[News] Mitch McConnell tells Fox News viewers that Putin isn’t that great after all

[FazzNoth]

For years, viewers of Fox News’s evening programming have heard sympathetic analyses of Russian President Vladimir Putin. From reiteration of former president Donald Trump’s insistences that Russia didn’t try to interfere in the 2016 election to amplification of Trump’s anti-Ukraine rhetoric as he faced impeachment in 2019, Fox News has been an important part of Trump’s efforts to recast Putin as something between a neutral actor and an ally to America’s political right.

During that impeachment, for example, viewers of Fox News’s prime-time programming saw Tucker Carlson declare that he was “rooting for Russia” in its conflict with Ukraine. In the weeks leading up to Russia’s invasion, Carlson made obvious that this was still his position. He rationalized Russia’s purported concerns and insisted that Putin was being unfairly demonized in the West. Over and over, he amplified Putin’s argument that Ukraine posed a threat to Russia, specifically the rationale Putin later offered for the invasion. Carlson has of late been a staple on Russian state television.

What Fox News hasn’t talked about a lot is Trump’s own enthusiasm for Putin. When he declared last week that Putin’s ploy for invading Ukraine was “genius,” a mark of the Russian’s “savvy,” Fox News barely covered it. Other outlets challenged Republicans to respond to Trump’s comments (comments he continued to echo even as recently as this weekend), but they generally declined to do so. Instead, the network (including Carlson) has aired interviews that however indirectly echo Trump’s point.

 

It got so bad that even the network’s own Jennifer Griffin sharply criticized guests that had been interviewed. One, retired Army Col. Douglas Macgregor, she called an “apologist” for Russia. Fox News interviews of Macgregor, including the one disparaged by Griffin, aired on Russian state television; days after Griffin ripped apart his commentary, Carlson hosted Macgregor for an interview.

On Wednesday morning, though, the network hosted another voice offering a condemnation of Putin that would be unlikely to air during Carlson’s show: that of Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.).

McConnell is one of the Republicans who has chosen not to directly criticize Trump’s praise for Putin. During a news conference Tuesday, he was asked if it was a mistake for Trump to make those comments.

“What President Putin is is a ruthless thug who’s just invaded another sovereign country and killed thousands of innocent people,” McConnell replied. “That’s what President Putin is.”

 

During his Fox News interview the following day, however, he went slightly further.

“There should be no confusion about Vladimir Putin,” McConnell said. “Now, there’s been some confusion lately. He’s a thug. He’s a killer. He has been on the rampage and this will not end well for him.”

Asked if he thought Putin had changed, McConnell replied that “he’s been this all along.”

McConnell was being interviewed on Fox’s morning news programming, a broadcast that gets about half as many viewers as Carlson’s prime-time show. It’s not clear how much overlap there is between the two or whether viewers will understand that McConnell was at least implicitly rebuking both Trump and Carlson. It was about as gentle a rebuke as you can offer — some people somewhere muddied the water — but it was nonetheless a rebuke.

Most viewers likely didn’t need to be told that Putin is not a positive character on the world stage. Recent polling has shown that most Americans — 9 in 10 of those with an opinion — view Putin unfavorably. That includes a bit over 8 in 10 Republicans with an opinion according to Yahoo News-YouGov polling. But some Republicans may need more convincing. A third told YouGov that they thought Putin was doing a better job leading his country than is Biden; while Democrats were 78 points more likely to say the invasion of Ukraine was unjustified than justified, the gap among Republicans was only 64 points.

The odds that those Republicans would be more convinced by McConnell’s critiques than Carlson’s rationalizations or Trump’s defensiveness are low. The Senate Minority Leader has been a regular foil of Trump’s, particularly in the wake of the 2020 election. But he did, at least, offer one more voice of skepticism about Putin’s motivations on a network where many louder voices have been presenting a far different perspective.

 

On Wednesday morning, though, the network hosted another voice offering a condemnation of Putin that would be unlikely to air during Carlson’s show: that of Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.).

McConnell is one of the Republicans who has chosen not to directly criticize Trump’s praise for Putin. During a news conference Tuesday, he was asked if it was a mistake for Trump to make those comments.

“What President Putin is is a ruthless thug who’s just invaded another sovereign country and killed thousands of innocent people,” McConnell replied. “That’s what President Putin is.”

During his Fox News interview the following day, however, he went slightly further.

“There should be no confusion about Vladimir Putin,” McConnell said. “Now, there’s been some confusion lately. He’s a thug. He’s a killer. He has been on the rampage and this will not end well for him.”

Asked if he thought Putin had changed, McConnell replied that “he’s been this all along.”

 

McConnell was being interviewed on Fox’s morning news programming, a broadcast that gets about half as many viewers as Carlson’s prime-time show. It’s not clear how much overlap there is between the two or whether viewers will understand that McConnell was at least implicitly rebuking both Trump and Carlson. It was about as gentle a rebuke as you can offer — some people somewhere muddied the water — but it was nonetheless a rebuke.

Most viewers likely didn’t need to be told that Putin is not a positive character on the world stage. Recent polling has shown that most Americans — 9 in 10 of those with an opinion — view Putin unfavorably. That includes a bit over 8 in 10 Republicans with an opinion according to Yahoo News-YouGov polling. But some Republicans may need more convincing. A third told YouGov that they thought Putin was doing a better job leading his country than is Biden; while Democrats were 78 points more likely to say the invasion of Ukraine was unjustified than justified, the gap among Republicans was only 64 points.

The odds that those Republicans would be more convinced by McConnell’s critiques than Carlson’s rationalizations or Trump’s defensiveness are low. The Senate Minority Leader has been a regular foil of Trump’s, particularly in the wake of the 2020 election. But he did, at least, offer one more voice of skepticism about Putin’s motivations on a network where many louder voices have been presenting a far different perspective.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/mitch-mcconnell-tells-fox-news-viewers-that-putin-isn-e2-80-99t-that-great-after-all/ar-AAUwjUT?ocid=BingNewsSearch