New: Tucker Carlson was talking to U.S.-based Kremlin intermediaries about setting up an interview with Putin shortly before he accused the NSA of spying on him. U.S. gov't officials learned of this outreach … but that's where details get cloudy. https://t.co/5kbjMJnQ2r
— Jonathan Swan (@jonathanvswan) July 7, 2021
This is not, per se, evidence that the NSA ‘spied’ on Tucker Carlson. But it is, to the cynical eye, highly suspicious that Tucker Carlson would preemptively throw a major public tantrum claiming the NSA was spying on him, just because he happened to contact a few people associated with the Kremlin about doing an interview with Vladimir Putin, a leader for whom Carlson has the highest respect, unlike some American presidents…
… It is unclear why Carlson, or his source, would think this outreach could be the basis for NSA surveillance or a motive to have his show canceled.
Journalists routinely reach out to world leaders — including the leaders of countries that are not allied with the U.S. — to request interviews. And it’s not unusual to first reach out through unofficial intermediaries rather than through the leaders’ official press offices….
On Wednesday, Carlson told Maria Bartiromo on Fox Business that only his executive producer knew about the communications in question and that he didn’t mention it to anybody else, including his wife.
But, of course, the recipients of Carlson’s texts and emails also knew about their content. And we don’t know how widely they shared this information…
Tucker Carlson interviewing Putin pic.twitter.com/ip2IJGGZ5r
— PopehatIsStateAction (@Popehat) July 7, 2021
Just FYI, there is not a shred of evidence that the NSA collected Tucker Carlson's emails or texts.
It is, of course, possible that it happened.
Anything could happen.
But right now all we have is Carlson's assertion that it happened and nothing else.
— Judd Legum (@JuddLegum) July 7, 2021
you don’t need to ask yourself if tucker carlson would prefer a vladimir putin to a joe biden. *he tells you this every night on his program*
— World Famous Art Thief (@CalmSporting) July 7, 2021
try this on for size, foreign actors up to their necks in shady shit are aware they’re being monitored by the nsa & if you’re talking shady shop to them, they use the fact that they just got you monitored as leverage to roll you up and make you play the game
— kilgore trout, dna harvester (@KT_So_It_Goes) July 7, 2021
Meanwhile, TFG’s staunchest defender is… not, apparently, doing so well:
remember when Lindell showed up at the White House after the insurrection with notes encouraging Trump to declare Martial Law and the White House went into full "no siree he didn't meet with Trump and Trump didn't know he was there nope nope" and you 100% know Trump invited him https://t.co/zflz7wL5kk
— [REDACTED]™ (@quasirealSmiths) July 7, 2021
sorry i’m sorry im trying to delete pic.twitter.com/RSXqU0JObL
— kilgore trout, dna harvester (@KT_So_It_Goes) July 7, 2021
This country certainly dodged a bullet, last November…
you do not, in fact, have to hand it to adolf hitler https://t.co/IZ6iorfn1d
— World Famous Art Thief (@CalmSporting) July 7, 2021
dmsilev
That whiteboard is fractally crazy. Zooming in, I note for instance that Don Jr. is about two levels further out from Daddy than Dinesh D’Souza.
lgerard
@dmsilev:
trump pardoned D’Souza.
He wouldn’t bother doing the same for Jr
HumboldtBlue
Some asshole has my cat on alert after more fireworks explode in the neighborhood. It’s not as bad as it’s been in past years but this will happen all summer.
Mike S
Remember when Glenn Beck slowly melted down and got so crazy that even FOX News noticed they had a crazy uncle problem? Tucker blew by that but was still behind the party because they’re all crazy uncles. I’m not even sure Mr Pillow’s white board will register on their insanity meter.
We’re totally fucked.
lgerard
Hopefully someone at the Smithsonian is making note of artifacts like that whiteboard for the Crazy Shit That Happened When trump Was President exhibit in 2070
Danielx
Every time I think: okay, this latest example of heinous fuckery and malevolent stupidity has hit rock bottom.
And every time I discover my imagination is too limited. Honestly, it’s enough to make me want to come up with a better description than “these fuckin’ people, they’re making bank from promoting hate”…
Ruckus
Fucker Carlson, vlad’s ball licker.
Never a better dipshit for the job.
Ruckus
@Danielx:
They aren’t promoting hate.
They are heating up the hate caldron hot enough to melt steel.
vlad is the plant manager.
HumboldtBlue
I’m gonna repost home girl because she’s all of us right now.
Your distillery tour.
Ben Cisco (onboard the Defiant)
He is, now and forevermore, “Tuckems.”
They’re going to ride the fascist white supremacist train right over the cliff.
Martin
I think as a general rule, if you’re trying to set up an interview with someone that the NSA basically exists to spy on, then you can safely assume that your side of the conversation is going to get recorded as well.
