Amid Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, many politicians and establishment media outlets have said the world is in danger and needs to act now....
Amid Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, many politicians and establishment media outlets have said the world is in danger and needs to act now.
Fox News host Tucker Carlson isn’t so sure. During a segment of his show on Wednesday, he said this response is greatly exaggerated and American politicians should focus on issues at home.
Carlson made his point by contrasting the Biden administration’s stance on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine with the crisis at the southern border of the United States.
“So the contrast between official concern over the borders of Ukraine and official neglect of our own borders is pretty hard to miss,” he said. “We’ve returned to it again and again.
“We think we’ve solved the riddle here. When Ukraine is invaded, it’s a war crime. When the United States is invaded, it’s ‘equity.’
“And that may be why the Biden administration has admitted thousands of refugees into this country without vetting them.”
Carlson was joined during the segment by Ohio Senate candidate J.D. Vance, who said Americans ought to keep two things in mind about “this Ukraine crisis that has nothing to do with our national security.”
“The first is that the same people who have obsessed over Ukraine and Russia over the last two weeks are the same people who tried to take down a democratically elected president, Donald Trump, with their obsession over Russia,” the Republican said.
Vance said even though the “Russia collusion” narrative about the 2016 election turned out to be a hoax, many Americans spent four years obsessing about it.
“The second thing to keep in mind is that this is a major distraction from the actual problems that we have here at home,” he said. “There’s the unvetted Afghanistan refugees coming into this country, there’s the fact that the leading cause of death in this country among 18- to 45-year-olds is Mexican fentanyl coming across our border.
“We would be much better served, Tucker — our people would be safer — if we declared the Mexican cartels a terrorist organization, focused on them, and let Ukraine and Russia figure out what’s in Russia and Ukraine’s business.”
To be clear, there certainly are reasons to be concerned about the crisis in Ukraine. The U.S. has a friendly relationship with the democratic nation, and the prospect of innocent civilians dying should not be ignored.
At the same time, Vance and Carlson have a point. While American politicians should care about Russia’s aggression, should they be more alarmed about it than they are about the threats facing our own country?
Carlson said many conservatives likely agree with Vance that the United States should focus more on domestic problems than Ukraine but very few Republican leaders have been brave enough to make this point. He asked Vance why they were hesitant to make a seemingly straightforward point.
“Well, I think there are a couple things going on, Tucker,” the GOP candidate said. “But most importantly, is there is a foreign policy establishment in this country that gets rich when America’s sons and daughters die for stupid things but doesn’t make a penny when America’s problems are solved.
“I can’t get over the fact that these people obsess with democracy, democracy, democracy. They talk about democracy like it’s the most important thing in the world. What about the democratic will of their own people?”
Vance cited an Associated Press/NORC poll published Wednesday that found only 22 percent of Republicans and 32 percent of Democrats believe the U.S. should play a major role in the Ukraine crisis.
Meanwhile, 76 percent of Republicans and 66 percent of Democrats said the U.S. should play either a minor role or no role in the conflict.
“Turns out that the Tucker Carlson, J.D. Vance and Donald Trump view of foreign policy is democratically popular in this country,” Vance said.
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