The biggest overreactions to Tucker Carlson’s Putin interview that no one has seen yet

Judging by some of the responses to Tucker Carlson’s announcement of his forthcoming interview with Vladimir Putin, you’d think the former Fox News host had been caught driving a tank into Kharkiv.

Naturally, Cockburn is reserving judgment until he’s seen the conversation itself — which is scheduled to be released this evening. Of course, Carlson has a track record of going easy in interviews with morally dubious guests such as Andrew Tate, Russell Brand and Kevin Spacey — and several other outlets were declined the opportunity to grill Putin by the Kremlin. Nonetheless, the reactions to Carlson’s presence in Moscow seem particularly highly strung given no one currently knows what questions he asked.

Among the most vocal critics of Carlson has been Hillary Clinton. “He’s like a puppy dog,” Clinton said in an interview with MSNBC’s Alex Wagner. “After being fired from so many outlets in the United States, I would not be surprised if he emerges with a contract from a Russian outlet because he is a useful idiot.” Adam Schiff jumped on the train, posting, “There are idiots. And useful idiots. And really really useful idiots. And then Tucker Carlson.” 

Anne Applebaum, who accused Carlson of amplifying Russian propaganda in an Atlantic article last year, doubled down on X. “Tucker Carlson has been useful to Viktor Orbán because he helps him hide his corruption behind the veil “culture war,” as I wrote in September. Reposting because Carlson is in Moscow, doing the same favor for a much bloodier, more dangerous autocrat.” 

Many journalists also mocked Carlson’s claim that no one in American media has reached out to Putin for an interview. “Does Tucker really think we journalists haven’t been trying to interview President Putin every day since his full-scale invasion of Ukraine?” Christiane Amanpour, CNN’s chief international anchor, said on X. “It’s absurd — we’ll continue to ask for an interview, just as we have for years now.” Even the Kremlin admitted that “Mr. Carlson is wrong” and not the first Western journalist to attempt an interview. 

Carlson has also been panned across Europe. Guy Verhofstadt, a former Belgian prime minister and current member of the European Parliament, has called for the European Union to impose a travel ban on Carlson. “As Putin is a war criminal and the EU sanctions all who assist him in that effort, it seems logical that the External Action Service examine his case as well,” Verhofstadt said, calling Carlson a “mouthpiece” of Donald Trump and Putin. No talks are in the works to sanction Carlson, according to an EU spokesman, but Bulwark founder Bill Kristol wants to bar Carlson from coming home. “Perhaps we need a total and complete shutdown of Tucker Carlson re-entering the United States until our country’s representatives can figure out what is going on,” he posted on X. 

In June, Carlson was listed on the Ukrainian database Myrotvorets as an enemy of the state. The website, which describes itself as a non-government research center, publishes personal data of people deemed threats to Ukraine’s national security. He is attributed with “participating in humanitarian aggression against Ukraine” and “manipulating public information.” (Some reports from, among others, Alex Jones of Infowars, interpreted Tucker’s presence in the database as him being added to Ukraine’s “kill list”: this is not accurate.)

Cockburn’s favorite dig against Carlson was a comparison with Unity Valkyrie Mitford, a British aristocrat who became infatuated with Adolf Hitler. In 1933 she moved to Germany and weaseled her way into the Führer’s inner circle, often vacationing with him in his home in Bavaria. After Britain declared war on Germany, Mitford attempted suicide. “Parallel lives,” said the Atlantic’s David Frum of Mitford and Carlson. Only time, and an American declaration of war on Russia, will tell how similar the two really are. 

Carlson says he’s in Moscow due to his role as an American journalist. Given that, it’d be nice to see him return to these shores with Evan Gershkovich and Alsu Kurmasheva, two other American reporters currently imprisoned by the Russian regime. If he did, would Hillary, Kristol, Verhofstadt et al be lining up to eat their words?