Tucker Carlson compares Congress applauding Ukrainian president to clip of STALIN

Tucker Carlson compared the warm reception Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky received from Congress to the applause commonly commanded by Josef Stalin, juxtaposing clips of the two leaders during an impassioned tirade on Thursday.

Criticizing the House of Representatives for “clapping like seals” during Wednesday’s speech, Carlson attacked both Democrats and Republicans for blindly supporting Zelensky’s call to stand up to Russian aggression.

Carlson’s rant, which aired on his self-titled show, came after the famed conservative commentator accused Zelensky on Wednesday of dressing like a “money-demanding strip club manager” while ignoring US border issues. Joined.

The on-air tirade lasted more than 20 minutes and saw Carlson, 53, compare the Ukrainian leader to the longtime head of the Soviet Union, airing a clip of his last speech to the equivalent of the Kremlin Congress in 1952. .

The short snippet, shown directly after a clip of Kamala Harris, Nancy Pelosi and hundreds of people frantically applauding Zelensky, showed a similar response to the Russian dictator, who put his own people in prison camps. In Stalin’s Soviet Union, not applauding the leader was often considered treason.

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Before making the comparison, Carlson, who has already been hailed as a hero on Russian television for his criticism of Zelensky, who has already received $68 billion from the White House but wants $37.7 billion more, began his comparison. attacking both parties, commenting on how he applauded’like seals’ after hearing the leader speak.

“But here’s the interesting thing,” Carlson proceeded to point out. “Almost every person in the room clapped like a seal.”

He continued: ‘NNo matter what that man said: “Send me more money; I send it to you, send me more money! We are taking care of it in the most responsible way” – they applaud. All of them. Almost as if they had to.

Carlson then marveled at how, even though there was With 435 members of Congress, ranging from the most do-nothing Democrats to the most aggressive Republicans, no one dares question Zelensky’s call for more funding.

‘Now, there are 435 members of the House of Representatives, Republicans and Democrats, and [they] it is well known that they do not get along and do not agree on anything. They can’t even pass a budget, because they don’t agree on everything.

‘And yet,’ Carlson continued, ‘when a foreign leader shows up in army pants to tell them lies and order them around, everyone cheers. That’s pretty strange behavior in a democracy if you think about it.’

The TV host sarcastically accused the media of manufacturing such divisions themselves, before questioning America’s own notions of being a democracy.

“The adversarial debate we hear so much about doesn’t exist,” Carlson said. And indeed, looking at the screen last night, it didn’t look like a democracy to be honest. It looked like this.

The broadcast would then cut to an excerpt from Stalin’s final speech before Nikita Khrushchev succeeded him as First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.

The Soviet leader, who struck fear into the hearts of tens of millions of Russians during his oppressive 29-year reign with his secret KGB police force, says in the short clip, translated from Russian: “It is well known that this is precisely what our Party does.

At that moment, members of the Supreme Soviet – the governing body of the communist nation apart from the dictatorship – unleashed a deafening barrage of applause, a reaction that was common during the leader’s many speeches.

Carlson went on to mockingly imitate the applause from members of Congress, mimicking what they might have been thinking during Zelensky’s speech.

‘Woohoo, good point, sir; we’re so glad you’re here,’ Carlson said, feigning applause with a simple expression plastered on his face.

The comments came just over 24 hours after the war-torn nation’s president finished his address to Congress, to which Carlson commented on his surprise that “nobody kicked him out” of the event for his casual attire, suggesting that he should have worn a suit instead.

Since Putin ordered the invasion of Ukraine on February 24, Zelensky has made sure to continue wearing his war uniform.

He has been seen almost every night speaking from a bunker in Kyiv wearing the same style of clothing, also wearing it to visit soldiers on the front lines to boost morale.

Zelensky has not wavered on this, even wearing the same khaki clothing when speaking before the United Nations, the G20 and during visits to Ukraine by other foreign dignitaries, including presidents and prime ministers.

This has been a stark contrast to Putin, who is often seen in his presidential palace wearing a suit, speaking to only a small circle of advisers, while making rare public appearances outside its walls.

The attacks on Zelensky came after a pandemic-era US federal immigration policy, known as Title 42, which allowed the influx of immigrants into the country, expired.

The visit also came as US politicians prepare to vote on a year-end spending package that includes about $45 billion in emergency assistance for Ukraine. The United States has been Ukraine’s largest donor country by far, sending $64 billion for weapons and equipment. Germany is the second largest, at just $2.34 billion.

Carlson said: “The President of Ukraine came to the White House dressed as a strip club manager and demanding money and, amazingly, nobody kicked him out.”

Congress is set to decide on a proposed spending package that would throw another $37 billion toward the Eastern European country.

Meanwhile, the US is facing a crisis at its own border, as President Joe Biden seeks an end to the Trump-era Title 42 mandate, prompting massive crossings of asylum seekers into Mexico.

The guidance, approved in 2020 by then-President Donald Trump to quell the spread of COVID-19, allows border officials to more easily turn away migrants at the southern border. It is scheduled to expire on December 27.