Fox News Host Rips US Congress for ‘Clapping Like Seals’ During Zelensky's Address

While nearly all Western press covered Zelensky’s DC visit with extreme reverence, the host of America’s top-rated cable news show mercilessly mocked American politicians for their obsequiousness to the “foreign dictator.”

Fox News host Tucker Carlson has lambasted politicians in the US for dutifully clapping along as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky implored a joint meeting of Congress to provide him with more weapons.

“Almost every person in the room clapped like a seal,” Carlson told viewers of his nightly show on Thursday. “So no matter what [Zelensky] said — Send me more money; I command you, send me more money; we’re taking care of it the most responsible ways — they applaud, all of them.”

“Almost like they have to,” he added.

The near-identical response by the vast majority of the US political class indicates the supposedly “bitter” public disagreements between Democrats and Republicans are mainly for show, Carlson suggests.

“Now, there are 435 members of the House of Representatives, and they’re Republicans and Democrats. And famously, they don’t get along. They don’t agree on anything,” Carlson said. But “when a foreign leader shows up in cargo pants to tell them lies and give them orders, they all applaud.”

“Oooh, yes, good point,” laughed the Fox News host in his monologue, lampooning the enthusiastic response by US political elites. “Good point, sir! Oooh, we’re so pleased you’re here! Throw your foreign flag on the dais and we’ll applaud more!”

“That’s honestly what it looked like last night: you gotta clap, you could get in trouble if you don’t clap, so everyone just claps – all the time,” Carlson added. “Clapping is mandatory as long as Zelensky is speaking!”

To be fair, “there were a few who didn’t obey,” including Reps. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) and Lauren Boebert (R-CO), the news host explained. And “they found out the hard way what happens to people who dare not to applaud,” he said.

Within hours, Gaetz and Boebert came under attack from corporate journalists and political celebrities, who accused them of disloyalty and secretly harboring an admiration for Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Liberal historian-turned-pundit Michael Beschloss led the charge against the representatives, posing the conspiratorial question before an MSNBC audience:

“Do you love Putin or are you just opposed to democracy or is there something else?”

How many Members of Congress refused to attend tonight's speech because they do not support Zelenskyy's Ukraine? Important to know this and why.

— Michael Beschloss (@BeschlossDC) December 22, 2022

“Ooh, thoughtcrime alert,” mocked Carlson in response. “You’ve been reported as not applauding – explain yourself, pleb!”

“Michael Beschloss has a right to know why you feel the way you: do you love Putin!?”

“Why wouldn’t you clap for a man who banned a Christian denomination, a man who arrested priests, raided monasteries, seized churches, outlawed opposition media outlets, outlawed political parties that oppose him, threw his primary political opponent in jail,” asked Carlson.

“What they’re describing is the opposite of democracy,” he noted. “There’s no democracy in Ukraine, obviously.”

It’s likely there’s a reason for all the “hysteria” surrounding “two people who didn’t clap for a foreign dictator,” Carlson concluded. It’s possible “the whole edifice” surrounding NATO’s proxy war in Ukraine “may crumble if they allow one person to ask one reasonable question,” he said.