It's somewhat telling that the most controversial aspect of Tucker Carlson's trip to Moscow hasn't been his mind numbingly boring interview with Vladimir Putin but his puff pieces on how well-off ordinary Russians are, how safe and clean their subways are, and the cheap prices they pay for their groceries. Carlson's overt and some would say grotesque propaganda on behalf of Putin might go over well with the MAGA crowd but for most Americans, it's revolting.
Helpful Community Notes informed Twitter users that "Over 60% of Russians spend half of their salary on food, according to Russia's state-owned news agency TASS," and "The groceries in the video cost 9,841 RUB (see 0:23). The average wage in Russia is 73,383 RUB per month (which is $791 with today's exchange rate). (Trading Economics)." The average pensioner in Russia receives about 19,500 RUB per month, so spending 9500 RUB of it for a week's worth of Tucker's type of groceries wouldn't quite work. Another interesting economic reality that Tucker Carlson seemed oblivious to is that the inflation rate is currently 7.4% in Russia, more than twice the American rate of 3.1%. And that's just the official rate from Russia, which is almost certainly a lie. It's probably twice that. Interest rates are at a startling 16%, almost triple the 5.5% in the United States. It's currently impossible to get a mortgage rate that makes any sense in Russia.
As Daniel noted, more or less accurately below, "Russians spend 30% of their income on food, Americans about 10%. This is actually a video of an insanely rich American stunting on poor third worlders in their grocery store and then telling the camera America sucks."
So if all this looks like heaven to Tucker Carlson instead of the basket-case third-world economy it looks like to the rest of us than Tucker is welcome to move there if he so wishes.
Source: The Wrap
Tucker Carlson says he went “from amused to legitimately angry” at U.S. political leaders during a recent trip to a Moscow grocery store, where the independent conservative journalist and his crew guessed that a cart full of food would cost about the equivalent of $400 in American dollars – and it came in around a hundred bucks.
“Coming to a Russian grocery store, the ‘heart of evil,’ and seeing what things cost and how they live, it will radicalize you against our leaders,” Carlson said in the video shot on-site as he shopped for eggs, bread, wine and other staples. “That’s how I feel, anyway, radicalized. We’re not making any of this up, by the way. At all.”
Carlson has been spending time in Russia recently around last week’s landmark interview with president Vladimir Putin, the first time an American journalist sat with an adversarial head-of-state in wartime. His visit has included time spent filming in an orderly and opulent Moscow subway station and the grocery-shopping trip, which was featured exclusively on the former Fox News host’s subscription platform (but excerpted by various users on X).
“So we were guessing what this would cost,” Carlson said as he puts his items on the belt. “Everybody [in the crew] is from the United States … and we didn’t pay any attention to cost, we just put in the cart what we would actually eat over a week. We all [guessed] around $400 bucks. It was $104 U.S. here. And that’s when you start to realize that ideology doesn’t matter as much as you thought.”
...
“If you take people’s standard of living and you tank it through filth and crime and inflation, and they literally can’t buy the groceries they want, at that point maybe maybe it matters less what you say or whether you’re a ‘good person’ or a ‘bad person,’ you’re wrecking people’s lives and their country,” said Carlson, who has questioned U.S. support of Ukraine’s defense since his days on Fox News. “And that’s what our leaders have done to us.”
Interestingly, the full video seems to have been upped to Twitter by a QAnon/Russian bot account.
A shorter version contains the Community Note.
Even a well-known conservative was appalled by Carlson's anti-American tone.
As was Republican Senator Thom Tillis who called Carlson a "useful idiot."
Tucker Carlson lies but the numbers don't.
Russians spend 38% of their household income on food.
Americans spend 8%. pic.twitter.com/1UxOA2q3Zg— Project Liberal (@ProjectLiberal) February 15, 2024
