To say I was “fascinated” and “riveted” by “fired Fox News host,” as he playfully calls himself, Tucker Carlson’s interview of Russian President Vladimir Putin is actually an understatement and does not really reflect the experience of watching the event.
It was an interview unlike any other I have ever watched—something that seemed more out of fiction, a scene from a play by Bertolt Brecht or an encounter ripped from the pages of Leo Tolstoy or Fyodor Dostoevsky.
We were being offered a real-time glimpse for more than two hours into the reasoning and personality of an often ruthless dictator, albeit one who remains popular, to a great extent, in his own country.
How many times have we been able to see that?
I can think of none.
Those who criticize Mr. Carlson for offering us this either have total disrespect for the intelligence of the public, quite common among our politicians and pundits, or their own personal axes to grind—envy, perhaps.
Watching and listening to Mr. Putin generates many complex reactions, from thinking he’s a deranged thug to being beguiled by him, but these are the kinds of contradictory responses an adult mind must be able to contain to be, well, an adult mind.
It will take a long time to digest fully what we have seen, if indeed we ever can.
The host evidently feels the same way.
Since we are friends, I texted Mr. Carlson my congratulations after I viewed it. I think I can fairly give his response because it seems like something he would easily say in public. Also in these times, anyone who thinks their text messages are private is delusional.
He wrote: “Thank you. It was fascinating. I’m still thinking about what it meant.”
I’m certain most of us watching have a similar reaction.
Mr. Putin, per his own wishes, began with a half-hour disquisition on the history of Eastern Europe, what he called for obvious reasons “The Russian Lands.” It’s hard to explain—everyone must see this for themselves—but this was simultaneously boring, even tedious, but also fascinating.
You could read this confusion in Mr. Carlson’s expression. Few, if any, of us know that history in such detail.
Unlike leaders we can think of, Mr. Putin did not seem the slightest bit senile but, on occasion, on the edge of a certain kind of madness.
