As my colleague Brandon Morse reported, harsh criticism followed Tucker Carlson’s commentary on Vladimir Putin and Russia Tuesday night.

Carlson, never one to fall in line, asked his audience to consider why they are being asked to hate Putin and treat him as a priority when so many other major issues pose a threat to the everyday lives of Americans. The suggestion was not that one should love or even like Putin, but that it’s acceptable to simply not care about him. Still, that led to an outcry of condemnation, essentially accusing Carlson of being a traitor. For a moment, it felt like 2004 again.

Yet, a new AP-NORC poll offers some vindication for the Fox News host, showing that only 26 percent of Americans favor the United States playing a major role in the conflict between Russia and Ukraine.

WASHINGTON (AP) — AP-NORC poll: Just 26% of Americans say US should play a major role in the Russia-Ukraine conflict.

— Zeke Miller (@ZekeJMiller) February 23, 2022

As Carlson pointed out in his monologue, the people who would be leading such a fight, economically or militarily, have shown themselves to be completely inept and corrupt. Thus, it’s not surprising at all that the vast majority of Americans want no part in bearing the cost of another costly, foreign policy adventure.

And to be clear, Americans aren’t just worried about the costs related to a possible military action. Energy prices have already been skyrocketing, putting a huge crunch on the poor and middle-class. Few are prepared to drain their bank accounts further to defend the sovereignty of Ukraine’s Donbas region. Yet, that’s exactly what the White House is asking them to do, and this poll shows that to be a wildly unpopular position.

What will the response to that unpopularity be? Well, you can expect the way-too-online crowd to insist that only a rube wouldn’t believe Putin is a priority worth sacrificing one’s personal savings over, but I’m not sure how effective that will be in persuading the masses. That’s not even to say I agree with everything Carlson had to say. I do think countering Russia’s aggression (and China’s aggression, even more so) is a worthy pursuit, though not that it should be the nation’s primary one.

Yet, that should come via policies that actually make sense, and little of what we are being told right now makes sense. It did not make sense to cancel Keystone XL while greenlighting Nordstream 2. It did not make sense to lift sanctions on Russian officials without getting anything in return. Those asinine decisions led to where we are today, but the leaders who made them now want Americans to sacrifice more for their incompetence without even explaining why it’s necessary?

That’s just not going to fly. This poll shows that, and it also serves as a reminder that Twitter remains not real life.