Maria Bartiromo is hopelessly lost in the conspiracy theory fever swamp

The one-time CNBC star has dimmed considerably on Fox Business, where careers go to die.

Bartiromo on set in January 2020. (Roy Rochlin/Getty)

It’s hard to believe this needs saying, but here goes: Russia’s military buildup along Ukraine’s borders is not a hoax.

I know this, in part, because I’ve spent months paying attention to Rob Lee, a PhD student at King’s College London who uses Russian social media posts and satellite imagery to painstaking detail the deployment of Russian troops and military gear along the countries’ shared border, and who last weekend described the staging of 130,000 Russian troops near Ukrainian soil as an “unprecedented” buildup.

Rob Lee @RALee85

Note, the S-300V 9A83 TELAR is now armed with four 9M83 missiles. The S-300V system's launchers were previously seen without their missiles. Russia is massing key district-level systems in Belgorod ~10 miles from the Ukrainian border.

Status-6 @Archer83Able

T-80U tanks from the 4th Kantemirovskaya Tank Divison and at least 2 9A83 TELARs of the S-300V anti-aircraft missile system in Veselaya Lopan, Belgorod Oblast. February 11, 2022. Coords: 50.495714, 36.389603 https://t.co/yeAOvJU7qH

There are plenty of similar resources you can check out, such as this great Wall Street Journal piece about the weapons systems Russia has stationed near the border and where troops have come from (some traveled more than 6,000 miles from the Russian Far East, illustrating the geographical enormity of the country).

The point, however, is that while the US government has spent the past week publicly warning that Russia could attack Ukraine at any time, you don’t have to take its word for it. The deployment of Russian forces is documented. There are photos and videos. It’s real.

Unless you’re Fox News/Business host Maria Bartiromo, apparently.

You might recall that until 2013, Bartiromo was a relatively respected host for CNBC, where she was known as the “money honey.” But she waded deep into the conspiracy theory fever swamp during the Trump years, and comments she made on her Fox Business show Tuesday indicate she’s not going to find her way out anytime soon.