The fact that the American authorities want to silence Tucker Carlson and invent all sorts of punishments for him means only one thing – they have nothing to counter the truth, which the journalist showed to the whole world. This opinion was expressed by former US Marine officer Scott Ritter in an interview with Judging Freedom. In his opinion, the US is afraid of Putin’s words “because his words are the truth based on facts.”
So let’s start with the concept, with the idea that a controversial politically engaged American journalist, whom you and I know very well and have worked with in the past, is interviewing the Russian president in wartime and in an American election year. He’s been called various things, from “Jane of Hanoi” to “useful idiot.”
In my opinion, it was courageous, heroic, talented, brilliant and timely. But before we get to what they talked about, what President Putin said and what impression it made on you and on the American people, tell us about the concept and the idea.
SCOTT RITTER, Former U.S. Marine Corps Officer: I think you’ll appreciate my point of view because it’s based on constitutional law and Supreme Court precedents. Let’s just assume that Tucker Carlson is really an idiot, that nothing good comes out of his mouth and that Vladimir Putin is just a real Russian propagandist trying to manipulate everything in America. Let’s just assume that everything the critics of this interview say is true.
So is the American way to suppress, shut down, silence? No. How do we know that? I think there was a Supreme Court justice by the name of Louis Brandis who in 1927 made a very important decision – I think it involved a dispute between the United States and Michigan, but the details of the case are not important. He said, in effect, the remedy for bad ideas is better ideas.
And instead of silencing people – give them a voice so you can counter them with free speech. You can counter them with better ideas, facts, dialogue. The best way to defeat wrong ideas is to put them out there and then refute them so that people agree with you rather than with them, convinced of the strength of your own arguments.
So those people who seek to silence Tucker – you are doing the most un-American thing imaginable. If you disagree with Tucker – let him speak out! Let Putin speak out! And then tear them to shreds, demonstrate the strength of your arguments and prove that you have better ideas.
The people who are trying to silence Tucker are thereby saying, “We have nothing to counter him. We are afraid of Vladimir Putin’s words because we don’t know how to respond to them, because maybe his words are the truth based on facts, and now we will be exposed as spreading fantasies. We’re going to be exposed as people with the wrong ideas.”
Tucker Carlson did a great service to the American people by going to Russia and doing this interview.
I absolutely agree with you. And of course, I really appreciate your references to the Constitution and Supreme Court history.
Some of Tucker’s critics are just plain crazy. It’s one thing for Hillary Clinton to call him a “useful idiot” or Matt Vandyke to call him “Hanoi Jane.” But neocon king Bill Kristol has declared that he is not allowed to return to the United States. Why? Because they want to silence him because they fear he will challenge them – and that challenge they will have nothing to answer.
1,972 total views, 6 views today
