on the “wisdom and emotional control” meter, but he likely doesn’t care. Or, as he so often says, “But whatever.”

It’s just the latest episode of “Fox News Hosts Can Get Shit Wrong and Never Be Held Accountable.” The last episode was a week’s worth of breathless reporting that an anodyne John Durham filing was “worse than Watergate,” and the subject of a “media blackout” as cover for Hillary Clinton. Reporting that disappeared from the air at Fox News when they realized it was wrong.

Tucker Carlson is not a fact-based host. He can and often does say whatever he wants with impunity, which is, unfortunately, part of why he hosts the top-rated cable news program.

Again I ask, how does Fox News let this shit go on air? It’s beyond embarrassing. It’s legitimately pernicious.

This is an opinion piece. The views expressed in this article are those of just the author.