A guest on Tucker Carlson Tonight known for making Russia-friendly comments was at it again on Monday, and apparently was so effective that a prominent Russian government official later praised his appearance online.
Ret. Col. Douglas MacGregor, a former military adviser to Donald Trump, was asked by Tucker Carlson what he believes the “mission” in Ukraine is from the United States’ perspective.
“I think many people would be willing to take some measure of risk on behalf of the country if they understood what the plan was,” said Carlson. “The plan seems to be to prolong the fighting in Ukraine to what end? I honestly don’t understand it. Do you?”
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MacGregor, who said last month that the Russians should be allowed to take however much of Ukraine that they want, replied that he thinks the plan is to “prolong the fighting on the assumption that over time the Russians can be driven out of Ukraine.”
“And if the Russian army cannot be driven out, which I think many people realize is not going to happen, then the plan is to complete the destruction of Ukraine by turning it into a quasi-Afghanistan.” That also won’t happen, MacGregor predicted, “because the Europeans will not go along.”
Sanctions, meanwhile, will not harm Russia, he insisted, despite evidence that those already in place are doing just that.
A few hours later, Russia’s ambassador to the United Nations, Dmitry Polyanskiy, reacted positively to MacGregor’s outlandish claim that the U.S. would seek the “destruction” of the Eastern European nation.
“I do think this plan was there from the very beginning - from illegal Maidan coup in 2014!” Polyanskiy wrote on Twitter. “Now we just see its updated version. We have no illusions about our US and UK colleagues noble intentions whatsoever!”
Carlson and MacGregor have each been cited by Russian state television in recent weeks, including the retired general’s suggestion that Ukraine essentially kneel to Vladimir Putin. If Polyanskiy’s response is any indicator, then MacGregor’s opinion about the nature of U.S. involvement in Ukraine seems headed to the same place.
