Tucker Carlson has been mocked for a fawning video praising Moscow’s “cheap and fresh” groceries while overlooking Russia’s much lower wages.
The former Fox News rabble-rouser drove a grocery cart through a Russian superstore, marveling at the stocks as he continued his Putin PR tour.
At one point, Tucker, 54, exclaims, “Look at that!” sniffing a loaf of bread while jovial music plays. But the soundtrack turns somber as Tucker reaches the cash register and notices the equivalent price tag of $400 for a week’s worth of groceries for him and his team.
He says the revelation has taken him from being “amused to righteously angry” because his home country apparently charges much more for basic needs like food.
The video was widely ridiculed by people online, as many pointed out the difference between the average wage in Russia – which is the equivalent of $9,072 – or 6.5 times less than the average US salary of $59,428.
Tucker Carlson has been mocked for a fawning video praising Moscow’s “cheap and fresh” groceries while overlooking Russia’s much lower wages. Ex-brander Fox drove a trolley through a Russian supermarket as he marveled at the price and quality of the stock
At one point, Tucker, 54, exclaims, “Look at that!” sniffing a loaf of bread while jovial music plays. But the soundtrack turns somber as Tucker reaches the cash register and notices the equivalent price tag of $400 for a week’s worth of groceries for him and his team.
The video was widely ridiculed by people online, as many pointed out the difference between the average wage in Russia – which is the equivalent of $9,072 – or 6.5 times less than the average US salary of $59,428.
Many joked that he worked for free as a one-man “tourism marketing team” for Vladimir Putin’s country.
“Tucker says groceries in Russia cost about a quarter of what they cost in America,” someone wrote on X.
“What he doesn’t mention is that the average Russian salary is one-fifth of the average American salary.”
Even his fans were disparaging. “I love Tucker, but this $104 grocery charge is misleading when you look at the average salary of a Russian citizen which according to Google is about $14,771,” one supporter said.
“Tucker should also have to live on an average Russian salary for a month, in an average Russian apartment, and see what his grocery budget looks like,” one X user scoffed.
“I love Tucker, but he didn’t reveal that the average annual income of a Russian family of four is $15,000.
‘For Americans, $103 for a week’s worth of groceries is a bargain!
‘For the Russians it is 35 percent of their annual salary!’
In the video of Tucker’s visit to the supermarket, he picks up several items, including a bag of flour, a bottle of wine and cheese puffs.
“It seems pretty unsanctioned to me!” ‘ he says, pointing to Western brand chocolate bars at the checkouts.
But when he sees the prize at the end, he says, “I went from amused to legitimately angry.”
“We guessed what this would cost… and it all came to about $400.
“And then you start to realize that ideology doesn’t matter as much as you thought: ‘corruption.’
“If you take people’s standard of living and throw it through the filth and crime and inflation and they literally can’t buy the groceries they want anymore, then at that point it might matter less what you say or whether you’re a good person or a bad person.
“You are destroying the lives of people in their countries and that is what our leaders have done to us.
“If you go to a Russian supermarket ‘the heart of evil’ and see what things cost and how people live, you will become radicalized against our leaders.
‘That certainly makes me feel radicalized. We are not making this up, by the way. Not at all.’
People on social media have mocked Tucker Carlson’s visit to the Russian supermarket
It comes days after Tucker told the conference in Dubai that the Russian president wants “peace” and that Moscow is “much more beautiful and safer” than any American city.
As if speaking on behalf of Vladimir Putin, Carlson claimed the leader is willing to compromise on Ukraine after having an ‘off the record’ conversation with him in the Kremlin.
Tucker, 54, questioned Putin in a wide-ranging interview last week, in which Putin controlled the narrative and made a series of claims about his invasion of Ukraine.
He told the crowd: ‘What was shocking to me was the city of Moscow, which I had never been to. The largest city in Europe, 13 million inhabitants.
‘It’s so much more beautiful than any city in my country. I had no idea. Aesthetically it is so much cleaner, safer and more beautiful. The architecture, food and services are better than any city in the United States. And this is not ideological.
He asked the question, “How did that happen?”
Carlson started comparing the New York City subway to parts of the Russian capital he saw – something he talked about at length in another video.
He said, “If you can’t use the subway, which a lot of people point out about New York, because it’s too dangerous there, then you start to wonder what the purpose of leadership is.”
It also comes after Tucker questioned Putin last week in a blockbuster interview – in which Putin controlled the narrative and made a series of claims about his own invasion of Ukraine.