With X personality Tucker Carlson trapesing around Moscow, Russia pretending like the glorified third-world country still unable to dig itself out of the hole communism put it in was some kind of bastion of Western Civilization, ABC’s The View decided to break the broadcast network blackout to take some swipes at him. Of course, their jokes were fairly unoriginal and, in the case of moderator Whoopi Goldberg, bizarrely sexual.
Calling Carlson’s trip to Russia and his interview with President Putin “insane,” Goldberg began the segment by saying “Carlson gave a megaphone to one of America's biggest threats by posting his social media sit-down with Russian President Vladimir Putin, and even Putin trashed the interview” by saying he wasn’t left “fully satisfied” by it.
Something about their names tickled something in Goldberg’s brain; leading her to interrupt herself to announce she had discovered “a great stripper name”:
GOLDBERG: Both of them, it's too much. So, did Tucker play right into Putin's hands? I'm going to change my name! I thought of a great stripper name!
ANA NAVARRO: What?
SUNNY HOSTIN: What, what?
SARA HAINES: That came from Putin?
GOLDBERG: Yes!
NAVARRO: No, it came from Tucker.
GOLDBERG: Tucker Putin.
[Laughter]
GOLDBERG: “Please welcome to the stage, Tucker Putin. [Goldberg does a little dance, applause] Okay. I'm sorry. Go ahead, please.
Keying in on Putin being left unsatisfied, co-host Ana Navarro went with the obligatory bad-at-sex joke. “As you just read there, Putin said that he didn't get complete satisfaction from Tucker. I have a feeling that's not the first time Tucker Carlson has heard those words. Or the last,” she chided.
Navarro also tackled Putin saying that he preferred President Biden to get reelected over former President Trump. “Look, I think obviously Putin here is using reverse psychology saying that he prefers Biden,” she argued. “We have all seen the relationship and that he has with Donald Trump. We've all seen Donald Trump falling all over himself for years and years, even before being president to kowtow to Putin and get in his good graces.”
Staunchly racist and anti-Semitic co-host Sunny Hostin (the descendant of slave owners) couldn’t think up her own insult so she had to go with someone else’s:
I also have a Chris Wallace quote. Chris Wallace slammed him calling him an “eager puppy.” He said, “Tucker Carlson showed up in Moscow this week to interview Vladimir Putin. It turned out to be anything but an interview. Putin droned on for two hours and seven minutes while Tucker sat there like an eager puppy.”
She really made that quote work for her.
Co-host Alyssa Farah Griffin seemed gleeful by the idea that Carlson’s phone might be compromised by Russian intelligence. “The Russians made a point to say that Tucker charged his phone with a USB port while in Moscow,” she noted; the concern being that the Russians could’ve extracted his data or planted something on his phone.
“So, any bad text he ever sent, nude, sex, something racially inappropriate--He strikes me as somebody that there's a lot of things you don't want out there,” she beamed. “They own him and he walked right into that. If he was an actual journalist, he would have known better, but too bad.”
Goldberg did have an actual critique of the interview, or rather, Carlson’s lack of ability to be an interviewer: “But I think he knows what he knows. Do you know what I mean? He's not a person who digs deep or wants -- He didn't ask tough questions because he didn't know what to ask. He didn't know how to ask it.”
The transcript is below. Click "expand" to read:
ABC’s The View
February 15, 2024
11:03:23 a.m. Eastern(…)
WHOOPI GOLDBERG: Tucker Carlson gave a megaphone to one of America's biggest threats by posting his social media sit-down with Russian President Vladimir Putin, and even Putin trashed the interview. Yeah, he was on a Russian state TV -- he said he didn't get complete ‘satisfaction’ from Tucker who didn't ask the aggressive, sharp questions that he was expecting.
Now, Putin went on to say he wants President Biden to stay in power because Biden's more predictable. Please. You know, child.
[Laughter]
Both of them, it's too much. So, did Tucker play right into Putin's hands? I'm going to change my name! I thought of a great stripper name.
ANA NAVARRO: What?
SUNNY HOSTIN: What, what?
SARA HAINES: That came from Putin?
GOLDBERG: Yes!
NAVARRO: No, it came from Tucker.
GOLDBERG: Tucker Putin.
[Laughter]
GOLDBERG: “Please welcome to the stage, Tucker Putin. [Goldberg does a little dance, applause] Okay. I'm sorry. Go ahead, please.
HAINES: What was the question?
NAVARRO: As you just read there, Putin said that he didn't get complete satisfaction from Tucker. I have a feeling that's not the first time Tucker Carlson has heard those words. Or the last.
(…)
11:05:03 a.m. Eastern
NAVARRO: Anyways. Look, I think obviously Putin here is using reverse psychology saying that he prefers Biden. We have all seen the relationship and that he has with Donald Trump. We've all seen Donald Trump falling all over himself for years and years, even before being president to kowtow to Putin and get in his good graces. And I think that Putin, who’s very smart and understands American psychology –sometimes I think better than Americans – realizes that is if he says he prefers Trump, it'll be used against Trump who is the guy that he actually wants. There is no doubt that he doesn't want the guy who is 100 percent backing and supporting Ukraine, not Russia.
(…)
11:07:13 a.m. Eastern
HOSTIN: I also have a Chris Wallace quote. Chris Wallace slammed him calling him an “eager puppy.” He said, “Tucker Carlson showed up in Moscow this week to interview Vladimir Putin. It turned out to be anything but an interview. Putin droned on for two hours and seven minutes while Tucker sat there like an eager puppy.”
(…)
11:08:13 a.m. Eastern
ALYSSA FARAH GRIFFIN: By the way, a part of this that is both funny and scary is, in the Russian playbook, any time if you go to Moscow your device will be surveilled the rest of your life. They will take every bit of data you have. The Russians made a point to say that Tucker charged his phone with a USB port while in Moscow.
HOSTIN: Smart.
FARAH GRIFFIN: So, any bad text he ever sent, nude, sex, something racially inappropriate—
HAINES: He doesn’t seem like the nudes type.
FARAH GRIFFIN: He strikes me as somebody that there's a lot of things you don't want out there. They own him and he walked right into that. If he was an actual journalist, he would have known better, but too bad.
HOSTIN: But he doesn’t.
GOLDBERG: But I think he knows what he knows. Do you know what I mean? He's not a person who digs deep or wants -- He didn't ask tough questions because he didn't know what to ask. He didn't know how to ask it.
(…)
