Russell Brand: Right Wing? Left Wing? Grifting! 1:1 - Right Wing, The Gathering Storm

Part One, Right Wing. Chapter 1- The Gathering Storm!

If we want to change our world, we will need to have new alliances and new conversations! And that will require us to work with people we may not agree with! Just so long as they’re not black. Or not politically progressive. According to Russell Brand, anyway!

Welcome, you awakening wonders! And as we join together to travel on this path to a global consciousness and universal harmony, perhaps you are like Russell Brand who is now thinking that some people just aren't worth awakening? You know… “them”; the people who might cause “cultural issues”. Or people with different political beliefs, “progressives”, those kinds of people. To diferentiate ourselves, we can just call those degenerates the unter menschen and ourselves der uber menschen. Those Germans, they really do have a word for everything! But we should definitely be looking to make new alliances in order to build a society with, erm, all the people that have the same “culture” and politics as ourselves? And who don’t like black people but do like guns? People like Tucker Carlson! Who thinks diversity is a weakness that makes us dirtier and poorer.  And as we march relentlessly towards our singular goal of a society that will last for a thousand years, we should rejoice at the prospect of a unified populace and a pure race - sorry, not “race”, “culture”, yes, definitely “culture” - built around the concept of Ein Volk! Ein Reich! Und, Ein Russell Brand!

But if you do need some lebensraum while waiting for the glorious Reich - sorry, “awakening" - consider coming along to Russell’s spiritual jamboree and outdoor conspiracy festival at Hay-on-Wye this summer. That’s the same Hay-on-Wye that celebrates knowledge and intellectualism with its annual literary festival. Obviously, Russell’s festival will be a slight deviation from that theme with more of a focus on willful ignorance and the denial of knowledge in what can accurately be described as an illiteracy festival! And as you sit huddled in your tent against the tribulations of a British summer, you could stave off the boredom by watching some of Russell’s videos about that Tucker Carlson from off the tele!

In this series, I’ll be looking at  Russell’s recent outreach to the far right through his infatuation with Tucker Carlson (Part One); in Part Two, I’ll look at his interactions with the decidedly left-of-centre via his interviews with journalist David Sirota; and then, in Part Three, I look at one of nature's most wondrous miracles - the birth of a new conspiracy theory, as Russell and his pals hawk the laughably named “Censorship Industrial Complex” to right and “left”-wing conspiracy loons everywhere!

This first collection of posts will feature Russell’s YouTube videos (excluding shorts) on the subject of former Fox News fascist Tucker Carlson, starting from after Russell’s appearance with Tucker on his Fox News show up to Russell’s review of Episode One of Tucker’s new Twitter project. As a bonus, because I like you, I’ll throw in Russell’s interminable interview with Tucker from July. That’s a total of nine videos for the price of eight - can’t say fairer than that! Those eight non-interview videos are as follows:

• Mar 23, 2023 “I’M ASHAMED” Tucker Carlson Just admitted THIS
• Apr 25, 2023 OH SH*T, Is THIS Why Tucker Left Fox?!
• April 30, 2023 “I Worked For Tucker…” | Saagar Enjeti Gives INSIGHTS into Tucker & Fox News
• May 2, 2023 “THEY ARE AFRAID!” Tucker Breaks Silence On Fox Departure
• May 10, 2023 “IT’S A LIE” Tucker Declares WAR On Fox News
• May 10, 2023 Tucker’s BREAKING Twitter Announcement! What It REALLY Means! #126 Stay Free PREVIEW
• Jun 7, 2023 OH SH*T HE’S BACK! | Tucker Goes VIRAL On Twitter AGAIN!! #141 Stay Free With Russell Brand PREVIEW
• Jun 13, 2023 “We Won’t Be SILENCED!" Tucker FIGHTS BACK Against Fox!

Eight videos over the course of 11 weeks, including two on one day! Part of this fecundity is Russell’s obsession with the most vapid, low-stakes, zero intellectual content, pop-culture celebrification of the news media. 

They chart Russell's burgeoning bromance with Tucker Carlson and Russell’s analysis of the world-ending “drama” that is Tucker’s departure from Fox News. 

But they also chart a far more concerning trend in Russell’s personal development since his rejection by his former friends on the progressive left of British media, as heralded by George Monbiot's hit peace on him in February, and as he slides further into the embrace of divisive right-wing politics and culture wars. Through Russell’s interactions with Tucker, we will see Russell not only willing to excuse racism as he cozies up to fascists but his growing inclination towards some disturbing far-right ideas underpinned by his surprisingly regressive and divisive attitudes towards race and multiculturalism.

