Much has been made of Tucker Carlson’s recent trip to Russia: the metro tour, the grocery store, the Putin interview. I wouldn’t typically spend any time on Carlson — he serves no purpose except to provide the left an easy caricature of the right, much like Rachel Maddow provides the right an easy caricature of the left — but the death of Russian opposition figure Alexei Navalny in the wake of Carlson’s visit ought to highlight once and for all Carlson’s shortcomings.

Because Navalny was everything Carlson pretends to be — a crusader, a truth-teller. The cause Navalny fought for cost him everything, whereas Carlson’s causes have made him exceedingly wealthy. Navalny battled strongmen; Carlson battles straw men. Navalny, initially removed from Russia in the wake of a Putin-sanctioned assassination attempt, returned to the country knowing he would likely be arrested. Carlson visited the country on the Kremlin’s invitation… and went shopping. The contrast between the two men couldn’t be starker.

My point in writing this isn’t to shame those who agree with Carlson politically. It’s to say they can do better than him, because Carlson isn’t interested in doing better by them. The past couple weeks have proven him to be an absurd charlatan, not to mention the epitome of intellectual sloth. Those same weeks showed Navalny to be a true leader and profile in unshakeable courage.