“Wonderful” isn’t an adjective that many people have used to describe Tucker Carlson, but it’s the word that Margarita Simonyan—editor-in-chief of Russia Today, Russia’s premier propaganda outlet—thinks suits him best. Which seems appropriate. As The Daily Beast’s Julia Davis reports, Carlson’s mug and bad takes have been gaining popularity in Russia over the last few months, as the state-run media has held him up as the poster boy for pro-Vladimir Putin pundits. On Wednesday, Simonyan made a public appeal for someone—anyone—to make a sit-down between Russia’s president and Fox News’ recovering bow tie addict happen.
After watching a clip of Ol’ Fish Sticks, Simonyan was practically gushing. As The Daily Beast writes:
Delivering her pitch to Putin in the style of former President Trump’s notorious “Russia, if you’re listening,” Simonyan gushed to Soloviev: “You showed the clip of wonderful Tucker Carlson, who—by the way—is dreaming of interviewing Vladimir Putin, simply dreaming about it! It’s not within my purview, but if anyone could make it happen, it would be amazing. He is the most popular host in the United States and perhaps the only one who is reasonable, has the biggest audience, who understands everything the way it should be understood.” Soloviev and guests in the studio nodded approvingly.
A one-on-one with Putin is something that Carlson has reportedly been begging to make happen for ages, and now he has at least one Russian propagandist championing his cause.
(Via The Daily Beast)