With the increase in the manufacture of consent and censorship by Western governments to maintain their world order since COVID, Tucker Carlsonβs interview with Putin is unlikely to be aired. The U.S. government is likely to invoke draconian laws to muzzle Tucker’s interview with Putin.
1. The first law they are likely to use is the Smith Act, which prohibits U.S. citizens or residents from partnering with foreign powers to violently or forcefully remove their government. In many ways, the U.S. government perceives Russian ideology as opposed to their national ideology and interests, which, if promoted to Americans, could persuade US citizens to oppose their government’s foreign policy position or advocate for regime change due to the influence of a Russian worldview.
2. They also have FARA (Foreign Agents Registration Act), which prohibits American citizens from advancing foreign interests or ideas inside the U.S. to influence U.S. citizens, politicians and policy on behalf of foreign governments, without registering as agents of a foreign government with the Department of Justice.
According to this loosely worded act, for Tucker to propagate Russian messages that may influence American policy and public sentiment, he and the Russian government must both be registered with the Department of Justice (as agent and principal) and the material or message they seek to distribute inspected by the Department of Justice.
FARA has seen increased use over the past ten years, with the U.S. government even charging sixteen Russians in 2017 for using the internet to influence American citizens on behalf
of the Russian government without registering with the Department of Justice. In 2019, a federal district court in Florida held that a company that agreed to broadcast a government-owned news agencyβs radio programs was required to register under FARA because it was acting as a βpublicity agentβ.
3. Additionally, there is the Communist Control Act, which prohibits any U.S. citizen from belonging to the communist party or advancing communism or Russian ideology in America because communism was/is seen as a form of subversion or opposition to the liberal (capitalist colonial) values of US democracy. For that reason, communism or Russian ideology is outlawed and a punishable offense in the United States.
It is perceivable that the U.S. government may interpret Tuckerβs coverage of Putinβs very persuasive arguments that are opposed to U.S. policy, as a promotion of Russian ideology or communism, which that government is likely to use this law to prevent.
4. The Logan Act prohibits American nationals from negotiating American interests with foreign governments without U.S. government authority.
By Tucker going to meet the President of an influential and opposing superpower, and then broadcasting his thoughts and foreign policy to US citizens and state machinery, it may be interpreted as Tucker giving Putin a megaphone to pitch Russiaβs foreign policy to the U.S. Congress, judiciary and government, to influence U.S. policies.
All the above laws are likely to be brought to bear on Tucker Carlson to discourage him from releasing his interview with Putin. Worse still, he might actually be prohibited from airing the
program until it has been vetted, censored and approved by the Department of Justice and the CIA.
This interview by Tucker Carlson will be a test of how deeply the precepts of free speech and freedom of the press are respected by the U.S. government and people.
Article by Rutendo Bereza Matinyarare
