The United States won the Cold War, but Russian President Vladimir Putin walked away victorious after an arm wrestling match against Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Calif.).
The California Republican spoke with his home state’s 89.3 KPCC radio Thursday, rehashing a lost arm wrestling match against Putin back in the early 1990s. According to Rohrabacher, the Russian President and several young political leaders wanted to meet with the future congressman, who had been a Reagan speechwriter. Needless to say, he did what any good American host would do and invited them to a game of touch football with friends.
“Three of them said, ‘Yea, sure.’ I come to find out later that was Putin,” Rohrabacher said. “I didn’t know who he was then. He was the deputy mayor of St. Petersburg. That’s all we knew. But he did have a huge bodyguard, so it sort of gave a little hint that he’s more than just St. Petersburg.”
The California Republican continued, saying he and “a bunch of my right-wing friends” — including Vice President Dick Cheney’s future Chief of Staff Scooter Libby — hit the gridiron with Putin and several other Russians. After the game, the group headed to The Irish Times, a watering hole near the Capitol, and starting knocking back a few.
“…we were having a little bit too much to drink, I guess,” Rohrabacher said. “Anyway, we started arguing about who won the Cold War, etc. And so we decided to settle it like men do when they’ve had too much to drink at the pub.
“So we got down to these arm-wrestling matches and I ended up being paired up with Putin, and he’s a little guy but boy, I’ll tell you, he put me down in a millisecond. He is tough, his muscles are just unbelievable. And so then his bodyguard gets up and this buddy of mine and says, ‘Oh, I’ll take him.’ And my friend puts his bodyguard down so it was good.”
Rohrabacher then switched to address the ongoing tension between the U.S. and Russia, which has mounted with an impending war in Syria.
“You know, he’s a tough guy,” he said. “He’s supposed to be a tough guy. That’s what the Russian people want. But there’s no reason we shouldn’t try to work with him.”
Listen to Rohrabacher’s story here.
h/t Buzzfeed
