The Far Right and Fox News Continue to Embrace Putin

With growing shocking evidence of Russian war crimes against civilians in Ukraine and growing calls for prosecution of Vladimir Putin and his henchmen here in America we continue to see elements of the political far right and Fox News, particularly Tucker Carlson, still embracing Putin and Russia.  Apparently in the minds of these morally bankrupt individuals being gay accepting and "woke" are worse crimes than the murder of men, women and children and other war crime atrocities.  It's mind numbing  that anyone could continue to embrace Putin's cause and spin lies and acqusations against Ukraine despite the daily display of Russian brutality.  It is also a testament of who morally depraved elements of the Republican Party have become and spinless the remaing Republicans have become that the likes of Marjorie Taylor Green and Madison Cawthorn have not been expelled from Congress.  Meanwhile Fox News has become and ever foul cesspool.  A column in the Washington Post looks at this frightening moral bankruptcy on the right. Here are excerpts:

Only someone born yesterday would be remotely surprised by the atrocities revealed in Bucha, Ukraine. Russian dictator Vladimir Putin has been committing war crimes since the day he took office. That makes it all the more sinister and enraging that he retains an influential rooting section of right-wing voters in the United States.

The Pew Research Center finds that the number of Republicans expressing confidence in the Russian tyrant has, mercifully, declined from 37 percent in 2006 to just 7 percent today. But some of the loudest and most influential voices in the MAGA movement still refuse to support Ukraine or stop pushing Russian propaganda. Many take an anti-anti Putin stance by criticizing the Ukrainians for resisting the invasion, insisting that the United States has no stake in the conflict, and focusing their ire on “neocons” and “globalists” (which, to my ears, sounds a lot like “Jews”) who are supposedly trying to drag the United States into a war with Russia.

Here is what Rep. Madison Cawthorn (R-N.C.) said a few weeks ago: “Remember that Zelensky is a thug. Remember that the Ukrainian government is incredibly corrupt and is incredibly evil and has been pushing woke ideologies.” Here is the Daily Wire’s Candace Owens on March 17: “President Zelensky is a very bad character who is working with globalists against the interests of his own people.” Here is Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) on March 15: “NATO has been supplying the neo-Nazis in Ukraine with powerful weapons and extensive training on how to use them.” Here is Ohio Republican Senate candidate J.D. Vance on Feb. 19: “I don’t really care what happens to Ukraine one way or another.”

The worst offenders are also the most influential: former president Donald Trump and Fox “News” host Tucker Carlson. Hey, Tucker, are you still rooting for Russia over Ukraine — as you said you were in 2019? Do you still think there’s no reason to “hate Putin” because he isn’t shipping “every middle-class job in your town to Russia” or “teaching your kids to embrace racial discrimination” — as you said on Feb. 22? Hey, Trump, do you still regard Putin’s invasion of Ukraine as an act of “genius,” and do you still view Putin as a “very savvy” guy who “loves his country” — as you said on Feb. 22?

More broadly, will the pro-Putin wing of the GOP stay loyal to the Butcher of Bucha as more evidence of his crimes emerges? The early indications are not promising.

In recent weeks, Carlson has been pushing a bogus Kremlin claim that Russia had to invade because Ukraine was building bioweapons labs with help from … Hunter Biden. This odious lie might be designed as a “false flag” operation to justify Russia’s use of chemical weapons. Yet Carlson, the consummate “useful idiot,” continues to peddle this loathsome propaganda under the guise of just asking questions.

Carlson also describes Ukraine as a “growing dictatorship” and suggests that arming its defenders is a bad idea because it will “prolong the fighting in Ukraine at the expense of the vulnerable civilian population.” Maybe he should be a little more concerned about the suffering of civilians at Russian hands? But on his show Monday night, he didn’t mention the Bucha massacre. The Kremlin is, naturally, delighted with Carlson’s support and has made quotations from his dishonest program a mainstay on its television shows and social media feeds.

Utterly disgusting.