Tucker Carlson: We're moving closer to war with Russia

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Tucker: We're moving closer to war

Tucker Carlson discusses the Russia-Ukraine conflict and how the U.S. is moving closer to a 'devastating' war.

Yesterday we talked about a kind of dark topic on the looming war between Russia and Ukraine. A bipartisan coalition of neocons in Washington has been recklessly stoking conflict between those two countries for years now. Our foreign policy establishment, in fact, has sent hundreds of millions of dollars in weapons to one of the most volatile regions in the world, hoping for some kind of explosion.

And now their wish seems to be coming true. That explosion looks like it's on its way, and it could very easily suck the United States into the center of it. That's what we said last night. But honestly, as we read those words, they seemed hard to believe. We're really going to fight a war over some corrupt Eastern European country that is strategically irrelevant to us? With everything else that's going on right now in our own country? No normal person would ever want to do anything like that. How can it really happen? 

We're still not sure how it could happen, but nevertheless, it does seem to be happening right now. The Biden administration has begun evacuating American civilians from Ukraine. The Pentagon has announced it is prepared to use force in the region. So this country is now closer to a legitimate war than we have been in decades. And to be clear, we're talking about an actual war here. Not a protracted series of airstrikes against some impoverished dirt patch they're telling you is an existential threat to the nation. 

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Russia is not a rock. Russia has nuclear weapons and a real army. A war with Russia is not a joke. It won't be over in a week. So you'd think right now might be the time the president of the United States could explain what's going on here? What exactly are we doing in Eastern Europe and why are we doing it? But no. In an exchange with reporters today, Joe Biden explained that he wasn't going to take any questions at all for fear that someone might ask him about Russia. 

PRESIDENT BIDEN: By the way, the reason we're not going to have any time for questions now is these guys are going to get quickly on a plane and go out and do a major announcement in Ohio. And you guys will ask me all about Russia. 

You guys will ask me all about Russia and Joe Biden's not falling for that one again, you can see why a couple of days ago he tried to talk about Russia during a press conference, and he got the talking points so mangled that his staff had to issue statements afterward, informing us that Joe Biden has no idea what he's talking about. Biden's mistake at the press conference was suggesting that maybe war with Russia is not inevitable. In Washington, you're absolutely not allowed to say that. Donald Trump said it repeatedly. They impeached him for it. 

In this image taken from footage provided by the Ukrainian Defense Ministry Press Service, a Ukrainian soldiers use a launcher with U.S. Javelin missiles during military exercises in Donetsk region, Ukraine. (Ukrainian Defense Ministry Press Service via AP)

In Joe Biden's case, his handlers just stepped in and told us a brand-new story. Here's White House chief of staff and amateur comedian, Ron Klain, explaining that actually, this is what Joe Biden meant to say. And as you read to it, you may notice that it's the opposite of what Biden actually said. 

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LESTER HOLT: I think it's fair to say the White House has pretty aggressively walked back or clarified or whatever you want to call it, the president's comments about Ukraine and Russia and whether the president was signaling that a minor incursion might be viewed through a different lens. Whether the president meant to say that at the time or maybe he was being inarticulate, can you afford any gaffes given the stakes right now in all this? 

RON KLAIN: Well, I think the president was quite clear and reiterated his point of view this morning. Very clearly, President Putin should have no doubt any move by the Russian assembled military across the border of Ukraine is an invasion. It will be met with a very severe economic response from the United States and our allies. 

So this guy called Ron Klain, whoever that is, gets to overrule the president of the United States on matters of foreign policy. Since when is he allowed to do that? Well, whenever he feels like it, that's the real answer. 

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Joe Biden is the weakest leader this country has seen since Woodrow Wilson had a stroke in office. That's a problem, but it's not the core problem. The core problem is that in America, elected officials no longer decide when we go to war, as in, say, a democracy. 

Instead, bureaucrats, generals and defense contractors make those decisions, sometimes unilaterally. Here's failed rock star and hilariously inept Secretary of State Tony Blinken threatening severe action against Russia. 

ANTONY BLINKEN: The discussion today with Mr. Lavrov was frank and substantive. I conveyed the position of the United States and our European allies and partners that we stand firmly with Ukraine in support of its sovereignty and territorial integrity. We've been clear if any Russian military forces move across Ukraine's border, that's a renewed invasion. It will be met with swift, severe and a united response from the United States and our partners and allies. 

So the president in states is not allowed to talk in public about Russia, he just admitted that today. He might say something that averts war. So instead, the same people who have lost the last five wars get to speak for him. Do you feel safer? 

THINGS ARE GETTING EDGY HERE IN UKRAINE. AND COLD. 

You've got to wonder what voters think of this. We don't need to wonder what they think. Polls show that most Americans are completely opposed to fighting Russia over Ukraine because they're not demented. But you know who's very much in favor of it? Well, defense contractors, including Pentagon Chief Lloyd Austin's former employer, Raytheon. 

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For defense contractors, war means massive profits by definition. In just the last few years, the U.S. has spent more than $2 billion on military aid to this nation called Ukraine that most people couldn't identify on a map. Just the other day, the administration announced $200 million more. 

So the Ukrainians love this, obviously, this is the whole reason they once employed Joe Biden's otherwise unemployable son. To keep the cash flowing to them. So when Biden hinted this week that war might not be coming right away, the Ukrainians were highly distressed. In fact, they were so distressed, they said so out loud. 

CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT MATTHEW CHANCE: The big concern expressed by one Ukrainian official I spoke to last night is that this offers Vladimir Putin a green light, in his words, to enter Ukraine at his pleasure.

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So the Ukrainians are complaining about American foreign policy, about what the president said at a press conference. The government of someplace called Ukraine is demanding that we fight the Russian army on their behalf. OK, I mean, it's not crazy. You could kind of see why they would want that. It's a lot easier than doing it themselves. 

The question is, we're the United States, so why are we obeying them? 

This article is adapted from Tucker Carlson's opening commentary on the January 21, 2022, edition of "Tucker Carlson Tonight."