Tucker Carlson left Moscow more than a week ago, with an interview with Russian President Vladimir V. Putin that thrust him back into the spotlight after his abrupt cancellation by Fox News last spring.
But the interview with the war autocrat, who was ridiculed in various parts of the political-media world for his softness, continues to have a long and painful afterlife – it became a trending topic again on Friday after Putin’s most vocal domestic opponent, Aleksei A. Navalny found dead in a Russian prison.
“This is Putin’s Russia, @TuckerCarlson,” Liz Cheney, the former Republican congresswoman from Wyoming, wrote on X after news of Mr Navalny’s death broke on Friday. “And you’re Putin’s useful idiot.”
Naomi Biden, President Biden’s granddaughter, also weighed in, referencing a video Mr. Carlson recently posted in which he contrasted the supposed splendor of Russia under Mr. Putin’s leadership with the “filth and crime” of the United States . “Has anything ever aged so badly and so quickly?” Ms. Biden wrote on X.
In a statement to The New York Times on Friday, Mr Carlson said: “It is terrible what happened to Navalny. The whole thing is barbaric and terrible. No decent person would defend it.”
The comment marked a notable change in tone from earlier this week, when he appeared to express a blasé opinion about Russia’s treatment of Mr. Navalny, who was first jailed three years ago on charges of corruption and “extremism” that the United States viewed as unfounded designated.
Asked at a conference in Dubai on Monday why he had not asked Mr. Putin about Russia’s crackdown on free speech, Mr. Navalny’s imprisonment or alleged political assassinations, Mr. Carlson said those were “the things that everyone is talking about.” other American media.” (Mr. Carlson was actually the first Western media figure to interview Mr. Putin in more than two years.)
But Mr. Carlson said at the time: “Leadership requires killing people — I’m sorry, that’s why I don’t want to be a leader” — comments that came under even greater criticism after Mr. Navalny’s death.
Mr. Carlson said in a statement on Friday that his comments about leadership had “nothing” to do with Mr. Navalny. “I wasn’t referring to him, which is obvious in the context. I am absolutely against killing.”
Although Mr. Carlson pressed Mr. Putin during the interview about Russia’s detention of Wall Street Journal correspondent Evan Gershkovich, he remained silent for a long time while Mr. Putin gave a history lecture that provided a one-sided and often false narrative about Ukraine.
The fans and supporters of Mr. Carlson
But on Wednesday, a new expert joined the chorus of those who said Mr. Carlson was too easy on Mr. Putin — Mr. Putin himself.
Speaking to a state television host, Mr Putin said he was disappointed that Mr Carlson had not asked “so-called sharp questions” because he wanted the opportunity to “answer sharply” in his own answers.
“He proved to be patient and listened to my long dialogues, especially those related to history, and did not give me any reason to do what I was ready to do,” Putin said. “Frankly, I was not completely satisfied with this interview.”
Justin Wells, one of Mr. Carlson’s top producers, responded Friday that viewers should “judge for themselves.”
Mr. Putin’s mockery of Mr. Carlson came as the former Fox host basked in his interview by repeatedly praising Russia and Mr. Putin, whose leadership he has praised as superior to Mr. Biden.
On Wednesday, Mr. Carlson released a short video recorded in a Russian grocery store and said the selection and prices were an example of Russia’s superiority over the United States, which he described as full of “filth, crime and inflation.”
“Walking into a Russian grocery store, the heart of evil, and seeing what things cost and how people live will radicalize you against our leaders,” he said in the video. “At least that’s how I feel – radicalized.”
(Russia has an inflation rate more than twice that of the United States and its citizens spend a higher percentage of their household budgets on food.)
The video was rebuked by both parties: Naomi Biden and, before her, Senator Thom Tillis, Republican of North Carolina.
As a polemicist who has long engaged with pro-Russian narratives and now relies on subscriptions from those interested in just such content, Mr. Carlson operates in a field where the criticism he received this week is a catalyst could be for even more support.
“He’s just judged by a whole different standard,” said Nicole R. Hemmer, an associate professor of history at Vanderbilt University who studies conservative media. “Tucker under fire is great for Tucker.”
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2024-02-17 00:20:33
www.nytimes.com