Telegram screenshot.
When Donald Trump was elected as the 45th President of the United States in November 2016, Russia’s top propagandist Margarita Simonyan announced on social media that she was ready to wave the Star-Spangled Banner out of her car window for such a joyous occasion.
“In general, today I’m driving like this: our flag in one window, the American flag in the other. Symbolizing peace-friendship-chewing gum. As an advance,” Simonyan wrote.
Eight years later, Simonyan wrote only a brief message on Telegram: “Trump won,” and advised her followers to go to sleep.
The official Kremlin reacted even more lukewarmly to Trump’s election victory. When President Vladimir Putin’s press secretary Dmitry Peskov was asked after the U.S. elections whether Putin planned to congratulate Trump, the answer was “I don’t know,” along with a reference to Russia considering the United States an unfriendly nation “involved in the conflict around Ukraine.” Peskov further noted that Trump’s election victory would not change anything in reality for Russia.
Why are they all interacting with Trump?
Telegram screenshot.
It is noteworthy that Russia’s main state news agency RIA covers Trump’s victory in meticulous detail, specifically focusing on how it was received in different parts of the world. RIA reported separate messages such as Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s congratulations to Trump, Chinese President Xi Jinping expressing a desire to collaborate with Trump in his congratulatory telegram, and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s phone call with the U.S. president-elect.
The Russian media’s interest in the potential impact of Trump’s election victory on U.S.-Russia relations seems insatiable. Questions are raised about whether the U.S. plans to invite Putin to attend Trump’s inauguration ceremony (“Peskov: ‘It’s pointless to discuss this’”), whether Russia had any contact with Trump’s campaign team (“Peskov: ‘No, it did not’”), and whether the online rumors claiming that Putin had already sent congratulations to Trump through unofficial channels were true (“Peskov: ‘This is not reliable information’”).
Russian propaganda channels are now eagerly seeking any potential conflicts in the U.S. that would suggest the transfer of power from Joe Biden‘s administration to Trump might not go smoothly. Ideally, they would like to see Americans turn against each other and for the war in Ukraine to be completely forgotten by the U.S.
For instance, propagandist Sergei Mardan reported on November 6 that neither Joe Biden nor Kamala Harris had called Trump. “They are lying in wait. Will Donald Fredovich not start celebrating victory too early?”
The question about the phone call is taking on massive proportions
In reality, President Biden called Trump on Wednesday, congratulated him, and invited him to the White House for a meeting to discuss a smooth transfer of power. Vice President Harris also had a phone call with Trump on Wednesday.
When the news of Biden’s invitation to Trump reached Russia, along with the message that Biden intended to attend Trump’s inauguration, Mardan commented sarcastically: “Grandpa finally decided to make himself visible everywhere.”
Former Duma deputy and pro-Kremlin political analyst Sergei Markov noted on Telegram: “Harris just called Trump and congratulated him on his victory. Hmm. But why did she wait so long? Secret meetings were probably held to discuss whether to stage protest riots.”
According to Markov, Putin is waiting for a call from Trump with proposals for peace in Ukraine. “And Trump is waiting for congratulations from Putin on being elected U.S. President.”
EIn the former Duma deputy’s analysis, the question of whether Putin will call Trump or if Trump should make the call himself takes on mythological proportions. Markov stated: “Trump would like to call, but how can he call Putin if Putin hasn’t congratulated him on his victory? Will Trump overcome his pride and call Putin anyway? Or will Trump wait? Or will Trump only call Zelensky? And communicate with Putin through intermediaries?”
Pushkov warns of a “liberal counterattack”
A larger conflict in the United States would likely suit Alexei Pushkov, a member of the Russian Federation Council who has previously chaired its foreign affairs committee and led the Duma’s foreign affairs committee. Pushkov claims on his Telegram channel that various types of left-liberals in the U.S. are now planning a “new war” against Donald Trump, a fierce counterattack.
“The garbage heap of false narratives, fakes, and accusations that are being linked to Trump is actually the handiwork of liberals and neoconservatives,” stated Pushkov. “Trust in yellow-liberal media outlets, from the NYT to CNN, has sharply declined. People have concluded that if the deceitful media speaks poorly of Trump, then one must vote for him. And it was in vain that the overgrown Oprah Winfrey, insignificant Taylor Swift, and the entire showbiz industry raised their voices for Harris and against Trump—it didn’t work.”
Meanwhile, on Russian war bloggers’ channels, there are relatively few discussions with any sense of realism about what Donald Trump, as president of the U.S., could actually do regarding Russia or Ukraine.
Western media is scrutinized with a magnifying glass in Russia
For example, pro-Z Russian war blogger Alexei Zhivov writes on his channel, which has 115,000 subscribers, that Donald Trump can end the war in Ukraine only in one way: by refusing any military loans and arms deliveries to Kyiv. “We’ll handle the rest ourselves,” promises Zhivov.
But are Americans ready for this? Zhivov immediately asks rhetorically. “A very big question. During negotiations, the most that can be hoped for is the withdrawal of [Ukrainian] armed forces from Russia’s four new regions (a euphemism used in Russia for the Ukrainian territories occupied and annexed by Russia — ed.) and the establishment of a demilitarized zone. But again, there will be disputes about where this should be and who would control it. Moreover, there is no point for Russia to agree if Washington plans to continue arming Ukraine.”
However, several Russian war bloggers on Thursday cited an article from The Wall Street Journal discussing the end of the war in Ukraine, which states that Trump’s advisers have offered him some peace ideas, but no decision on a concrete peace plan has been made.
