Tucker Carlson's Tourism in Russia is Undermining Trump

By amplifying the Kremlin's plan of creating a "nuclear psychosis" (the Kremlin's words, not mine) among Western leaders, Carlson is limiting President Trump's options in any peace negotiation.

Tucker is back in Russia venting his theatrical fear of the consequences of American weapons being used in Russia to Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. In doing so, he is amplifying a Kremlin campaign to make Western leaders fear a nuclear war and hold back in aiding Ukraine. He is also limiting President-Elect Trump’s negotiation options.

If Tucker is looking for information on whether Russia will use nukes, he would be better served going to Beijing. Xi Jinping, who is sponsoring Putin’s war, has repeatedly told him not to use nukes.

The propaganda campaign Tucker is promoting has been a key component of Putin’s propaganda war. Documents hacked from the Kremlin email boxes prove this. They show messages from April 2022 from Putin’s first deputy chief of staff authorizing the creation of a propaganda campaign to create a “nuclear psychosis” among western leaders

The Kremlin “nuclear psychosis” campaign Tucker is amplifying has been amazingly effective, as Biden has slow-walked American weapons to Ukraine since 2022, then restricted their use. After waiting for months for Congress to appropriate US weapons last, Biden forgot to spend some $6 billion by its September 30 expiration date. Well, we are not sure that the last one is because Biden was scared or just asleep at the switch. Regardless, our friends at the front say that American weapons did not arrive until October.

Tucker’s trip to Moscow has made Trump’s negotiations with Putin more difficult.

It is important to note that Tucker is worked up about Biden’s decision to allow the Ukrainians to use American short-range weapons, but Trump is not. Not one tweet. Nor is anyone actually working for Trump worked up about this.

In fact, Trump met with Biden for two hours five days before the latter made the announcement to allow Ukraine to use short-range missiles on military targets inside Russia.

Do you think they talked about Ukraine?

Keith Kellogg, a former general who is Trump’s new Special Envoy for Ukraine and Russia, said this of Biden’s lifting of restrictions on ATACMS:

Biden has "actually given President Trump more leverage," Kellogg said.

"Now he can pull back. He can go left; he can go right. He can do something."

Kellogg added that the decision "does give President Trump more ability to pivot from that."

The retired general also said the move should have been made "a long time ago."

"They should have been doing this a year ago," said Kellogg.

"You do not fight a war allowing other countries to have sanctuaries.

"If you're gonna fight a war, you fight a war, and we've basically pulled back on letting [Ukrainian President Volodymyr] Zelensky fight a war that he should have been fighting a long time ago."

Kellogg is a retired three-star general who was a White House national security advisor in Trump’s previous administration. He was decorated in combat in Vietnam and commanded the Special Operations Command Europe (SOCEUR) - Navy SEALS, 10th Special Forces Group… those guys.

Tucker has been grocery shopping in Moscow.

Who do you trust?

Using U.S. short-range missiles inside Russia is the 12th of Putin’s red lines that the west has crossed since 2022. Still no nukes.

While Russia has not escalated the war, Tucker has escalated his rhetoric. Usually he uses hyperbole and cherry picking of facts - nearly to the point of wholesale fabrication - and stops. This time, he is completely making shit up.

I have been to the front in Ukraine far more than Tucker has been grocery shopping in Moscow; probably thirty times and a dozen times since last summer. Most days I am in contact with someone at the front or someone who has recently been there. I have never seen an active duty US soldier, nor have I met anyone who has. And I have asked. They may be there - I hope they are there - but they are not easy to find. I’m not sure how Tucker “found” them.

If US military personnel are in Ukraine, you can be sure they aren’t pulling the trigger on short-range ATACMS missiles into Russia. Ukrainian soldiers have been firing ATACMS at targets in Russian-occupied parts of Ukraine and don’t need American help to shift the coordinates to make the missiles impact inside Russian territory.

Tucker has said Secretary of State Blinken has cut off all contact between the US and Russian governments. I have no idea where that comes from. The US Embassy in Moscow is open for diplomacy till 6pm local time, according to Google, and I am sure those folks are working after hours.

The US and Russia cooperated as recently as August 1, 2024 in a large prisoner exchange that brought home Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich and former Marine Paul Whelan.

But most important, is Tucker making shit up about nuclear war?

I live in Kyiv, somewhere near the top of Putin’s nuclear target list. I sleep well at night because I have faith in God and faith in Xi Jinping. Xi Jinping has told Putin not to use nukes since the beginning of the war. And Xi’s opinion counts.

Russia is a vassal state of China. Xi calls Putin his “best friend,” but these days it is in more of a “little buddy” kind of way. In October, Putin stood waiting for Xi awkwardly at his own BRICS conference. Putin endured even more humiliation at a bilateral conference in Beijing in May of this year. Xi made Putin sign a one sentence statement: "There can be no winners in a nuclear war and it should never be fought."

Think about that. While Putin threatens Western leaders with nuclear war to make them more cautious about aiding Ukraine, Xi makes him undermine his own propaganda with this statement. He has admonished Putin publicly multiple times. Either Tucker doesn’t know how to use Google or he is willfully ignoring this information.

If you are still worried about Putin nuking your neighborhood, we have a canary in the coal mine. Hundreds of children of Russian government officials and oligarchs are living in the West. If you hear of a mass exodus of Russian children from private schools in New York, its time to check your stockpiles of food and ammunition.

Tucker is not only making shit up, but he is making shit up that is contradictory to the statements of the person Trump has hired to create peace between Russia.

Tucker has been both pro-Trump and pro-Russia for years. Now it looks like he will have to choose one.