A man is known by the company he keeps. The origin of that well-worn line is a fable by Aesop called, fittingly, “The Ass and His Purchaser.”
As it goes, a man brings a new donkey home, and when he sees that it chooses to sidle up next to “the laziest and greediest beast in the stable,” the man tries to return the donkey, saying, “I could see what sort of beast he is from the companion he chose for himself.”
The Bible is replete with similar riffs on this theme. Proverbs 13:20: “Walk with the wise and become wise; associate with fools and get in trouble.”
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I’m personally partial to the words of the famed Oklahoma sage Garth Brooks, who said proudly, “I’ve got friends in low places.”
Well, if the new resident scholars of the American far-right are to be known by the company they keep, they’re not only associating with fools — they’ve got friends in the lowest of places.
The Kremlin, to be exact.
From Fox News personalities to members of the U.S. Congress, right-wing Russian apologists here in America are being cheerfully boosted by Vladimir Putin’s state TV, Russian agitprop Twitter accounts, Russian diplomats and even Moscow officials.
It is a chilling sight to see.
Fox News’ primetime star Tucker Carlson’s clips are played regularly on Russian TV networks. In one, sounding an awful lot like Putin but with a St. George’s accent, he asks, “Is Ukraine really a sovereign country?”
Back in February, Carlson called Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky “a dictator,” and he’s argued that Putin — whose senseless and criminal war has already killed at least a thousand Ukrainians and more than 7,000 of his own Russian troops — isn’t all that bad, really.
Carlson’s been such an effective Putin booster, in fact, that the regime reportedly distributed instructions to Russian media to use more of his clips.
According to a document obtained by Mother Jones, outlets were reportedly told, “It is essential to use as much as possible fragments of broadcasts of the popular Fox News host Tucker Carlson, who sharply criticises [sic] the actions of the United States [and] NATO, [and] their negative role in unleashing the conflict in Ukraine…”
Fox’s light touch on Putin isn’t limited to Carlson. Other hosts and guests have parroted Russian talking points, either to slam President Joe Biden or push baseless conspiracy theories.
And all to Putin’s delight, presumably. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov had nothing but kind words for Fox News, calling it the lone American media outlet “trying to represent some alternative points of view.”
Russian state media has some other useful idiots here in America, too. Outlets there have been running clips of Madison Cawthorn, the Trump Youth congressman who bragged about his trip to “the vacation house of the Führer,” in which he tells a town hall audience: “Remember that Zelensky is a thug. Remember that the Ukrainian government is incredibly corrupt, and it is incredibly evil, and it has been pushing woke ideologies.”
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Not to be left out, a cadre of right-wing women are vying for Putin’s affections too.
Former Fox News castoff Lara Logan, who has the unenviable distinction of being condemned by the Auschwitz Memorial, has been boosted by Kremlin Twitter accounts for her utterly bizarre assertions that Ukrainian soldiers are mostly Nazis and occultists, among others.
In what can only be described as a Muscovite fever dream, she also called Zelensky a “puppet,” insisted Russia’s invasion is going great, spread Russian propaganda about Ukrainian bioweapon labs, and sympathized with the suffering of — wait for it — Putin’s family during World War II.
So, of course Russia’s deputy permanent representative to the UN Alexander Alimov tweeted out her interview. The Kremlin couldn’t have scripted it better.
Candace Owens, who’s said girls aren’t taught how to make their husbands a sandwich anymore, shared with her Twitter followers that Ukraine “wasn’t a thing until 1989.” Ukraine is indeed older than Taylor Swift, but Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Anne Applebaum was all of us when she retorted, “Behold the face of pure ignorance.”
Owens also insists “WE are at fault” for Putin’s war of aggression in Ukraine, so just “STOP talking about Russia” and invade Canada instead.
But it was her “Russian Lives Matter” tweet that got her a retweet from the Russian Embassy.
She hasn’t made the club yet, but Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene is working hard at it. Speaking from the House floor last week, the Jewish space laser aficionado regaled the crowd with a story about how Putin and Trump just want to get the bioweapons out of Ukraine. Her star turn on Russian TV is just one conspiracy theory away.
When a ruthless Russian dictator is a big fan, you’re definitely doing it wrong.
Just imagine the ignominy of being Hitler’s favorite cable news host, or Saddam’s favorite political analyst, or Pol Pot’s favorite pol. Imagine being used for propaganda that’s helping to invade a sovereign nation and murder thousands of innocent people. Imagine being this wrong about the world.
S.E. Cupp is the host of “S.E. Cupp Unfiltered” on CNN.
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