Tucker Carlson tells Zelensky to ‘go away’ after aid demands

The US has its own critical needs it can spend billions of dollars on instead of sending it to Kiev, the Fox News host argued

Ukraine’s “Christmas list” of demands for more assistance from the US should be rejected by Congress, popular conservative TV host Tucker Carlson said as he lashed out at President Vladimir Zelensky for his latest request of tens of billions of dollars to keep his government afloat.

Speaking during his Thursday show on Fox News, the top-rated commentator dismissed the Ukrainian president as a “celebrity-endorsed dictator of the most corrupt nation in Europe.”

“What? Some uppity foreigner in a T-shirt demanding money for his ‘critical economic needs’? We have critical economic needs too, buddy. Who are you, troll? Go away!” Carlson said, responding to the request. He asked the US leadership if the Ukrainian president had a claim on the nation’s treasury. 

On Wednesday Zelensky asked for $55 billion in assistance from the IMF and the World Bank, citing a need to rebuild his country after damage caused by Russian airstrikes and to keep his deficit-running government afloat. Washington previously extended sovereign loan guarantees to facilitate Kiev’s borrowing.

READ MORE: US doesn’t owe Zelensky ‘a damn thing’ – congressman

The Fox News segment was focused on criticizing the progressive caucus in the US Congress, particularly Democratic representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, often referred to as AOC. Carlson pointed out that all Democrats in the House repeatedly voted to spend billions on sending weapons to Ukraine, which he argued brought into question the credentials of the left-wing “squad.”

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Instead of funding the conflict, AOC and other self-described progressives should have worked to “break the spell of hypnosis that the US Congress is under” and stop it signing off on Zelensky’s “Christmas list,” Carlson noted, adding that AOC is a “stealthy neocon operative” rather than what she claims to be.

The episode also featured independent journalist Aaron Mate, a supporter of AOC’s progressive domestic policies and a critic of what he calls the US proxy war with Russia in Ukraine. He suggested that the Democratic party remains influenced by “the propaganda campaign known as Russiagate,” which made calling for diplomacy with Moscow risky for US politicians. 

“For six years, Democrats have been taught to believe that Russia is an existential enemy that can brainwash millions of Americans into not supporting Hillary Clinton and swinging [the 2016] elections,” he said.

The administration of President Joe Biden repeatedly pledged to support Ukraine in its fight against Russia for “as long as it takes” and has been providing increasingly advanced weapons to Kiev.