• 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.

  • Potatos_are_not_friends@lemmy.world
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    9 months ago

    Why are we giving this attention? Tucker Carlson isn’t a journalist, a reporter, or anybody worthy of time.

    He’s like a shitty YouTuber now.

    • lennybird@lemmy.world
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      9 months ago

      I pay some attention the same way I try to monitor mold growth in the basement, holding my nose. It’s tempting to throw away the key and ignore the problem but in reality it’s useful to monitor this kind of shit.

      This is clearly orchestrated to influence Republican voters (and swing voters):

      • To soften their perception of Putin. (which Fox has been doing since Hannity praised Putin oved Obama)
      • To deflect to Biden and the Border.

      … And quite possibly, the real reason Tucker is in Moscow may not be this interview insomuch as a closed-door meeting with Putin that is sure to not be monitored. Much like when the Republican congressment flew to Moscow on 4th of July or Senator Rand Paul hand-delivered a letter to Putin from Trump.

      Anyway, it’s useful to know what they’re setting up to be the talking-points for the months ahead.

    • cultsuperstar@lemmy.world
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      9 months ago

      Why do people even wait for Putin? If he’s several minutes late, just leave and don’tbother canceling and he shows up for nothing. Or schedule the meeting for like 12pm and the show up at 3pm. If he shows up at 3pm, great. If he shows up at 2pm, then he’s stuck waiting an hour. If he still doesn’t show up at 3pm, again, just leave and don’t bother canceling.

      • dylanmorgan@slrpnk.net
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        9 months ago

        I suspect he has people watching to let him know if someone is about to leave, or hasn’t arrived. Those people likely also run interference if someone is getting up to leave, promising it’ll be just another few minutes.

    • sunbytes@lemmy.world
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      9 months ago

      He’s said under oath he’s not a journalist, but an entertainer.

      But yeah he’s very influential, and very convincing if you trust him enough to not dig into what he says.