Fired Fox News host Tucker Carlson dropped the first episode of his new Tucker on Twitter show on Tuesday evening. Carlson, who in the past has received a bevy of criticism for pushing race-based conspiracy theories and offering friendly talking points on Russia, offered a full-throated condemnation of Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky – one which was quickly called out for trafficking in “antisemitic tropes.”
Carlson offered a lengthy analysis of the recent dam breach in Ukraine, which has resulted in devastating flooding. While Russia and Ukraine blame one another for the dam’s destruction, Carlson unsurprisingly squarely put the blame on Ukraine. He even went so far as to argue that the dam was “effectively Russian.”
The far-right commentator then went on to slam Zelensky as “sweaty and rat-like” and called him “our shifty, dead-eyed Ukrainian friend in the tracksuit” who he alleged persecutes Christians and is cozy with Wall Street.
Carlson comparing the Jewish leader of Ukraine to a rodent led to swift condemnation. Puck News’s Julia Ioffe shared Carlson’s screed and summed it up, writing, “In which Tucker Carlson says that the first Jewish president of Ukraine is ‘sweaty and rat like, a persecutor of Christians, a friend of Blackrock.’”
The Forward’s Jacob Kornbluh replied, “More antisemitic tropes…” Matt Duss, a former foreign policy adviser to Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) noted, “Carlson calls Zelensky ‘Sweaty and rat-like, a comedian turned oligarch, a persecutor of Christians.’ I don’t care if his ersatz populism gives you a little thrill, no decent or effective antifascist left can have anything to do with this antisemite.”
JStreet, the left-leaning Israel advocacy group, replied, “US media’s largest purveyor of right-wing conspiracy theories and antisemitism starts his new show with antisemitism and conspiracy theories.
Carlson himself appeared to understand he was far outside the bounds of your everyday content creator and ended his ten-minute episode with a shot across the bow at Twitter CEO Elon Musk.
(Excerpt) Read more in: Mediaite