And because we’re covering nine videos, I’ve broken this conversation down to a series of individual posts as “chapters” that broadly correspond to the themes and chronology of those videos as follows: 

Right Wing? Left Wing? Grifting! Part One, Right Wing…

Chapter  One - “The Gathering Storm”, explores the period of time from after Russell’s appearance on Tucker’s Fox News show up to Russell’s immediate response to Tucker’s firing, where we will encounter Tucker the Penitent, Tucker The Whistleblower, and Tucker The Harbinger.

Chapter Two - “Tucker Carlson, Super Mensch” where we see media reflection on Tucker’s legacy and firing from Fox News, including Russell’s personal experience of the guy and some surprising insights from left-wing media as we encounter Tucker The Charmer, Tucker The Pacifist, and Tucker the Unifier.

Chapter Three - “Tucker Carlson, His Struggle” in which we see Russell jump to Tucker’s defense as he comes under assault from the forces of the mainstream media and the establishment, transforming him into Tucker The Martyr, then Tucker The Redeemed.

Chapter Four  - “Out of the Wilderness”, Tucker returns to the fore as Tucker The Rebel, when examined through Russell’s review of Tucker’s first Twitter episode, and then, as a bonus... 

Chapter Five - "Tucker Carlson's Western Chauvinist Vacation", Tucker visits Russell in his humble studio as Tucker The Revolting Elitist.

So, without further ado, let’s dive right in with…

Chapter  One - “The Gathering Storm”

Tucker the Penitent

The first of our target videos predates Tucker’s firing by a month. In ““I’M ASHAMED” Tucker Carlson Just Admitted THIS,” posted on March 23rd, Russell is all agog as Tucker Carlson expresses regret at his prior support for the 2003 US invasion of Iraq. Russell hails this as an example of the “redemption” that will come through the much-hyped great awakening of his audience, claiming that Tucker “just admitted” in a recent interview on a conservative podcast that he regretted the way he had promoted the invasion. 

What a mensch! 

Except it wasn’t that recent, Tucker’s Wikipedia page claims that this particular road-to-Damascus moment occurred in 2004, drawing from his statement on CNN, where he was a host at the time, that “I was embarrassed that I supported the war in Iraq”. I mean, it is a regret, if not quite a full-throated apology. In 2008, Tucker provided some clarity around his feelings as follows “Iraq is a crappy place filled with a bunch of semiliterate primitive monkeys - that’s why it wasn’t worth invading”. Maybe not a heartfelt apology, but certainly a heart full of hate!

Using Tucker’s example, Russell laments, “Why don't more mainstream figures apologize for promoting wars and lying to us?”. Except they do. Here, in 2004, contemporaneously with Tucker’s stated regret, the New York Times admitted they were wrong on the Iraq invasion, as did the Washington Post.

Russell asks us to imagine Bush, Blair or Biden saying they were wrong; here’s Bush; “flawed Iraq intelligence” was the biggest regret of his presidency.  Tony Blair in 2015 “Sorry for Iraq war mistake” (kinda), and Biden, in 2020, acknowledging that his vote for the invasion of Iraq was a mistake. 

And Russell would like to see Obama say it was wrong that we “killed those people with drone strikes in Syria”, even though, despite the staggering numbers associated with Obama’s drone wars, my research didn’t throw up anything much in terms of drone strikes in Syria during Obama’s term. Russell would’ve found ample examples in Libya, Somalia, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iraq. Why, then, choose Syria, which just happens to be a war zone where Russian forces are active? Curious that.

Besides, there are a bunch of times that Obama has expressed regret for civilian deaths due to US military actions. Russell didn’t extend demands for contrition to his successor, Donald Trump, despite the fact that Trump increased drone usage compared to Obama and ended the Obama-era policy of reporting on civilian deaths from drone strikes. No call for Trump to apologize, Russell; what is that all about?

Obviously, though, no matter how sincere or insincere you think these various regrets are, none of them rise to the standard of contrition exhibited by Carlson in his 2006 boast that he had “zero sympathy” for Iraqis and that they should “just shut the f*ck up and obey”. 

Tucker Carlson is just a garbage human being, so let’s move on to…

Tucker The Whistleblower

Non-apologies and regrets aside, Tucker’s great revelation in his podcast appearance comes as he lifts the lid on his near 30-year career in news media to claim that the media’s job is “not to inform you. They are working for the small group of people who actually run the world. They're their servants, they're their praetorian guard, and we should treat them with maximum contempt because they have earned it.”

Ummm. Maybe not the wisest choice of words when your employer is being sued for intentionally misleading the public in service of one of America's richest people and his efforts to retain his position as the “leader of the free world” - one of the small group of people who actually run the world. Totes awks. Wonder if this contributed to his firing? Stay tuned for Chapter 3, “Tucker Carlson, His Struggle”.

Obviously, this is cat nip for our Russell, who declares Tucker “a media Insider who has become critical almost to the point of becoming a whistleblower” and asks, 

So, who are the real conspiracy theorists?

