Tucker Carlson grocery shopping in Russia. This is so interesting.

[mystery-ak]

https://twitter.com/atensnut/status/1758151845971702217

[Maj. Bill Martin]

Well, it's nice to see Tucker drop any pretense of whose side he's really on.

[Maj. Bill Martin]

That is amazing that food etc is so cheap in Russia.  I'm not so sure this means Tucker is supporting Russia...lolol.

Presumably, we can agree that Tucker is a very smart, educated guy.  So with that in mind....

1). As a really smart guy, Tucker knows that food tends to be cheaper anytime you go to a poorer country because the locals obviously have to be able to afford it, and the dollar tends to be strong against that local currency.  That is true whether it is Russia, Mexico, Jordan, or wherever.

2).  Of course, the exchange rate doesn't help you if you are a local.  Also, if you're a local, your wages will be local wages, not American wages.  Tucker knows this too.

3). Therefore, what really matters for locals is what percentage of your wages goes for food.  That obviously is a function of both price AND the wages earned by the average (in this case) Russian.  And Tucker knows that too.  Yet, he provided none of that context to his "astonishment" at the lower Russian prices for food . So why did he omit that context?

4). You could argue that he was just making an incidental comment about prices, and wasn't trying to draw any broader conclusions so no context was required.  Except he very clearly was trying to make a broader point because he said:

And that’s when you start to realize that ideology doesn’t matter as much as you thought."

And:

“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.”

He is purposefully making a very broad political argument about the merits of the Russian system over ours based.on food prices, while deliberately omitting the wage/exchange rate context that he is smart enough to know undermines the exact point he's making to the public.

I think that's absolutely despicable, and definitely "Pro-Russia /Pro-Putin".  It might be excusable if he was an ignorant idiot, but he isn't.   Quite the contrary.  So you know that what he is saying/doing is both thought out, and very deliberate.

[DefiantMassRINO]

How did the Chernobyl Apples taste?

If Tucker loves Russia so much, he can stay there.

[Timber Rattler]

The problem I see with Carlson's comparison here is that he's in a grocery store in Moscow, likely a few blocks from the Kremlin, and thus serves the ruling elite around Putin.  Consequently, it would necessarily be well-stocked and pretty nice, but I seriously doubt that it reflects the average grocery stores found throughout the rest of Russia.

[LadyLiberty]

When Boris Yeltsin went grocery shopping in Clear Lake

At JSC, Yeltsin visited mission control and a mock-up of a space station. According to Houston Chronicle reporter Stefanie Asin, it wasn't all the screens, dials, and wonder at NASA that blew up his skirt, it was the unscheduled trip inside a nearby Randall's location.

Yeltsin, then 58, "roamed the aisles of Randall's nodding his head in amazement," wrote Asin. He told his fellow Russians in his entourage that if their people, who often must wait in line for most goods, saw the conditions of U.S. supermarkets, "there would be a revolution."

More:  https://www.chron.com/neighborhood/bayarea/news/article/When-Boris-Yeltsin-went-grocery-shopping-in-Clear-5759129.php

[catfish1957]

When Boris Yeltsin went grocery shopping in Clear Lake

At JSC, Yeltsin visited mission control and a mock-up of a space station. According to Houston Chronicle reporter Stefanie Asin, it wasn't all the screens, dials, and wonder at NASA that blew up his skirt, it was the unscheduled trip inside a nearby Randall's location.

Yeltsin, then 58, "roamed the aisles of Randall's nodding his head in amazement," wrote Asin. He told his fellow Russians in his entourage that if their people, who often must wait in line for most goods, saw the conditions of U.S. supermarkets, "there would be a revolution."

More:  https://www.chron.com/neighborhood/bayarea/news/article/When-Boris-Yeltsin-went-grocery-shopping-in-Clear-5759129.php

Haven't been to Houston in about 3 years, and I don't know if exists anymore, but the Fiesta at NASA Road 1 was an amazing groocery store,  Should have shown him that one.

[mountaineer]

I've read that many, if not most, Russians have to spend 60% of their income on food, and so can barely afford the stuff Tucker saw on the shelves. As Timber said, he probably saw the most well-stocked grocery store. Take a side trip to some small Russian city or town and tell us how great it is.