how can i tip the scales to my favor? I’m thinking of poking him without showing it to get him to say some dumb thing again and set boundaries on the spot to balance power and come out on top. My question is how can i do that?
This is really immature. I know you are upset at yourself for failing to properly respond in the moment but don't be a baby and start trying to fvck with this guy just to assert your dominance and get revenge. Just move on with your life and if he is disrespectful again, deal with it then. It is just going to make you look insecure and childish and make it obvious to everyone there, including him, that you have been stewing over this for days.
While I understand and agree with what some of the others have said about your being disrespectful by coming in late and side-tracking the exercise with your own conversations, what he said to you was still disrespectful and un-called for. He could have brought you into the exercise by addressing you directly, politely, explaining what you missed and getting you started on it instead of just barking orders at you like that. He only said it to you because he assessed you and determined that he could get away with it. If you were a really big, menacing looking dude, do you think he would have acted exactly the same? No.
I would have looked him in the eye, maintained eye-contact and said, "Hey man, don't bark orders at me like that again."
He might reply something like, "Well you're being rude. We are trying to do this exercise, you come in here late and side-track us"
And I would have responded with, "That's fine and I'm sorry if my coming in late interrupted people, but that still doesn't give you the right to bark orders at me like that. If there is something you want from me, you can address me politely instead of issuing commands."