TUCKER CARLSON: This is the reality about Ukraine's Zelenskyy

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Tucker Carlson: Zelenskyy has no interest in freedom or democracy

Fox News host Tucker Carlson gives his take on the Russia-Ukraine conflict on 'Tucker Carlson Tonight.'

Good evening and welcome to Tucker Carlson Tonight. So you remember when Russia invaded Ukraine in February? And at that time, our leaders told us this wasn't some faraway conflict in Eastern Europe. This was our war. "No military should ever be allowed to invade a sovereign nation," they told us. Iraq and Afghanistan obviously not included in that rule. The invasion of Ukraine could not stand because it was a matter of first principles. But more than that, it was a world historic moral battle that we were obligated to join.

It was very clear. Vladimir Putin was pure evil. He was Hitler reborn. The Ukrainian president, Zelenskyy, was his mirror image. He was saint-like – self-denying, brave, honest, very handsome. And Zelenskyy was fighting for the very same ideals that our country was founded on. A number of news outlets, including CNN and the L.A. Times, compared him to George Washington. So they told us that with one voice month after month, no disagreement allowed. Not surprisingly, it worked. Americans fell hard for President Zelenskyy.

They all did. Even in rural areas that voted against Joe Biden, you saw Ukrainian flags hanging from mailboxes. To many people, it felt like World War II again. The good war. A battle against tyranny abroad for the sake of freedom and democracy at home. Well, the better part of a year later, it's getting harder and harder to believe any of this. Whatever you think of the war in Ukraine, it is pretty clear that Zelenskyy has no interest in freedom and democracy. In fact, Zelenskyy is far closer to Lenin than to George Washington. He is a dictator. He is a dangerous authoritarian who has used a hundred billion in U.S. tax dollars to erect a one-party police state in Ukraine. And that's not an overstatement.

VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY IS - AND SHOULD BE - TIME'S PERSON OF THE YEAR

Over the past two years, Zelenskyy has banned opposition parties. He's shut down critical media by force. He's arrested his political opponents. He has sent soldiers into churches. Zelenskyy's secret police have raided monasteries across Ukraine, even a convent full of nuns, and arrested dozens of priests for no justifiable reason whatsoever and in clear violation of the Ukrainian constitution, which no longer matters. And in the face of this, the Biden administration has said nothing. Not one word. Instead, they just continue to push to send Zelenskyy more tax dollars. So naturally, Zelenskyy has become much bolder. Why wouldn't he?

Last week, he announced his plan to ban an entire religion, the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, and to seize its property, all for being insufficiently loyal to his regime. And he said it out loud. Watch this.

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VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY: We have to create such conditions when any people dependent on the country-aggressor won't be able to manipulate Ukrainians and weaken Ukraine from within. First, the National Security and Defense Council instructed the government to submit to the Verkhovna Rada, a draft law on making it impossible for religious organizations affiliated with centers of influence in the Russian Federation to operate in Ukraine.

A free country does not ban a major religion just because it's not fully on board with the political program of the people running the country. But Zelenskyy is doing that and his cabinet is now devising ways to punish Christians for practicing their banned ancient religion in Ukraine. Quote, "Personal economic and restrictive sanctions will be applied to any Christian caught worshiping in unapproved ways." Now, the Ukrainian Orthodox Church is more than a thousand years old. With the full backing of the Joe Biden administration and the US Congress, Zelenskyy has decided to ban it. So here's the response of one bishop to the news.

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EASTERN ORTHODOX BISHOP: We brothers and sisters walk with God! Do not be afraid! There are people who want to stop our church and orthodox faith! The God will stop these people! Brothers and sisters, these people are starting to fight against God! They have started a war against God! And Heaven! They are not real Ukrainians! Our Ukraine is a blessed and faithful Ukraine! And the whole Orthodox Ukraine prays today!

