Thread by @SlavaMalamud

I can't stress this enough: he is repeating, verbatim, every single Kremlin talking point. He has been doing this for the last several years.
Tucker Carlson is either a paid or a voluntary agent of Russian influence.

https://twitter.com/Acyn/status/1483612693827182596

This is exactly how Putin explained the annexation of Crimea: "If we didn't move in, NATO would have."
Nobody else ever used this line, since it's utter nonsense. Ukrainians wanted to leave the Russian sphere of influence and move towards democracy and European integration.

They wanted free elections, not Kremlin-appointed puppets. They wanted an end to ever-prevasive corruption, promulgated in all Putin-controlled territories. They wanted to be a free, Western nation, not another post-Soviet illiberal vassal fiefdom.
And Putin punished them for it.

Russia never was threatened by Ukraine militarily. But Russia desperately wanted Ukraine tied to itself politically and economically, because Russia ultimately views it as its former and future colony.
For a US political influencer to take Russia's side in this is despicable.

Carlson promotes a despicable, cowardly, sordid betrayal of America's ally for no reason whatsoever, other than he likes Putin. Thinks Putin has a great point. Thinks an authoritarian tyrant itching to swallow up a nation yearning for freedom is kinda in the right here.
Yup.

The best-case scenario is that Carlson is simply bought and paid for.
The worst-case scenario is that Carlson, and the GOP base he is a mouthpiece for, is fully invested into the authoritarian ideology and is actively selling it to America.
And I am not an optimist here.