In a recent interview with Piers Morgan, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky delivered a scathing rebuke to Tucker Carlson, the former Fox News host, for labeling him a "dictator" and accusing him of suppressing free elections.
Zelensky urged Carlson to cease his apparent admiration for Russian President Vladimir Putin and to stop acting as a mouthpiece for the Russian leader.
Zelensky's fiery response comes in the wake of Carlson's controversial appearance on Piers Morgan Uncensored last week, where the right-wing commentator leveled a series of allegations against the Ukrainian leader. "The first trait of a dictator is that he is not elected, Carlson declared, ridiculing Morgans support for Zelensky. Zelensky is not elected. He has also banned a religious denomination, killed his political opponents, and banned a language group. To me, these all seem like traits of a dictatorship. The governments of the USA and the UK support this dictator.
As reported by Piers Morgan Uncensored, Carlson has been widely criticized and ridiculed for his overtly pro-Kremlin rhetoric, even before Russia's unprovoked war against Ukraine in 2022. His excessive praise for Putin during the lead-up to Russia's invasion was so extreme that even Kremlin TV hosts expressed concern that his bias had crossed a line. A former Russia Today TV network host even claimed that Carlson's commentary was indistinguishable from Russian state media.
As the conflict in Ukraine continues, Carlson has interspersed his criticism of Zelensky whom he has compared to a strip club manager with lenient interviews with Putin and other Russian politicians, along with propaganda-style videos of Moscow grocery stores and subway stations.
In his conversation with Morgan, Zelensky argued that Carlson was essentially parroting Putin's narrative and engaging in whataboutism by accusing him of being a dictator. Putin has a narrative on elections, on my legitimacy, on dictatorship. That's from a person who is 30 years in power! Zelensky exclaimed.
Zelensky further stated, The bloody dictator, murderer who violated territorial integrity of Ukraine ... All that is Putin's narrative. And regrettably this, this blogger or journalist, whatever he wants to call himself, he unfortunately fully repeats the words of Putin and what he wants. He works for Putin because he wants to lower me to the level of Putin.
Addressing Carlsons accusations directly, Zelensky began with the claim that he had murdered his political opponents. He pointed out that the closest thing to this was the exile of former Ukrainian lawyer and politician Viktor Medvedchuk. Nobody killed him. He was arrested by the Security Service of Ukraine, and in time, we exchanged him [with Russia] for 200 Ukrainian military personnel, Zelensky clarified. So I'm not aware of which opponents he speaks. All my opponents are the opposition, all the opposition that was there when I became the president. It is all there in the Ukrainian parliament, and even this party that was the party of Medvedchuk ... whom we exchanged, those MPs are in Parliament.
Zelensky then urged the former Fox News host to gain a deeper understanding of the situation in Ukraine. It seems to me he needs to more deeply understand what's happening in Ukraine, to stop working for Putin, to stop licking his a**, he said.
Regarding Carlsons allegations of dictatorship, which the conservative commentator linked to Ukraine's suspension of elections last year, Zelensky cited the ongoing war and the implementation of martial law as the reasons why the country can't currently hold elections. How can people in the occupied territories vote, millions of people? Zelensky asked. How will eight million Ukrainians vote that are abroad, because of the war? Undoubtedly the war will end. The hot stage of the war will end, and then when martial law ends, then definitely elections will be called. That is needed.
Zelensky emphasized that Ukraine is fighting to defend democracy, but also pointed out the strategic implications of ending martial law prematurely. Everybody understands: that if we stop martial law now, that is what Putin wants. That will mean that our army, in the majority, will come back home ... if there is no martial law, they will come back to their families and they will come back home. Who will be protecting us? he questioned. This highlights the delicate balance Ukraine must maintain between democratic ideals and the harsh realities of war.
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