Tucker Carlson's RT interview deepens his alignment with Kremlin narratives

Tucker Carlson joined RT for a one-hour conversation with former a anchor at one outlet, who now leads the network's flagship show from Moscow. Carlson laughed off any presidential ambitions and spent most of the broadcast condemning a supposed “deep state” that, in his view, wants to annihilate Russia and uses mass migration as a weapon. He framed the Ukraine war as an American plot to provoke Russia into a nuclear response, aligning his narrative with Kremlin disinformation that the United States, not Putin, is responsible for the conflict.

The appearance follows a 2022 indictment that revealed RT employees had channeled at least $10 million to U.S. right-wing commentators, a practice praised by RT chief Margarita Simonyan as “partisan warfare.” Carlson also lauded Russia’s social policies and dismissed criticism of Putin, while vilifying both Democratic and Republican leaders as a “leadership class” betraying white America. The interview hints at Carlson’s potential role in shaping a post-Trump, America-First movement that blends racialist conspiracy with anti-establishment populism.