Tucker Carlson Says Ruling Class, Not Russia, Is Attacking United States Democracy
As reports surface that Russia in once again threatening American democracy, conservative commentator Tucker Carlson penned an op-ed for Fox News and suggested a different enemy: the U.S. ruling class.
Carlson pointed to Donald Trump‘s election and the rise of Bernie Sanders as signs that the American people have “grown tired” of the ruling class, who he blames for everything from the outsourcing of the American economy to China, to the transformation of the “finest universities in the world into a joke.”
The Fox News host pointed to the recent claims that Russia is planning to interfere in the 2020 election to re-elect Trump and noted the lack of evidence presented for such assertions.
“Yet the public doesn’t seem especially afraid,” he wrote. “Maybe they’ve heard it before somewhere. Their lack of panic is deeply distressing to the Democratic Party, which is counting on another Red Scare sometime between now and November.”
Carlson continued to note that pundits are now shifting their focus to Sanders and accusing him of being a Russian asset.
“Wait. Bernie Sanders? He is a Putin Stooge, too? We thought he was a Brezhnev stooge, whatever. He’s colluding with the Russians. He’s got to be because he’s not with the program.”
Although CNN reported that Sanders was notified of alleged Russian attempts to help his campaign, his campaign did not leak the story. Curiously, the night before the Nevada caucuses, someone in the intelligence community allegedly leaked it, which Carlson paralleled with the first leaks of the Russia-Trump connection.
According to Carlson, the U.S. democratic system is “under attack” not by Russians or the Chinese.
“It’s being attacked by our own ruling class. They’re undermining democracy because they have no choice.”
The Hill’s Rising host Krystal Ball, who has been accused of being a “Russian plant,” previously claimed that such smears are used to attack people who question the U.S. national security state, America’s endless wars, or the country’s meritocracy.
Hillary Clinton notably accused Democratic presidential candidate Tulsi Gabbard — who pushes for the end of regime change wars — of being groomed by Russia for a third-party run. Gabbard previously left her position on the Democratic National Committee (DNC) in 2016 due to what she perceived as bias against Sanders in favor of Clinton.
Ball claims that Clinton’s attack is retribution for calling out the DNC’s purported bias against Sanders in 2016. She also said it stems from bitterness about her loss to Trump.
