Fox & Friends co-hosts Brian Kilmeade and Rachel Campos-Duffy got into a spirited exchange on Tuesday morning’s program when the latter blamed the United States for “provoking” Russian President Vladimir Putin to invade Ukraine.
Campos-Duffy was filling in for Ainsley Earhardt, and after Kilmeade commented on all that Putin will have gained territorially if a peace agreement is achieved she said, “That’s why we should have never provoked them.”
“They made very clear there was a red line. The red line was a neutrality for Ukraine, that they could not enter NATO,” she continued. “In the end — if they get this peace agreement — in the end, that’s probably going to end up being the case anyway. I bet you that one of the conditions will have to be that Ukraine promised to remain neutral — will not be part of NATO.”
Kilmeade countered to say that “you can never give in to what Russia wants other nations to do.”
“We have a Monroe doctrine and I think we would be very concerned about this kind of action in our hemisphere,” Campos-Duffy replied. “I think he said keep it neutral. And in the end, probably Ukraine is going to lose more land because of this. Again, the main problem here as you see, and…”
“Is Vladimir Putin,” Kilmeade interjected.
“Actually, the main problem is still China,” Campos Duffy pushed back. “Now we have created a bigger block, China and Russia together. This is why our policymakers aren’t thinking long-term.”
“Provoking this war has brought our two enemies,” she added.
“We did not provoke the war,” Kilmeade insisted. “They provoked war.”
“They had a red line, and we had an agreement in November –” Campos-Duffy began to explain, before Kilmeade cut her off.
“They can’t make a red line in other countries, Rachel,” he implored. “It’s not up to them to make a red line in other countries.”
Campos-Duffy said “this is the fate of the geography of Ukraine,” adding that they “could have remained a free country and we could have armed them.”
Kilmeade said Putin was motivated to act “the minute they lost their stooge in an election,” which would culminate in President Zelenskyy being elected.
“Why should a democracy give up because Vladimir Putin is a lunatic,” he asked.
“It’s a reality, he is who he is,” Campos-Duffy said of Putin. “It’s called realism.”
She insisted this was a “preventable war” and questioned why there were not more serious talks held ahead of the invasion, while President Biden was saying for two weeks that an invasion was imminent.
“Why are the peace talks happening now after this country has been disseminated and millions of people are left [without a home],” she said.
Kilmeade had the last word when he warned why Putin needs to be defeated.
“They cannot sustain this attack without China’s help,” he said. “The goal should be you bleed this blight on the world dry, let Vladimir Putin rule over a diminished republic with a military that’s been exposed as inept and antiquated. And that’s why it’s so important for the West, not America, the West to prevail in this battle because the worst is yet to come if he survives.”
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Tom Tillison grew up in Maryland before moving to Central Florida as a young teen. It is in the Sunshine State that he honed both his passion for politics and his writing skills. Tillison also contributes to BizPac Review.
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