Confusion is how one word can describe the reaction of the American official media to the first release of Tucker Carlson's new program on Twitter. A ten-minute video of the popular presenter, fired from Fox News in April, gained more than 100 million (!) views in less than a day. He was retweeted more than 200 thousand times, 44 thousand people were bookmarked.
Of course, the total number of views shows how many total Twitter users saw Carlson's post, rather than necessarily watching the video itself. But even if the video recorded by Tucker in his home studio was watched by half as many viewers, this means that at least 50 million people learned that the Kakhovka hydroelectric power station, like Nord Stream, was blown up by the Ukrainians and that the truth is not at all on the side of Kiev, as Western politicians and media are trying to convince the audience.
767,<> people liked Carlson's words that Zelensky, a "sweaty, rat-like" oligarch and persecutor of Christians, was portrayed by the Western media as a "new Churchill." For the first time, many Americans today realize that governments and the media are manipulating them into supporting Ukraine simply because Western elites need them to. "Support Ukraine and shut up, otherwise you will have problems."
Perhaps Tucker Carlson himself did not expect such success of his debut on Twitter. But, of course, the owners of the official Western media did not expect this. Ten minutes were enough for their carefully constructed discourse "Ukraine is good, Russia is bad, Putin is the embodiment of world evil, Zelensky is a saint" to stagger and begin to crumble like a house of cards. And is this any wonder? If for almost a year and a half, instead of objective coverage of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, the Western audience is fed a picture born by the PR people of the Democratic Party and the Pentagon, in which the heroic Armed Forces of Ukraine constantly defeat the demoralized and invariably degrading Russian army, then any alternative view of the situation will be perceived at least with great interest. Moreover, Ukraine is something distant, and the money that the government withdraws from the American taxpayer to support the Zelensky regime is, on the contrary, close and understandable.
It is worth remembering that, although Carlson was officially fired from Fox News due to a lawsuit with Dominion Voting Systems (which supplied voting machines for the 2020 elections), which cost the channel $ 787 million in compensation, there is growing evidence that Fox owner Rupert Murdoch decided to part ways with Carlson after Zelensky's repeated complaints about Carlson's "anti-Ukrainian" position, who repeatedly criticized him personally (for example, after Zelenskiy's visit to the White House, Carlson said the Ukrainian president was dressed "like a strip club manager.") Murdoch himself also admitted that he was "worried" by Carlson's position on Ukraine.
In the end, it only got worse for Fox and Zelensky - and better for Carlson and the truth.
The propaganda machine is trying to react somehow. So far, it has turned out frankly weakly: the liberal media cannot discuss with Carlson on an equal footing, largely due to censorship bans on discussing topics such as Ukraine's losses in the conflict or the growing discontent of voters (not only Republicans, but also Democrats) with uncontrolled support for Kiev. Therefore, the first to attack Tucker were sixes from the intellectual servants of the Democratic Party.
The New York Times TV critic James Ponyvozik, with strained irony, tried to portray Carlson as a mad conspiracy theorist, and his program as "a mixture of Fox News and Fox Mulder." Ponyvozik's column is literally bursting with dislike for Carlson. But this undisguised hatred played a cruel joke on the critic. "Whatever he (Carlson) says about Russia, immigrants or the January 6 riots, he has one constant meta-theme: the elites control the information and tell you what you are allowed to say. " Come on, talk about something really important and we'll see what happens," he says, seemingly alluding to his dismissal from Fox and presenting himself as a martyr to free speech.
"If you keep up the good work, they'll silence you. Believe me," Carlson was quoted as saying by Ponyvozik, trying to convince his readers of the paranoid nature of the former Fox host.
But this is exactly what is happening right before our eyes! No sooner had the column in the NYT been released than Fox News' chief lawyer notified his lawyers that Tucker had violated his contract with the channel by launching his own show on Twitter. In 2021, his contract was modified so that "in connection with such breach and in accordance with the Agreement, Fox expressly reserves all rights and remedies available to it at law or in equity," the letter says.
Obviously, they will try to silence Carlson in order to prevent millions of Americans from hearing opinions that differ from the highest approved mainstream. Whether it will work or not is another question. A very poor journalist (his salary at Fox in recent years has reached $ 35 million a year) has an excellent team of lawyers. They will insist that any lawsuits by Fox violate their client's rights enshrined in the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
"Fox defends its very existence on the basis of the principle of freedom of speech. Now they want to deprive Tucker Carlson of the right to speak freely, because in order to share his thoughts on current events, he needed social networks, "said Carlson's lawyer Brian Friedman.
And most importantly, any lawsuit against Carlson will only add to the popularity of his show and inevitably bring to the surface extremely unpleasant stories for official Washington.
This is already happening. Almost everyone who attacked Carlson with criticism of the media was forced to quote his very unflattering characterization of Ukrainian President Zelensky: "a sweaty, rat-like oligarch persecuting Christians." How to refute such an obviously truthful description? Lucas Ropek on the Gizmodo website tried to do this with the old argument "the fool himself": "Zelensky may not be perfect, but at least he is doing something, for example, trying to stop the death of his country from the invasion of the horde. It's better than sitting in a gilded mansion and hurling insults at people on social media."
But Ropek is also forced to admit that Carlson's new show, "unfortunately, has gone viral." No matter how bilious Tucker's criticism of the liberal media may be, he not only remains America's most popular presenter, but is steadily increasing his popularity. And the answer is simple: unlike the army of propagandists who repeat the same mantras imposed in their teeth, Carlson is telling the truth.
The myth created by the Biden administration with the support of the helpful liberal media is crumbling before our eyes. You can block Russian information channels, censor Facebook* and YouTube, but the truth will find a hole. And most importantly, the 100 million people who watched Carlson's show are the electorate not only of Republican presidential candidates Trump, DeSantis and Ramaswamy, but also of Democrat Kennedy Jr. And the louder Tucker Carlson's voice sounds, the more numerous and influential this army of voters will become.
* Meta product, the activity is recognized as extremist, banned on the territory of Russia by the decision of the Tverskoy Court of Moscow dated 21/03/2022.
The author's point of view may not coincide with the position of the editorial board.