 In this photo provided by the Ukrainian Presidential Press Office on July 8, 2022, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, attends a meeting with military officials during his visit the war-hit Dnipropetrovsk region. (Ukrainian Presidential Press Office via AP, File) (Ukrainian Presidential Press Office via AP, File)

You're not allowed to send soldiers into churches. You're not allowed to arrest dozens of priests because they refuse to bow before you. You're not allowed to ban whole religions. So most of the US media, most have just ignored this. Some have made excuses for it. "Oh, he has to do this because there is a war." But there's no justification for this whatsoever. The Ukrainian Orthodox Church is not Russian, it's Ukrainian. It has no connection to the Putin government. It has, in fact, officially denounced the Russian invasion of Ukraine. So once again, there is no justification for destroying and banning this church. And yet Zelenskyy's many celebrity backers in the West have said nothing about it, and they should know better.

In May, George W. Bush, the great defender of Christendom, met with Zelenskyy on a Zoom call and afterward, described him as "the Winston Churchill of our time." A man who should be praised for his, quote, "commitment to liberty." So where's George W. Bush on this question now that his friend, the George Washington of Ukraine, has banned a form of Christianity in that country? Well, George W. Bush has been silent as well. So have many purportedly Christian members of Congress. They're backing Zelenskyy, no matter how many Christians he arrests, no matter how many churches he seizes.

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LINDSEY GRAHAM: To the Ukrainian people, you can expect the Congress to be there with you in terms of supporting your efforts to maintain your freedom. 

KARINE JEAN-PIERRE: Everything that we can do to be helpful to them as they fight for their freedom.

CHRIS COONS: I think the history of the 21st century turns on how fiercely we defend freedom in Ukraine.

JAKE SULLIVAN: We will continue to provide military equipment so that Ukraine can defend its territory and its freedom.

NED PRICE: The United States will continue our unwavering support for Ukraine as it defends its freedom.

MITT ROMNEY: And let's get the job done so that we can save lives in Ukraine and defend the cause of freedom. 

JOE BIDEN: The free world had no choice. America could not stand by. The American people did what they always have done: defend freedom around the world.

Every single person you just watched has campaigned. Many of them make a habit of campaigning, Lindsey Graham, ladies and gentlemen, in Christian churches in the United States. Will a single Christian leader say anything to them about this? You are funding the destruction of Christianity in Ukraine. "Oh, but it's the cause of freedom." Really? 

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The reality is that Ukrainians cannot listen to media outlets that criticize the Zelenskyy government because they've been banned. They cannot play music from Russian singers. No, this is not in Taliban-controlled Afghanistan. This is in the democracy of Ukraine that we support. They can't play music from Russian singers. They can't vote for an opposition party because they've all been shut down. And now their churches are being raided and their priests arrested.

So the fact that our leaders are calling this freedom tells you a lot about what they're planning here. Of course. Why would you defend this? Because you approve of it. For its part, Ukraine's defense ministry has stopped pretending this is about freedom. They're just happy they're getting paid and they're finally crushing any opposition in their own country. And that's why Ukraine's military is now using your tax dollars to produce choreographed dance videos for social media consumption. Sort of like the COVID nurses. Here's one of them.

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It's just a grotesque postmodern psyop, and anyone who's fallen for this is brain damaged. This is the same Ukrainian defense ministry that lied about the "Ghost of Kiev" and the sailors who cursed out the Russian ship. Now they're just having fun. Because they're beating the real enemies, which of course, as always, are domestic. And Time Magazine is fully on board with this. They just informed their four remaining readers that Zelenskyy is the "person of the year." And the media chorus is in full scream. Jon Meacham, the purported historian at MSNBC, believes that Zelenskyy is really a lot like the Pope.

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JON MEACHAM: Zelenskyy is being fired by the best fundamental impulses in human nature, which is to stand, to defend, to articulate, to fight back. And I think it's also important to remember that he is a performer. That's where he started. John Paul II was a performer. Ronald Reagan was a performer. Winston Churchill understood the means of the media of his time. He understood the power of radio. Franklin Roosevelt understood radio. It's not coincidental that great leaders understand.

Great leaders. So if they'll defend a man who shut down opposition media, arrested his political opponents, arrested priests, sent the army into monasteries and then banned a religion, if they'll defend all of that and call it liberty, they'll defend anything.