If Tucker had any balls, he'd have said "look Vlad, I'm gonna do this interview and I'm gonna catch max sh*t for it, but I'll do it if you release the WSJ reporter. Other than that... you're not enjoying the audience I'll bring your words." That's what I'd have said at least. F Putin.
Vlad missed any easy win when asked about the WSJ reporter. He could of told Tucker and the world: 'Dont worry we will look after him properly and make sure he doesn't die in prison before his exchange, unlike the US citizen youtuber Gonzalo Lira who died in a Ukranian prison last month" Gonzalo Lira was being held in a Ukranian prison for the crime of criticizing the Zelensky and Biden governments. He was an American citizen. A single phone call from the White House would have led to his release.
That's a solid assessment of the interviews. Putin missed a couple opportunities to score points, so did Carlson miss a couple times, but it was interesting. Mainstream journalists should have been and still should be trying to score an interview like this rather than just spewing the daily narrative coming out of the WH. It's not tratorist to do so, it's what real journalists do, tell the whole story and let the interviewee step on their own dicks, or make their case, then let the audience decide who is full of crap or not.
Gonzalo Lira is not a journalist. He is nothing more than a pro-Putin blogger spreading lies in Ukraine. Not a very wise thing to do. Additionally his activities trying to provide the Russians with targets for their missiles was not appreciated by the civilians of Ukraine who are violently being attacked by the Russians. "Tucker Carlson has reported that Russian propagandist Gonzalo Lira has passed away from pneumonia while serving time in prison in Ukraine. Gonzalo Lira is an American citizen who has been living in Ukraine for years working as a dating coach where he marketed himself as an expert guru on how to train Western men how to successfully target and sleep with impoverished Eastern European women. When Russia invaded Ukraine, the sex tourism industry in Ukraine collapsed and Gonzalo decided to start promoting Russian propaganda online in order to make money."
And how many of them were called traitor for doing so? We are not offically at war with Russia, Ukraine is. At least that's the story we're being told.
Tucker's not being called a traitor for conducting an interview. He's being called a traitor for being a traitor.