By Charles Bausman, founder and editor of Russia Insider. You can also follow him on Twitter. He can be reached at charles@russia-insider.com. This article also appears on russia-insider.com
Carlson is setting himself up for mass-popularity. Other show hosts should take notice - that means you Hannity.
Carlson was at it again last night. For those of you who aren't familiar with the US media landscape, this is quite extraordinary.
All the other major US networks, PBS, plus the NY Times and Washpo, are literally shrieking for an attack on Syria and foaming at the mouth about Assad gassing children. Even the other big hosts on Fox are pushing war - Hannity and Laura Ingraham. So Tucker is literally standing alone. I'm sure they would fire him if they could, but that would only enrage an already awake American public.
Here in the US there have been a frightening parade of "specialists" appearing on every major news show, - retired diplomats, military men, journalists, academics, policy wonks - arguing again and again that Trump has no choice, he must attack, Assad definitely used gas, etc. etc. It is astounding to see this relentless parade of liars, and the show hosts who egg them on.
In all fairness, it should be pointed out that most of the shows and media outlets are owned by pro-Israeli Jewish interests. Israel has been desperately trying to provoke an American attack, going so far as to bomb Syria last week. They have since been told by the Russians that if they do it again, Russia will hit Israel.
Caitlin Johnstone, a prominent left-liberal alternative journalist, commented on this in an important article yesterday calling for opponents of the impending war in Syria to join forces, regardless of political leanings:
Last night Fox’s Tucker Carlson did what may have been the most amazing thing that has ever happened on American television. As the drums of war beat louder than they have in years, Carlson stared right into the camera and did the exact opposite of what every mainstream US pundit is doing right now: he told the truth.
He told the truth about Syria. He told the truth about Yemen. He told the truth about the alleged chemical weapons attack in Douma. He told the truth about the bipartisan war machine which drops all pretense of opposition the instant it’s time for bloodshed. He told the truth about what war is, what it costs, and what it does to our world.
He stood in stark, unequivocal opposition to the trajectory the Trump administration appears to be moving along. And he did it on Fox News.
I have a deep and abiding hatred in my heart for Fox News and all things Murdoch. I will never forget nor forgive the key role the Murdoch press played in deceiving our world into the unimaginable evil that was the Iraq invasion.
But if I’d held a reflexive rejection of anything with the Fox News logo in the corner, I never would have seen Carlson’s epic monologue, never would have shared it with my social media following, never would have embedded it in this article, and this bright flash of truth would have been diminished by that much in the impact it was able to have on public consciousness.
So here now are last night's offerings. They are truly great:
Here is opening monologue where he disputes Trump's tweets and questions again whether this makes any sense:
Carlson has been having trouble getting anyone of any consequence to come on his show to make the case for war, because, when confronted by sensible questions about whether this is a good idea, that case disintegrates.
So he usually has to settle for people willing to be publicly humiliated figuring that it somehow raises their profile. Thus we have a typical representative of the American Jewish political literati, Noah Rothman, of the very Jewish Commentary magazine, who agrees to show up and get slapped around, which he handles relatively well.
Next Carlson hosts Nigel Farage, and together they blast the case for war to smithereens.
Here's the whole 40 minute show. The first 15 minutes are devoted to Syria. Nigel makes a very interesting point. He says that public opinion in the UK is against war 3 to1. He explicitly "warns" the UK government that the public will not back them on this.
Here's the whole show:
Enjoy, this is good TV.
I have personally come to the conclusion that Trump and his bevy of generals are going to blink on this one, because the military facts on the ground do not favor an attack. I'm going to write about that next.
If any of these video links are down or missing, not to worry, those are just trolls messing with you. Just search YouTube for the relevant keywords and you are sure to find them.