Tucker Carlson Continues To Back Russia, Questions Why It Is 'Loyal' To Side With Ukraine

Fox News host Tucker Carlson once again expressed his support for Russia amid tensions with the West over Ukraine. Carlson on Monday questioned the need for the U.S. to get involved in the conflict.

On "Tucker Carlson Tonight," the bombastic host launched himself into a tirade that questioned why it was necessary for Washington to support Kyiv as hundreds of thousands of Russian soldiers mass on its eastern border. At one point, Carlson asked his viewers to question "who benefits?" from a possible war with Russia.

“We don’t ask that question enough. The United States certainly doesn’t benefit, that’s obvious to anyone who thinks about it for a second,” said Carlson. “It’s so glaringly obvious, in fact, that the people pushing this war immediately denounce you as a traitor if you point that out.”

Carlson did not stop there. Later in the segment, he questioned why it was considered patriotic to support Ukraine but not Russia in any prospective conflict. Going further, he accused the Biden administration of conspiring with a shady cabal of defense contractors, Ukrainian lobbyists and “neocons” — a group usually associated with the Republican Party with hawkish foreign policy views — of pushing for a conflict.

“Why is it disloyal to side with Russia but loyal to side with Ukraine? They’re both foreign countries that don’t care anything about the United States,” the host continued.

The White House fears that the ongoing Russian military build-up is a precursor to an invasion of Ukraine and has warned that Russia can execute one "at any point" in the near future. Russia insists that it has no plans to attack, but President Vladimir Putin has warned that his country may have to resort to unspecified “military-technical measures” if Ukraine was to join NATO.

To defuse the situation, Secretary of State Antony Blinken has been on a whirlwind tour of European capitals in recent weeks to keep allies onboard for any combined sanctions for a Russian invasion, reassure Ukraine of U.S support, and continue negotiations with Russia.

This is not the first time that Carlson has voiced pro-Russia statements on his show. During the Trump administration, Carlson said that he was “rooting for Russia” over Ukraine in an episode on Trump’s first impeachment trial. Carlson later said that his comment was made in jest to troll “the left” in response to the previous investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election.

Carlson hosts the most-watched program on Fox News, which itself is the most-watched news network in the U.S. This fact has not gone unnoticed, especially given his penchant for heaping praise on Putin and Russia. His most recent comments were apparently picked up by Russian state television as part of its criticisms of the U.S. and President Joe Biden.

Last July, Carlson told his audience that he was targeted by the National Security Agency (NSA) for surveillance. The NSA dismissed his accusations in a rare public rebuke and sources told Axios at the time that Carlson was seeking an interview with Putin for his show. They say that if Carlson’s communications were intercepted, it was likely incidental to communications he was engaged in with Russian intermediaries.

On Tuesday, Rep. Tom Malinowski, D-N.J., said that he was getting calls from constituents who were concerned about why the U.S. was not supporting Russia after watching Carlson’s show.

“My office is now getting calls from folks who say they watch Tucker Carlson and are upset that we’re not siding with Russia in its threats to invade Ukraine, and who want me to support Russia’s ‘reasonable’ positions,” Malinowski, a former diplomat, posted Monday on Twitter.