Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2024/02/15/post-interview-putin-trashes-tucker-carlson.html
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Pretty sure that the article meant to say
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The reason he prefers someone at any moment can have many layers; when Putin ceases to prefer you, he demonstrates it with rockets to your commercial airplane.
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I take Putin’s endorsement of Biden over Trump in 2024 just as seriously as I took KKK Grand Dragon Will Quigg’s clearly tr0llish endorsement of Hillary Clinton over Trump in 2016.
Putin’s agenda is to weaken the United States. Publicly stating that he prefers Biden over Trump hurts Biden and helps Trump. That’s all there is to it.
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It’s somewhat unsettling that even Putin seemed surprised by the level to which MAGAs have embraced him. Like the dog that catches the car.
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V. (Moscow): ‘Frankly, I did not get full satisfaction’ will look lousy on Carlson’s Tinder profile.
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I really wish I could see the footage after Putin left the interview.
Was Tucker like, “Well, that went really well! What an interesting person.”
Or was he like, “Jesus Christ, what have I gotten myself into.”
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I think the proper translation, in context, should be respect instead of prefer, but I don’t think they wanted it to be translated as respect.
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also, no one is surprised by this turn of events… Not even Tucker himself…
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This is actually interesting in that either Putin’s discipline is slipping, or he was more interested in domestic messaging (token victory over the lame Yankee) than in external impression management. His lengthy lecture on how Historically Ukraine Is Part Of North Minehead Already tends toward the internal messaging theory. Is he nervous about his grip on power?
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So what did Putin gain from Trump but uncertainty? Putin now knows Trump is an unreliable flake and he won’t rely on Trump again, even though he might say anything to shake up the election process. I’d wager he does want Biden, for exactly the reasons he stated: predictability.
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I think Putin’s decision to trash Tucker maybe partly because Tucker’s fortunes are falling. He’s a very famous American to Russian viewers, who’s largely been sympathetic to Russia, but going forward, there’s a good chance technical Carlson will have much less sway. Treating him like a chew toy on Russian State TV allows Putin to look a little tougher without having to get up on a horse and show his abs. The thinking may be that if Putin can dismantle a “reasonable” American in a discussion, think how much smarter he must be than all the unreasonable Americans.
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A United States that is consumed with internal strife and shows dramatically reduced solidarity with NATO? 
Biden is predictably pro-NATO and has consistently acted against Russia’s interests in this conflict. Trump is predictably pro-Trump and has consistently sided with Putin on virtually everything since he first declared his intent to run for office. I’m not seeing any downside for Putin if Trump gets another four years to undermine Russia’s greatest geopolitical adversary from within.
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Tucker is definitely a tool, but not the useful kind.
I’m really not buying Putin’s “I expected Tucker to push back” attitude - no, no he wasn’t expecting that. He had no reason to, given Tucker’s history of fawning over right-wing dictators, and that’s why he allowed the “interview.” He knew exactly what he was getting, and humiliating Carlson after he was a servile lapdog was part of his plan. Pretending that Tucker is some sort of real journalist is, I suspect, an effort to try to lend him with some shreds of credibility that Tucker had lost in agreeing to do the softball interview.
Trump is actually pretty consistent - he consistently does what’s good for his ego (and financial interests) and consistently does what Putin wants him to do. I can’t imagine that his being an inconsistent flake in other respects bothers Putin much.
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Bullies love trashing their toadies. Arse-lickers like Carlson not only won’t fight back, they’ll also come back for more.
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I think that’s all down to perspective.
Useful tool for Putin/GQP to sow discord.
Useless idiot to those of us with functional brains.
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This. Biden is the guy you play chess against, for high stakes. You try to beat him, and you know he’s trying to beat you, but you know he understands the rules of the game and follows them.
Trump is the proverbial pigeon, upsetting chesspieces, making noise, and shitting up the board.
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Which, as both @Brainspore and @Shuck pointed out above, is beneficial to Putin in myriad ways. Putin does not want a chess match with a “predictable” adversary. He wants chaos. He wants a show, the result of which has been, and will continue to be, declining belief in democracy.
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Exactly. You only seek out an opponent who knows the rules of chess when you want someone to challenge you at a game of chess.
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