https://www.msnbc.com/opinion/msnbc-opinion/real-reason-tucker-carlson-supports-russia-s-putin-n1290153

"The real reason Tucker Carlson supports Russia's Putin
The Fox News host has provided cover for Russia's invasion. But calling
him a "traitor" misses the point."

"Feb. 28, 2022, 3:00 AM PST
By Zeeshan Aleem, MSNBC Opinion Columnist
People across the left — including me — routinely lambaste Fox News megastar Tucker Carlson for his alarming right-wing populist screeds.
But this past week, as Carlson downplayed concerns about Russia’s
invasion of Ukraine up until Moscow began a full-fledged incursion,
something striking happened: Critics began to deem him a “traitor.”

For some activists, lawmakers and commentators, Carlson’s decision to minimize Russia's imminent invasion and push back against critics of
Russian President Vladimir Putin meant he was siding with Russia against
the U.S. But that’s a misread. Carlson isn’t in favor of Russia over America or angling to aid Russia in dominating or controlling the U.S. —
he wants the U.S. to be like Russia. And in accordance with
paleoconservative and white nationalist principles, he has an aversion
to foreign interventionism so American militarism can grow at home.
Carlson's ideas are dangerous and must be fought, but loyalty rhetoric
misses the real problem. Furthermore, the traitor insult is one that
could derail the quality of our national debate at a critical time.
Setting Carlson aside, there is great risk in associating opposition to
war with betrayal of the republic."

In the run-up to the invasion, Carlson persistently downplayed the
severity of what Russia could be doing and pushed back against the
prospect of American involvement. He characterized the situation as a
“border dispute,” distracting from the reality of Russia’s yearslong meddling in eastern Ukraine and the illegality of Putin’s recognizing
and ordering troops into Ukraine’s eastern separatist-held regions.
Carlson argued Ukraine was “not a democracy” to denigrate the case for America’s supporting it. He posited a ludicrous theory that Democrats
stand to benefit financially from war in Ukraine. And he delivered a
long monologue about how Americans are socialized to hate Putin even
though he’s not responsible for what Carlson sees as Americans’ primary social ills (“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?”). That monologue was, in fact, replayed by
Russian state-sponsored television because it served naturally as
Russian propaganda.


These kinds of comments sparked widespread claims that Carlson was a
traitor. And in an analysis at The Bulwark, William Saletan
characterized Carlson’s behavior as “anti-American,” “pro-Russian” and
“treacherous.”

But if you examine Carlson's rhetoric and political project carefully,
it’s difficult to understand the constant charges that Carlson is some
kind of Russian agent. Carlson isn’t in Putin’s pocket; he wasn’t
arguing that the U.S. should concede something that belongs to it to
Russia; he didn’t give information to Russia to undermine America’s political system or vital interests. Instead, what Carlson was doing was
making an argument against risking war or escalation with a powerful
country that isn’t at war with the U.S. (It should be noted that after
Russia invaded, Carlson’s tone shifted — he argued that Russia should be “punished” and that President Joe Biden had failed to show “bite” — but
still he cautioned against policies that could be costly for the U.S. or
cause the war to escalate.)

Now, the way Carlson made that argument warrants criticism — it was conspiratorial, involved falsehoods and was morally impoverished. But
the substantive position wasn’t “I want Russia to hurt or dominate the U.S.”; it was, effectively, “going to war with Russia is not
worthwhile.” And to understand what’s motivating him, one must remember that his rhetoric is in service of his white nationalist, right-wing
populist worldview.

Carlson and his ideological allies, like Steve Bannon and Donald Trump,
see in Putin someone with a shared worldview — authoritarian, fiercely nationalistic, happily bigoted. They see themselves as part of a shared ideological project — and we can see in Hungary’s emergence as a politico-intellectual hot spot for Western white nationalists how
pockets of reactionary politics in non-Western Europe provide fertile
territory for this set to think and organize. We wouldn’t describe Carlson’s affection for Hungary’s authoritarian leader, Viktor Orbán, as being traitorous, but rather as an expression of international
solidarity with extreme right-wing elements abroad.
[snip]

"Tucker Can't Imagine Why People Think He Supported Putin
"Why are they saying it? It doesn't make sense," he said."

https://crooksandliars.com/2022/03/tucker-cant-imagine-why-people-think-he

TB

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