Russian journalist Mikhail Zygar revealed Mr Putin sits his ministers down and makes them watch all the seasons of House of Cards. Source: Q&A / ABC TV
Russian president Vladimir Putin and his US colleague Donald Trump were mocked on Monday night's episode of Q&A and one panellist aired Putin's embarrassing secret.
Russian journalist Mikhail Zygar revealed Mr Putin sits his ministers down and makes them watch all the seasons of House of Cards, and secretly wants to work with the show's fictional president, Frank Underwood.
"Apparently his favourite US president is actually a fictional character called Frank Underwood," Mr Zygar said.
"I was really surprised when I heard that for the first time, that he recommends his freshly appointed ministers to watch all the seasons of House of Cards because you must know the enemy and (Putin thinks) that's how the American system works."
Frank Underwood is power hungry and according to Psychology Today, a pathological narcissist.
According to Mr Zygar, the Russian president felt "cheated" by former US President Barack Obama and German politician Angela Merkel, who are both vocal about the abuse of human rights.
Earlier this month Ms Merkel visited Russia and urged the president the investigate reports of the torture of gay men in Chechnya.
Mr Trump was also in the firing line of Q&A panellists who suggested he didn't have a plan for America. But Paul Beatty, the first American author who was awarded the Man Booker Prize, said Mr Trump and his focus on segregation could pose a threat to the country.
"Having a plan, not having a plan, doesn't make you any less dangerous," he said.
"Trump reminds me of, I saw this two weeks ago in the paper, somewhere in London they found this unexploded ordnance from WWII.
"Trump is like that unexploded bomb in the basement. It's dangerous, it's historic, It conjures up all kinds of things. You don't know how to detonate it necessarily."
Fellow panellist and renowned cosmologist, scientific educator, and director of the Origins Project at Arizona State University, Lawrence Krauss, also claimed Trump did not have any real views.
Russian journalist Mikhail Zygar said Russian President Vladimir Putin watched House of Cards. Photo / ABC
"He says whatever the heck he is thinking about," he said.
"To suggest there's some reason behind anything he says is to assume so much more to the man.
"There was a great article saying it felt it was an insult to four-year-olds when people compared Trump to four-year-olds.
"Four-year-olds are curious. They're playful, they experiment, they want to know more about the world. He doesn't do any of that. I think you are seeing right now, the one area where there's great consistency because he has surrounded himself with, he doesn't care, but he's surrounded himself with people who care nothing about the environment, who basically have legislated or worked against legislation on the environment and as far as climate change is concerned, there's a big debate about whether they're going to pull out of the Paris Accords.
"I suspect there will be enough peer pressure that they probably won't, but it won't matter because the Paris Accords are wish-list. If you stay in there but choose to not take any actions anyway and try and waste time, resources and human lives on coal, then you're effectively obviating the Paris Accords anyway."
Australian journalist Niki Savva says Us President Donald Trump could affect Australia. Photo / AP
Australian journalist Niki Savva said Mr Trump could influence Australia.
"He has saturation coverage, he takes up all the oxygen. It's very hard for politicians here to try and get a message out above him," she said.
"Also I think the other thing from Trump is that he has the ability to reset the agenda in Australia as well because if he was to do something even more outrageous than he's already done, something that is really terrifying, enough to frighten the pants of Australians as well, then I think that will change the political dynamics in Australia as well.
"So we worry about it not just in a global perspective and there is a lot of worry about there, but we also worry about it in our own little place here."
