Why I'm interviewing Vladimir Putin
Episode Stats
Words per Minute
169.33572
Summary
Tuckercarlson: We're in Moscow tonight to interview Vladimir Putin . He says the war in Ukraine is a human disaster, but the long-term effects are even more profound . The post-World War II economic order, a system that guaranteed prosperity in the West for more than 80 years, is coming apart very fast, and along with it, the dominance of the U.S. dollar .
Transcript
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We're in Moscow tonight. We're here to interview the president of Russia, Vladimir Putin. We'll
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be doing that soon. There are risks to conducting an interview like this, obviously, so we've
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thought about it carefully over many months. Here's why we're doing it. First, because it's
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our job. We're in journalism. Our duty is to inform people. Two years into a war that's
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reshaping the entire world, most Americans are not informed. They have no real idea what's
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happening in this region, here in Russia or 600 miles away in Ukraine. But they should
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know. They're paying for much of it in ways they might not fully yet perceive. The war
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in Ukraine is a human disaster. It's left hundreds of thousands of people dead, an entire generation
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of young Ukrainians, and has depopulated the largest country in Europe. But the long-term
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effects are even more profound. This war has utterly reshaped the global military and trade
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alliances, and the sanctions that followed have as well. And in total, they have upended
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the world economy. The post-World War II economic order, a system that guaranteed prosperity in
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the West for more than 80 years, is coming apart very fast, and along with it, the dominance
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of the U.S. dollar. These are not small changes. They are history-altering developments. They
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will define the lives of our grandchildren. Most of the world understands this perfectly well.
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They can see it. Ask anyone in Asia or the Middle East what the future looks like. And yet
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the populations of the English-speaking countries seem mostly unaware. They think that nothing has
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really changed. And they think that because no one has told them the truth. Their media outlets
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are corrupt. They lie to their readers and viewers. And they do that mostly by omission.
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For example, since the day the war in Ukraine began, American media outlets have spoken to scores
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of people from Ukraine, and they have done scores of interviews with Ukrainian President Zelensky.
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We ourselves have put in a request for an interview with Zelensky, and we hope he accepts.
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But the interviews he's already done in the United States are not traditional interviews.
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They are fawning pep sessions specifically designed to amplify Zelensky's demand that the U.S.
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enter more deeply into a war in Eastern Europe and pay for it. That is not journalism. It is
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government propaganda. Propaganda of the ugliest kind, the kind that kills people. At the same time,
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our politicians and media outlets have been doing this, promoting a foreign leader like he's a new
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consumer brand. Not a single Western journalist has bothered to interview the president of the
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other country involved in this conflict, Vladimir Putin. Most Americans have no idea why Putin invaded
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Ukraine or what his goals are now. They've never heard his voice. That's wrong. Americans have a
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right to know all they can about a war they're implicated in, and we have the right to tell them
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about it because we are Americans too. Freedom of speech is our birthright. We were born with the right to
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say what we believe. That right cannot be taken away no matter who is in the White House. But they're
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trying anyway. Almost three years ago, the Biden administration illegally spied on our text messages
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and then leaked the contents to their servants in the news media. They did this in order to stop a Putin
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interview that we were planning. Last month, we're pretty certain they did exactly the same thing
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once again. But this time, we came to Moscow anyway. We are not here because we love Vladimir Putin.
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We are here because we love the United States. We wanted to remain prosperous and free. We paid for
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this trip ourselves. We took no money from any government or group. Nor are we charging people
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to see the interview. It is not behind a paywall. Anyone can watch the entire thing shot live to tape
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and unedited on our website, tuckercarlson.com. Elon Musk, his great credit, has promised not to
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suppress or block this interview once we post it on his platform, X, and we're grateful for that.
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Western governments, by contrast, will certainly do their best to censor this video
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on other, less principled platforms because that's what they do. They are afraid of information
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they can't control. But you have no reason to be afraid of it. We are not encouraging you to agree
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with what Putin may say in this interview, but we are urging you to watch it. You should know as much
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as you can. And then, like a free citizen and not a slave, you can decide for yourself. Thanks.