Fiona Hill

I mean, that's at the root of things.

I mean, I'm sorry.

I mean, it's just, you know, from years of observation of this, Putin knows exactly how to do it.

I mean, I, you know, and many others who study, you know, kind of Russia, we've all been subjected to this.

There's a famous episode of Putin helping a Russian politician who there's no reason why he would help him.

And I was related to this story by the politician himself, who, you know, was done a pretty significant favor by Putin.

And this person has actually told this story publicly, but when we asked him why, Putin said to him, you know, when he'd asked the same question, well, you never know who you might turn out to be or when I might need something from you.

So this is kind of, you know, Putin plays to vanities, he plays to vulnerabilities, he plays into times of need because he never knows when he might need something.

And they act in the same way.

I mean, Witkoff, Trump, I mean, they're all kind of birds of a similar feather.

But unfortunately, they're not quite as good at this as Vladimir Putin, because he's had years of training and honing these skills as a KGB agent.

And 25 years of being president of Russia in a pretty vicious political environment.

Exactly right.

Exactly right.

And the thing is, they all think in similar frames because of where they operated.

Real estate, I mean, it couldn't be any more similar to the kinds of environments in which Putin operates in.

But the thing is, Putin thinks himself as the head of state, of a state with millennia of history.

He talks of himself in that regard.

He's got an idea about being cloaked in the mantle of the power of the state and the church.

He sees himself as the heir to all kinds of emperors and even empresses with Catherine the Great.