Opinion

ROOKE: One Big Thing Americans Can Learn From Tucker’s Putin Interview

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(Photo by GAVRIIL GRIGOROV/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)

Mary Rooke Commentary and Analysis Writer
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Tucker Carlson’s recent interview with Russian President Vladimir Putin could teach Americans a lesson.

Putin is not a man of honor and shouldn’t be regarded with anything but caution and skepticism. Still, his over two-hour-long discussion with Carlson exposed how Americans allowed themselves to lose their patriotism by being captured by leftist propaganda on U.S. history.

Much was said about the 30-minute history lesson Putin gave to Carlson in response to the question about why he would invade Ukraine. Carlson even admitted in a debrief after the sit-down that he initially took it as Putin stalling or avoiding answering the question, but after more reflection, he changed his mind.

The more you watch that portion, in particular, the stark contrast emerges between how Putin discusses Russian history going back hundreds of years and how Americans talk about the U.S. (ROOKE: The Left’s Cultural Revolution Comes For America’s Most Hallowed Grounds)

Regardless of how one feels about Putin or Russia, it’s easy to admire a leader who emits passion and admiration for his country. This concept is so foreign to modern Americans that it’s hard even to imagine President Joe Biden discussing the complexities behind the American Revolution, Civil War, or Indian Wars without first highlighting leftist’s framing of these events.

Biden’s position would be steeped in anti-American hatred. There would be no acknowledgment of the bravery it took for men in their thirties to build a nation from the desire to give all men life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Instead, Americans would be subjected to the forced shame of the same Western ideals that forced an end to barbaric practices like slavery and human sacrifice.

Outside of creation and salvation, without exaggeration, the formation of the United States is one of the most critical developments in human history—a nation by the people, for the people. The beauty of it is that its power did not use to be centralized into a massive, unforgiving machine located in Washington, D.C., where elected officials and unelected bureaucrats ruled with an iron fist. Instead, it was spread throughout the individual states to give citizens the utmost right to govern themselves.

With every part of us, Americans used to know that the U.S. is the beacon on the hill to which all nations should aspire and is the single best defense for the natural rights of men. How many Americans can still appreciate this? (ROOKE: Latest Media Obsession Exposes Leftist’s Dream Of Weaponizing Govt. Against The Right)

Moreover, how many U.S. elected officials could give a detailed history of the United States (complete with backstory and context) in order to justify any decision they made, much less one on going to war with another country? To make matters worse, it’s not likely that you’d be able to pick random Americans on the street who could pass a basic U.S. citizen test today.

The ruling class wants Americans to look at Carlson’s interview with Putin through the binary lens of Russia being bad and the U.S. being good. But it’s hard to do that when most Americans can’t even agree on whether or not the United States is the “good guy” anymore.

This is fueled by the left’s attacks on the U.S. education system. Sometime in the 1990s, U.S. history became about American aggression instead of American exceptionalism. Fast forward to 2024, and the fruits of anti-American hatred are ripe. Now, kindergarten teachers give five and six-year-old students race-based lessons on privilege and victimhood, national monuments are being removed, and history is erased.

Putin’s quip about it taking over 500 years to realize the fall of Rome and how young the U.S. is to be experiencing this level of decline is eerily on point. It’s hard to be patriotic or want to keep a sense of community as citizens if you believe the lies that your country was built by barbarians. (ROOKE: We May Be Reaching The ‘Hard Times Create Strong Men’ Phase)

It’s lent so the black-pilled view that the light guiding America is forever gone will have no place here. The U.S. is better than Russia in every way. There is always hope that the same ideals that shucked the chains of a tyrannical England and liberated Europe twice will survive the left’s oppression. But it will take attention to detail, protection of our legacy, and a few good men to bring her back to glory.