Danielx
@HumboldtBlue:
Count your blessings – I got water damage so there are all these fans and dehumidifiers and shit cranking away 24/7 and it sounds like an F18 on low idle. Boris who fancies himself as alpha cat hasn’t come downstairs in two days because he’s too chickenshit about the noise. I just caught his nemesis Kiara sleeping in his kitty bed. Her kitty bed is right beside his, so I know she was doing it just to fuck with him.
Amir Khalid
I know this is a silly thing to bring up, but I’ve noticed that Tucker Carlson’s speaking voice is really irritating. It’s a nasal whine that makes him sound like an angry, obnoxious version of Maxwell Smart. It always makes me want to stop listening, just as much as what he’s saying. I’d always thought that for TV you needed a pleasant voice, or at least one that didn’t put people off.
Ruckus
@HumboldtBlue:
Just got back from the store and the girl behind the counter asked me how I had so much calm and patience. And it’s because I feel like this girl. The world is coming to a boiling point. I can’t stop it but I can be like her and not give a damn, because one person can’t change it. And calmness is an advantage. Not giving a fuck might be also. And at least my ticker is far less likely to explode.
Ruckus
@Amir Khalid:
Because of the stupid shit he says, a crappy voice is OK. We aren’t going to hate him any more and those that like him (how the fuck that’s even possible I’ll never know) will like that he annoys everyone to the left of Hitler.
Steeplejack
@Danielx:
?
steve g
@Martin: Yes, I don’t understand why that isn’t completely obvious to Carlson. If you are speaking to “US Based Kremlin Intermediates,” what do you expect? That no one would notice?
The Pale Scot
@HumboldtBlue:
I’m in LOVE!!
Jay
@Amir Khalid:
his whiny outer voice is the Wingnut’s inner voice, so it resonates in their echo chambers.
The Pale Scot
@Amir Khalid:
Amir, every babbler on American TV sounds like nails across a chalkboard. Besides Faux consciously using audio techniques to keep its viewers in a state of conscious agitation, ALL U.S. newslike product uses this method. It’s the only way to prevent people from going to sleep between the obnoxious screaming that are the commercials. Which is why I put my last standard TV on the curb and have never missed it
sanjeevs
Brian Stelter on Twitter: “As I mentioned in tonight’s RS, I’ve heard about 3 outlets working on Tucker Carlson profiles/investigations. As he keeps claiming emails are being “leaked,” I keep wondering if his spy story is an attempt to get ahead of whatever’s about to be reported… https://t.co/4vSkzQnOVi” / Twitter
The Pale Scot
Amir,
Something you might like
Scuttle Buttin, Acoustic Cover Solo Guitar. Gibson J50 (1950)
JoyceH
@Amir Khalid:
Um… you HAVE heard Jeanine Pirro, haven’t you?
Amir Khalid
@JoyceH:
No, I haven’t. I don’t think a lot of her footage gets on YouTube.
mrmoshpotato
@Danielx: Narrator: But there was no bottom, like there was no peak wingnut.
mrmoshpotato
@Martin:
Have you considered emailing Fucker with this news from a burner account? :)
mrmoshpotato
@JoyceH:
Don’t do that to Amir! What did he ever do to you?!
@Amir Khalid: Saturday Night Live mocked her craziness in their season finale a few weeks ago. Cecily’s impression is spot on.
Ryan
Ugh, wrong war. What a maroon!
Parfigliano
Jesus Tucker is a whiney little snowflake.
Gin & Tonic
That goatse treatment of the whiteboard is priceless.
if you don’t know what I’m talking about, count yourself lucky and don’t ask.
piratedan
For me, I find the overarching hubris to be the most galling thing…. like yeah, We KNOW that Russia has been one of our main political opponents since the 1940s and now, just because Rupert Baby has gone all in on the Fascism and because they claim to be a news organization; that their communications would somehow be sacrosanct and above suspicion…
It’s like hey “buddy”, anytime you approach foreign leadership about any goddamn thing, someone is going to monitor what is said, it’s how things are done and the idea that you should be treated “differently” just shows how out of touch you are… You just helped stage an aborted coup attempt, if this wasn’t America, your family would be wondering what happened to you eight months ago as your body was peacefully decomposing in a landfill somewhere.
At time like this, I wish Vladdy found them no longer of any use so the multitude of them could die falling off of balconies and slipping in bathrooms.
Mary G
On July 5, Boris Johnson’s latest baby mama/wife announced that a charity run by some trust funder (link to their statement in The Sun tabloid) plan to relocate 13 elephants from what sounds like a pretty nice zoo in the UK to Kenya to “rewild” them. They claimed they were working with the Kenya Wildlife Service and the Sheldrick Wildlife Trust to do it safely.
Two days later the Kenya Wildlife Service said whoa, hold up there:
Nobody had contacted them, and they do not like the idea, as this would be both difficult and expensive.
There is nothing on Sheldrick Wildlife Trust‘s web site about this, and I’ve followed them for years and feel confident that they would hate this idea with the heat of a thousand suns. It takes 20 people to rescue a baby elephant who’s been orphaned, and they raise them for years before they are ready to go out in the wild (they take all their elephants out into the bush every day, and allow the older ones to decide not to come back).
