Against the backdrop of Russia’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine, former United States (US) President Donald Trump claimed on Sunday that there is “a lot of love” behind Russian President Vladimir Putin’s efforts to make “his country larger.”
Putin’s ultimate goal is to eventually rebuild the Soviet Union, Trump claimed as he attempted to explain what he believes to be the Russian leader’s game plan. The former president made the controversial comments while discussing the Ukraine-Russia conflict during an appearance on Fox News host Jeanine Pirro’s radio show.
SCOOP: @MotherJones has obtained Russian government memos sent to pro-Putin media outlets telling them "it is essential" they feature Tucker Carlson in their coverage of the #Ukraine war "as much as possible."https://t.co/GFNq4Gx91i
— David Corn (@DavidCornDC) March 13, 2022
“You say, what's the purpose of this? They had a country. You could see it was a country where there was a lot of love and we’re doing it because, you know, somebody wants to make his country larger or he wants to put it back the way it was when actually it didn’t work very well,” Trump said.
Trump’s comments, which appeared to make light of the widespread destruction of property and reports of war crimes and human rights abuses, were met with harsh backlash. Critics also pointed out the thousands of soldiers and hundreds of Ukrainian civilians that have lost their lives as a result of the “love,” since the invasion began on February 24.
Why do Democrats want you to hate Putin? Has Putin shipped every middle class job in your town to Russia? Did he manufacture a worldwide pandemic that wrecked your business? Is he teaching your kids to embrace racial discrimination? Is he making fentanyl? Does he eat dogs? pic.twitter.com/xYEvapjbNT
— Tucker Carlson (@TuckerCarlson) February 23, 2022
In fact, a certain affection for Putin among right-wing politicians and commentators in the US has become somewhat common over the last few weeks. American magazine Mother Jones reported on Sunday that the Kremlin sent out a memo to state-friendly media outlets on March 3 with the request to “use as much as possible fragments of broadcasts of the popular Fox News host Tucker Carlson.” The move aims to popularise Russian propaganda and enhance the Kremlin’s image projection internationally.
Carlson, the 12-page memo explained, “sharply criticises the actions of the United States [and] NATO, their negative role in unleashing the conflict in Ukraine, [and] the defiantly provocative behaviour from the leadership of the Western countries and NATO towards the Russian Federation and towards President Putin, personally.” Furthermore, the conservative news channel host has unabashedly referred to Ukraine during his program as not “a democracy” but rather a “client state” of the US government.
Russian state TV used yet another clip of Tucker Carlson in its flagship Sunday show, Vesti Nedeli. In the clip, #TuckyoRose argued that disinformation and propaganda is coming out of the White House and not out of Russia. pic.twitter.com/b854SHySyA
— Julia Davis (@JuliaDavisNews) March 14, 2022
The document published by the Russian Department of Information and Telecommunications Support also quotes the high-profile political commentator’s views on the invasion. “Russia is only protecting its interests and security. And how would the US behave if such a situation developed in neighbouring Mexico or Canada?,” Carlson has said.
In line with the instructions, Russian state TV has played multiple clips from Fox News in regards to the Ukraine war, with Carlson in particular featured frequently featured on Kremlin TV.