- Tucker Carlson said Vladimir Putin was “a couple hours late” for their Kremlin interview this week.
- Making people wait is a power move often used by the Russian president.
- Putin launched into a lengthy revisionist history of Russia that Carlson said “annoyed” him.
Russian President Vladimir Putin pulled a power move on Tucker Carlson that set the stage for the former Fox News host getting steamrolled.
In a post-interview reaction clip, Carlson said Putin was “a couple hours late” for his two-hour interview with the Russian leader in the Kremlin this week.
Making people wait is a tactic Putin has regularly used as a power play to show dominance over his guests, including world leaders.
Putin had former President Donald Trump wait for an hour before a summit in Helsinki in 2018.
He was about 50 minutes behind schedule for a meeting with Pope Francis at the Vatican in 2015, Reuters reported.
And he also held German Chancellor Angela Merkel waiting for more than four hours at a private lunch in 2014, Radio Free Europe reported.
Yes, yes I was kidding, but also pointing out the dangers of getting too chummy with a dictator. Their moods can be fickle and their friends can quickly become enemies or liabilities.
Certain industries attract certain kinds of people. When I used to deal with them, and had someone green with me, I would tell him it’s like prison rules but worse. Don’t talk to them, don’t let them do you a favor, try not to take a break until we leave, and don’t make eye contact. Antisocial personality disorder is not a super power.