Fox News host Tucker Carlson spent weeks defending Vladimir Putin against his American critics until finally admitting March 3 that he had been wrong in his prediction that Mr. Putin would not mount an invasion. Previously, Mr. Carlson had urged Mr. Putin’s critics to ask themselves: “Has Putin ever called me a racist? Has he ever threatened to get me fired for disagreeing with him?”

I can think of a few other relevant questions Mr. Carlson might have posed: Did Mr. Putin ever throw his enemies in jail on trumped-up charges? Did he ever poison them? Did he ever crush the liberties of his people? Did he ever invade his neighbors? Did he ever level cities without regard for civilian populations? The answer to all these questions, of course, is yes. The answer was also yes years before the invasion of Ukraine.

I can think of two beliefs that may account for Mr. Carlson’s moral myopia: First, if it doesn’t happen to me or to people like me, it doesn’t matter. Second, there is nothing more important than the culture war.