Who, indeed, Russell?

Considering Tucker's history of pushing the Jews-will-not-replace-us Great Replacement conspiracy theory and his claims that Jewish billionaire George Soros is secretly “reshaping” American society, I, personally, would be a little reluctant to embrace anything being espoused by racist conspiracy theorist, Tucker Carlson, as anything other than a racist conspiracy theory. Especially if it hinges on a “(((small group of people))) who actually run the world”. 

Yikes!

As for his status as a “media insider”? Media maybe, but not really news media. Tucker is, at best, opinion, and his contempt for the news-producing arm of Fox News was clearly on display in text messages released as part of the recent Dominion defamation suit, which included trying to get a jobbing reporter fired for fact-checking Donald Trump. Tucker himself has been acknowledged in court as not being news; “You Literally Can't Believe The Facts Tucker Carlson Tells You. So Say Fox's Lawyers”. He had Fox build a studio in his house so he didn’t even need to be in the same building as those icky news people! And when he did have quasi-journalistic responsibilities, as editor of conservative “news” site, Daily Caller, his commitment to journalistic standards was enshrined by a policy that “you can’t go after Fox, because I work there, I’m an anchor on Fox”.

From this perspective, Tucker is an outsider estranged from the very concept of news reporting; just a bitter, racist conspiracy theorist.

And what’s he actually blown the whistle on? He hasn’t said anything about who this secretive elite that runs the world is and by what mechanisms they instruct their media servants. He leaves these as blanks for his swivel-eyed conspiracy followers to fill in.

And fill them in is what Russell and his pals surely intend to do, but that’s more of a story for Part 3 of this series, “The Grifter Misinformation Complex”, so we’ll move on to the second video as we discuss…

Tucker The Harbinger

In the intro to his April 25th video, “OH SH*T, Is THIS Why Tucker Left Fox?!”, released in the wake of Tucker’s firing from Fox News, Russell takes aim at the supposed rejoicings of his arch nemesis the mainstream media, but asks, “should they check themselves before they wreck themselves?” - cringe! Oh mummmm! Dad’s doing that thing again! It’s embarrassing, make him stop!!!!

Tucker’s departure is a “Harbinger of the beginning of the end for the mainstream media”. Russell’s perennial attitude to the so-called mainstream media is starting to resemble those 19th-century American Christian movements that would regularly get together for a promised apocalypse that never comes. A period of American spiritual history known as the Second Great Awakening - what a coincidence!!  Of course, that all ended with the Great Disappointment. So it’s good to note that for his Great Awakening, Russell has a massive head start over his spiritual forebears as, right from the kick-off, Russell is already a Great Disappointment (and also, a massive bell-end).

Despite Russell’s Millenarian musings, there have been plenty of big-name departures from Fox News; Glenn Beck, Bill O’Reilly, Megyn Kelly, Roger Ailes - they all find themselves, as the NY Times described it “wandering in the wilderness of podcasts and third-tier streaming platforms”, except for Ailes, of course, who “died in exile from the media world he once commanded” - almost brings a tear to one’s eye! Will Tucker suffer the same fate? Who can tell? (spoiler, he’s wondering the wilderness of failing Twitter and appearing to be interviewed by Russell Brand on the third-rate streaming platform, Rumble).

Russell’s video was released just a day after Tucker’s firing, and it seems like Russell just crudely inserted Tucker into his pre-planned content. But there are some gems like…

You might think [Tucker’s] racist … but what the mainstream media are not acknowledging is we are being stripped of humanity. 

Yeah, I think that one of the purposes of racism is to strip people of their humanity. And no, I don’t “think” Tucker is racist. He IS racist, and a large part of his racism is about stripping the people he dislikes of their humanity. And the mainstream media does acknowledge this; “Advertisers recoil as Tucker Carlson says immigrants make US ‘dirtier’”

Tucker really is just absolute trash.

An episode of note in this video is Russell invoking the “emergence of a new federalism and secession in America” as a result of new “independent” media. Which begs the question: what the f*ck kind of “independent media” is Russell engaging with? The Birth of a Nation? Lol! (I think).

He adds to his neo-secessionism, “Who wants to spend the rest of their life arguing about: gun control, not gun control; abortion, not abortion; progressivism, traditionalism?”  Wait, is Russell a second amendment guy now?

So much for his unifying introduction at the start of this video and his warning that the “mainstream media siphons us off into silos, turns us against one another … and has got nothing original to say”. I mean, most of the media is not saying turn against your neighbors and start a second American Civil War because of political disagreements, but, you know, MSM bad!

And what’s the point of the last two and a half years of Russell’s videos and political commentary if his answer to political discord is “f*ck it, guess we’ll just have to go live in different countries then!”? Could we try to win an argument, or reach a compromise, or an accommodation? Gun control? F*ck it! Female bodily autonomy? Who cares! Progressive politics in general? A load of old wank! 

