EU Considering Sanctions Against Tucker Carlson for Interviewing Putin

[Valin]

Hot Air

David Strom

February 07, 2024

Tucker Carlson's interview with Vladimir Putin hasn't even been released yet and already Western leaders are talking about censuring him for speaking to the Russian president.

Newsweek is reporting that politicians inside and outside the EU Parliament are arguing that Carlson is aiding and abetting Putin by giving him a platform, and hence Carlson should face sanctions in the same way that other Russian allies of the Kremlin leader do.

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The irony is strong in this one. 

One of Putin's great sins is suppressing all political dissent. That also happens to be one of the privileges he has as an autocrat that appeals the most to European (and many American) leaders. 

If only they could censor their critics. 

Oh, wait. They can!Tucker Carlson's interview with Russian President Vladimir Putin could see the conservative pundit targeted by European Union lawmakers, current and former members of the European Parliament have told Newsweek.

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[Valin]

Tucker Carlson says he ‘really’ likes Moscow ahead of release of Putin interview
Asher Notheis
February 7, 2024

Tucker Carlson stated in a recent video that he “really” likes Moscow during a visit he made to Russia, where he conducted an interview with President Vladimir Putin.

The former Fox News host was filmed discussing the city before conducting his interview with Putin, which, as of Wednesday morning, has yet to be released to the public. Carlson was especially appreciative of the 19th-century architecture of Moscow, though he reiterated his love and support for his own home country.

“I really do like [Moscow], I’m not just saying that,” Carlson said in the video. “Why do I feel like I’m betraying my country when I’m saying that? I’m not; I love America.”

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“Two years into a war that’s reshaping the entire world, most Americans are not informed,” Carlson said in a video posted to X. “They have no real idea what’s happening in this region.”

Carlson, who parted ways with Fox News in April of last year, has since interviewed a multitude of different politicians and celebrities on his own show on X, including several controversial people like social media influencer Andrew Tate and former actor Kevin Spacey.

[Valin]

There's Nothing Wrong with Tucker Interviewing Putin. It's Called Journalism.
Nobody should ever apologize for interviewing a newsworthy personality
Zaid Jilani
Feb 7, 2024

News broke earlier this month that long-time television personality and journalist Tucker Carlson would be interviewing Russian president Vladimir Putin as part of reporting that he’s doing during his first visit to the country. 

Predictably, the news was met with outrage across the media and pundit class.

CNN’s Erin Burnett derided Carlson as “one of the leaders of the MAGA GOP” and said he had gone “there as a Putin-supporting celebrity.” 

Another anchor at the channel, Abby Phillip called Carlson interviewing Putin a “Russian nesting doll,” leading her guest, former Obama confidante David Axelrod, to quip that when he first “heard he was there, I assumed he was there to get an award. There isn’t an American who has done more for Vladimir Putin than Tucker Carlson.”

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But it’s unfair and even antithetical to the principles of journalism to smear Carlson for daring to interview Putin at all. 

Putin is one of the planet’s most influential people, a world leader who is engaged on one side of a conflict that the United States has spent billions of dollars in. If anything, more journalists should be trying to interview Putin and other world leaders who are on the other side of us on major issues; Americans need to be able to consider the views of countries besides our own, even if we have little to nothing in common. 

And despite today’s media climate where so many pundits think it’s anathema to meet with an antagonistic foreign leader, Carlson’s interview with Putin sits neatly in the American tradition of interviewing adversaries.

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