Many people were shocked and appalled by Tucker Carlson’s comments about Moscow being nicer than many cities in the United States. The usual suspects (people who identify or used to identify as Republicans but were affiliated that way only because of fiscal policies while altogether abandoning cultural matters) were outraged. Groups like the Lincoln Project, the social media account “Republicans Against Trump,” and National Review editor Charles Cooke completely dismissed Carlson’s comments as absurd. 

Guess what? They are wrong. Their sentiments are based on a cultural ignorance of something they know little about because they have zero experience. I would know. I lived there in 2018 for a study abroad trip, and it was one of the first things I commented to friends and family when I returned home — long before Carlson’s comments and the current accepted anti-Russian sentiment.