Former Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-HI) appeared on Tuesday’s edition of Jesse Watters Primetime and said the United States and Russia aren’t really that different when comes to how the public discourse is shaped.
Jesse Watters played a clip of The View featuring the hosts making unhinged suggestions that Gabbard and Fox News personality Tucker Carlson should be federally investigated for “shilling for Putin.”
Thankfully, espousing certain opinions is not a crime in the U.S. (This fact will be relevant in a moment.)
“Every American should be wondering why our White House and our Democratic Party seem to be mimicking Putin’s propaganda style and seeking out ways to silence free speech,” said Watters, who did not cite any Putin-esque ways the White House is allegedly employing “to silence free speech.”
He welcomed Gabbard to the show.
“Tulsi, it is striking when you see Putin propaganda and you line it up against Biden propaganda,” he said. “Do you think that we’re at risk of kind of moving in that direction right now?”
“We are moving in that direction, Jesse,” she replied. “They’re afraid of the truth.”
She stated the arguments of the “power elite… are so weak that they know they will not withstand the light of the truth.” Gabbard did not elaborate on what “the truth” is in this instance, and it was not entirely clear which particular issue she was even speaking about, if any.
“And this is what’s so dangerous about the place that we’re in right now as a country, where this idea, this principle, this foundation of freedom of speech, freedom of expression is directly under threat and under attack,” she continued. “And you’re right. It’s not so different. What’s happening here is not that different from what we’re seeing happening in Russia, where you’ve got state TV and controlled messaging across the board. This is where we’re at.”
Jailed Russian dissident Alexei Navalny would like a word.
As Gabbard spoke, Fox News did not cut away from her appearance lest it draw the ire of the Biden administration. Nor was Gabbard arrested after her appearance, as Russian news editor Marina Ovsyannikova was after she crashed a state TV broadcast holding a sign reading, “No war, stop the war, don’t believe the propaganda, they are lying to you here.” And unlike Ovsyannikova, Gabbard is not potentially facing 15 years in prison for saying what she said on TV.
(Excerpt) Read more in: Mediaite