Summary
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky tore into Tucker Carlson for calling him a “dictator,” accusing him of repeating Vladimir Putin’s propaganda.
In an interview with Piers Morgan, Zelensky dismissed claims of suppressing opposition and defended Ukraine’s paused elections as necessary under martial law.
Criticizing Carlson’s pro-Kremlin rhetoric, he fumed, “It seems to me he needs to more deeply understand what’s happening in Ukraine, to stop working for Putin, to stop licking his ass.”
Zelensky insisted Ukraine is fighting to preserve democracy, not undermine it.
Yes, he can. But saying Carlson is licking Putin’s ass is not only vulgar, it shows Zelensky’s lack of a tolerant mindset. He could easily just ignore Carlson and go ahead with his very busy life. Instead, Zelensky appears in a highly mediatic show saying these things? I don’t think it adds to his cause, he’s not looking well by doing it.
Frankly I don’t think he owes any tolerance to the guy who is already advocating for the invasion that has killed hundreds of thousands of his fellow Ukrainians. Strategically I don’t think it’s a bad move either; being nice to Carlson isn’t going to get him anywhere because Carlson is a repugnant man and Zelenskyy’s evaluation of him is spot on. He might as well show some backbone and humour by mocking him instead, it makes him more likeable to the people that aren’t the lost cause of Carlson fans
Well, are you an Ukrainian? I’d be particularly interested in your opinion if you were one.
If not, I disagree. Carlson presents himself as a journalist, and he certainly has a freedom of speech. He said why he thinks Zelensky is a dictator, he backed his opinion with statements based on facts. Of course other statements can be derived from the same facts and Zelensky could’ve addressed Tuckers’ statements with his own interpretation, but he said to Carlson “stop licking Putin’s ass”.
My impression is that Carlson went under his skin with a very low effort, but yeah, I can see how some people could think is strategically correct. One more thing, I didn’t say he should have been nice to Carlson, I said indifference was better.