Nah - Russell says it’s irreconcilable, The South shall rise again!

But is political disagreement the only cause of our cultural differences? And could you even have a second American Civil War without the racial element? Don’t worry, Russell has you covered with some unforced, casual racism; “Do you imagine there might be tribes in Iceland that live differently from people in Senegal? ‘Why don't we put them in a room to kill each other until they agree whether it's better to eat fish or Antelope?’”. 

Wait, what? Is he suggesting that people of European descent (Icelanders) and of West African origin (Senegalese) can’t live together or something? No cultural fusion is possible - we are immiscible? That we can't be in the same room without a clash of cultures that will result in our “killing each other”? 

What about Oumar Diouck; the Senegalese forward for Icelandic club Njarðvík? Or Pape Mamadou Faye, the Senegal-born striker who is a naturalized Icelander and plays on the national team? I guess in Russell’s world they need round-the-clock protection to prevent any inter-communal violence and a steady supply of fresh antelope meat.

Russell is suggesting that our cultural differences - born out of a geographical or ecological necessity (fish from the seas around Iceland v antelope from, er, the seas off the coast of Senegal?), are actually somehow in-built or immutable. Like, someone from Iceland might not actually enjoy the prospect of eating antelope. Besides, the majority of the Senegalese population lives on the coast - their national dish is Thieboudienne - "The Rice of Fish" -  fish marinated with parsley, lemon, garlic, onion, and herbs, then cooked with tomato paste and a variety of vegetables (sounds awesome, this soupy European is going to try cooking it for my tea tonight, no matter what Russell says!). 

What’s with the racist “in Senegal, they eat antelope” and wipe their bums with old bits of hoof anyway? And “tribes in Iceland”, wait, does Russell think there is an indigenous population in Iceland like the Inuit of North America? Lol!

This whole bit is absolutely baffling, entirely at odds with Russell’s supposed message of harmonious unity and instead reveals some latent and very unsavoury attitudes towards racial identity and cultural diversity.

I struggle to understand his point in bringing this up, he seems to be saying that there are efforts afoot to enforce some kind of homogenous monoculture on diverse peoples. 

This idea could originate in his dalliances with his new far-right pals and folks like Jordan Peterson who fret over the “cultural Marxism” conspiracy theory, with its antisemitic roots in the Nazi fear-mongering of Judeo-Bolshevism. 

Or,  perhaps it’s a legacy of his anti-globalization thinking, derived from the concept of cultural homogenization. However, that idea involves the transfer of culture through trade, commerce and globalization and not mixing of peoples - Russell seems to be talking about some kind of meeting and conflict between people of different cultures -  and Cultural Homogenization is seen as a kind of secondary or unintended consequence of globalization rather than an agenda forced by some malicious human agency. But it’s altogether possible we are seeing the influence of Russell’s incredibly simplistic and childishly manichean worldview which places a human agency behind every foul deed and makes him so susceptible to conspiracy theories.

And it’s also Russell’s childishly simple worldview that means he can’t discuss cultural differences without leaning on lazy and unnuanced concepts of racial identity; “Iceland” and “Senegal”.  F*ck me, he lives in a country where the presence of multiple sports teams in many big cities is a legacy of historical sectarian and cultural division, often flavoured with exclusion of ethnic Irish and Eastern European immigrant communities. You’d think he could come up with something less, well, clumsy, than “Iceland v Senegal”. He comes back to this theme in a later video with almost identical language (switching out Senegal for Sudan and throwing London into the mix), it’s obviously an idea that is on his mind, but he is unable, or unwilling, to develop a less racially divisive setting to carry his message.

But maybe this is just a reflection of Russell’s ongoing cloistered isolation from the real world - which he can only explain in outlandish caricatures. To Russell, the life of ordinary people is an abstraction - whether they live in Reykjavik, Dakar or Croydon. 

I expected to find Tucker’s racism barely veiled behind dog whistles, and I expected to find him spreading the politics of division and hopelessness. And I further expected that Russell would obfuscate and excuse Tucker’s racism and divisiveness. What I didn’t expect to find was such regressive attitudes towards nationality, race and culture from Russell Brand, someone I had thought was fundamentally progressive on these topics - even as he sinks into the soft embrace of right-wing culture wars. I didn’t expect his openly nihilistic assessment that our political differences are so irreconcilable that we must live in separate societies; or that our cultural differences are immutable, making different people immiscible and prone to racial violence. 

What happened to the message of hope, unity and a mutual great awakening? Or does that only apply to the people who look like Russell and think like Russell?

And with that thought, we’ll close out Chapter One, but please join me again for Chapter Two - “Tucker Carlson, Super Mensch”.