Putin Interview a Complete Embarrassment for Tucker Carlson

Vladimir Putin emerged "dominant" and "at ease" in the face of a "fawning and gullible" Tucker Carlson during their much-hyped interview, a body language expert said.  Professor Patrick Stewart said that "unprepared" schoolboy-like TV host Carlson failed to put up any fight as the Russian tyrant waged a "mental battle of attrition".

The controversial TV pundit trumpeted the interview as a means for the American public to see the “truth” of the Ukraine war after two years of what he blasted as "one-sided" narratives fed by Western media.  But in reality, Putin sat down to weave yet another baseless web of lies, launching a lengthy tirade about Russian history, before laying into NATO and threatening to propel the world towards global catastrophe. Putin spent more than 50 minutes delivering a rambling, inaccurate history lesson that started with the Vikings and included dragging up documents from the 17th century. During this segment, Carlson was left slack-jawed, staring at Putin while he was unable to get in a single question.

Putin even blamed Poland for Hitler’s invasion of the country, without any push back from Tucker.  If anyone was wondering about that part where Carlson confronted Putin over Russia’s role in dividing Poland with the Nazis or how Russia slaughtered the Polish resistance … that never happened.  At one point, Putin paused in the middle of his droning lesson on history-that-never-happened to mock Tucker for applying to the CIA when he was younger and getting rejected.

Stewart, an expert in dissecting behavior and body language from the University of Arkansas, said the
two-hour interview was laced with plenty of tell-tale signs of a tyrant at ease - one that didn't fear any kind of challenge from the over-matched Carlson.  According to Stewart, "It was not an interview. Tucker Carlson was an audience of one that was gullible, if not fawning, in his approach to Vladimir Putin."  He noted that Putin was easily able to "define the terms of the agreement, dominate attention and wear down Carlson".

Dissecting his body language, Stewart said that Putin showed off his "relaxed" state by immediately taking off his watch and setting it on the table between himself and Carlson.  It sent a powerful message that "time was not an issue".  From there, he added: "Putin did not face much of a challenge, dominating the conversation with ease.  "Carlson reminded me of a student who had not done their homework and could only ask questions that built-on or supported the speaker. "

Even when Carlson pursued tougher topics, Stewart analyzed how Putin navigated them with purposeful dodge tactics - using humor and laughter to avoid answering.  When asked about whether he felt a threat from the West, including a nuclear threat, Stewart saw how Putin's hands twitched and went to his face, suggesting some level of discomfort. "Putin exhibited a displacement behavior with his fist near his forehead before extending his fingers, and pushing it away," he said.  However, the Kremlin boss quickly recovered by shooting back: "Are we going to have a serious talk or a show?" This, Stewart said, caused "Carlson to laugh, whereupon Putin went back to answering the question he wanted to".

This tactic was repeated when Carlson asked whether Russia was behind the bombing of the Nord Stream gas pipeline in September, 2022.  "Putin laughed then joked about Carlson personally being responsible," Stewart noted, saying that it was an easy way to move the conversation away from dangerous waters. In short, Stewart saw that Carlson was no match for the "at ease" Russian ruler.  He said: "Putin engaged in a mental battle of attrition that Carlson was quite obviously not prepared for."

Overall, Carlson came off as a stooge, staring open-mouthed for hours as Putin either ignored his few questions or openly sneered at him. Putin came off, appropriately enough, as a self-important fascist jackass who was willing to justify anything with an hour's worth of “Drunk History.” In terms of providing some reasonable defense of Russia, or something for the right to leverage against aid to Ukraine, Carlson came up bone-dry.

Ahead of the highly-anticipated interview, James Rodgers, former Moscow correspondent for the BBC warned that Carlson had no idea how TV savvy Putin is.  "Putin is a very consummate media performer. He's had an awful lot of practice after being at the top of Russian politics for a quarter of a century," he said.