Tony, I am so sorry that you have to live where these wankers have power. I hope I am wrong, but the trust fundie’s foundation owns the land where the elephants live now, and the eight acres would make a lovely luxury housing project, so I suspect shenanigans.
Tony Jay
Good morning, world!
Just stumbled down the stairs to begin the day and even before I reached the living room I knew that the BBC’s Naga Manchetty was interviewing a Labour Party bod about something.
The contempt in the voice, the constant interruptions and rapid-fire “You’ve already said that. You’d already made that point.” interjections. The insistence that Labour goes on the record stating how great this Government ‘successes’ have been. And always, over and over again, the demand that they detail exactly how they intend to pay for this policy they’re not in any position to bring in without bankrupting every single working family.
Followed by “And next up, the Chancellor Rishi Sunak” with giddy, grinning expressions, an ocean size shift in tone to swooning, friendly obsequiousness and not a single impertinent demand that the man in charge of the nation’s finances justify any of his colossal waste of resources.
“Chancellor, the football, would you like to take a few moments to pretend you give a shit and hug England’s sporting success to your breast like you’re going to have it right then and there on the floor?”
The BBC is broken as a National broadcaster. It’s Russia Today with different branding. A proper Opposition might take that on board and act according but since we haven’t got one of those either….
Happy Times!!!
Chetan Murthy
@Tony Jay: Damn, just damn. Tony, even when you’re not talking about Sir Flobalob, you wield that wit with rapier-like precision. Next-to-last para is a work of art.
Tony Jay
@Chetan Murthy:
Thanks. They make me angry. I shouldn’t be getting angry at 7.30 in the morning, but they insist.
ian
@JoyceH:
@Amir Khalid:
Don’t do it, its a trap!
edit- 27. mrmoshpotato beat me to it
Amir Khalid
@mrmoshpotato:
Alas, a lack-a-day, and oh shit; for SNL has blocked that video in Malaysia.
Baud
@Tony Jay:
Cut BBC subsidies?
Tony Jay
@Baud:
Ha! Oh the look on their faces if he’d said that. Your eventual campaign is going to be a blast, and I for one am here for it.
NotMax
Holy siesta, Batman. Descended into somnolence around 2-ish in the afternoon, slept straight through until 10 at night. Would have been longer still except was awakened by the phone ringing.
I’ll take a stretch such as that – greedily – whenever it comes.
sab
@NotMax: I feel the same. Dozed off last night at about 6:30 pm and just woke up about half an hour ago at 5:30 am. Wow. Of course I slept through dinner (which I was supposed to cook, so spouse will be grumpy today) but still wow.
Gvg
Can Tucker be so delusional about his own importance that he really thinks Putin would actually grant him an interview? Does he think his audience wants to see an interview with Putin? I find even the story about why he was contacting Russians to be kind of unbelievable. I have my doubts about this story but can’t imagine what really is truth. I think it must be worse but there are too many possibilities. Oh and he really is stupid. Nasty, but it is the stupidity that I can’t get.
NotMax
@Gvg
Tucky’s inflated sense of self-importance and status cannot conceive that if it occurred at all, the Russians’ communications were under surveillance.
Not at its core unlike the organizers of local Miss Milkweed (or whatever) festivals who were dead certain it was a coveted target for planeloads of A-rabs.
sab
Goldfish dog (Ponyo) woke me up at 5 am because she needed to go out, but then she decided scratching her fleas was more important, so I am back in bed wide awake, and she is back in bed asleep, never having been out. Grr from both of us.
NotMax
@sab
“Whimper, bark.”
Translation: “Psych!”
sab
@Gvg: His audience admires Putin. I am hopeful that Amir finds his voice annoying and whining. I do too, but I am biased. Hopefully, suburban housewives will find him annoyingly whiny also.
Uncle Cosmo
This. All of this.
But of course, I’m a “ghoul” and piratedan is a “beloved commenter”…
piratedan
@Uncle Cosmo: since when have I ever been a “beloved commenter”?
afaik, I’m just a jackal who has unusual taste when it comes to science fiction, popular music and anime who has been rubbed raw in my political sensibilities like everyone else here. Perhaps that emotional pain and damage that they’ve inflicted on our nation has caused me to stray out of the lane of sanity and led to my wanting to return that pain in retribution, that’s understandable but I’ve noted that my restraint for their behavior is getting shorter and shorter. Like a good many people here, I want to start seeing those who performed evil acts and deeds in public get their day in court and those that sponsored them, assisted them logistically and financially also get the same.
owlbrick
@Gin & Tonic: I haven’t had a literal spit-take in a while, but this one did it for me.
J R in WV
@Martin:
This, if Tucker was calling and emailing with people in CA or MS or AL, the NSA can’t touch him.
If he’s communicating with foreign enemies, leaders of political institutions committing crimes against Americans, he should know he’s being intercepted by multiple agencies of the US government, purposed to track enemies of our nation.