The news that President Joe Biden would not run for re-election caused a stir not only in America, but also in Russia, where pro-Kremlin propagandists are kicking up a fuss about what it would mean for their beloved Donald Trump.
Appearing on Monday’s broadcast of a state TV show 60 Minutes, State Duma member Oleg Matveychev complained that Biden’s move is a disaster for Trump’s election chances. “He is left without any trump cards!” Matveychev said. “Previously, he could easily attack Biden’s health, now he has nothing left to attack. More than that, attacking Biden at this point would be seen as inappropriate and rude.”
“Now they’re switching to [Vice President Kamala Harris] and are trying to attack her, but nothing new will stick to her,” Matveychev added. “Bringing up the fact she is not quite white will only activate her electorate.”
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Russian state TV’s coverage of Harris—which is a carbon copy of what is playing on Fox News—was largely limited Monday to attempts at mocking her laughter.
Matveychev said that Biden’s departure from the race rendered the previous agenda obsolete. Discussing the age of the U.S. president or an assassination attempt against Trump is now yesterday’s news, he argued.
“Trump had a great trump card with this shot that was fired at him... he just got lucky,” the lawmaker said. “Now he has to come up with something new to change the subject and draw attention to himself—and it’s hard to do, after the stakes were raised this high.”
Matveychev said that if Trump was “a little bit smarter,” he would have toned it down during the debate to make sure Biden stays in the race. Host Evgeny Popov bitterly added, “Now he is the old candidate. The only old candidate!”
The lawmaker said it’s time to rip off the patch covering up Trump’s scratched ear that many in the U.S. have compared to a maxi pad. He criticized the flashmob of the GOP ear patches as outdated and vulgar and urged the Republicans to come up with something new to face the new reality.
Matveychev also angrily described Harris as “distilled evil.” “In her, you have the devil in its purest form,” he said. “He always appears to be laughing and positive. The devil doesn’t have horns and hooves, he says that everything is ok and flashes a white-toothed grin.”
Moscow’s premier propagandist Vladimir Solovyov separately scrambled to re-record his weekend program, Sunday Evening With Vladimir Solovyov, to keep up with the news.
The initial version of the show focused on laughing up a cheesy AI-generated Matrix clip of Trump facing-off with President Biden, posted by Elon Musk on his X (formerly Twitter) page, making fun of ancient Hulk Hogan and his old T-shirt ripping shtick, and relishing Trump’s insults against Biden.
In the re-recorded version, the host and pundits seemed to be stunned and sobered up by the news of Biden dropping out. While the show re-incorporated the same clips, the laughs were scarce and strained.
Solovyov predicted that the situation in America would be “pure hell” for the next four months. Andrey Bezrukov, a former KGB sleeper agent, described it as the minefield for Trump and Republicans, while pundit Vladimir Kornilov said: “I already know what the new message of this campaign will be: look at how old Trump is!” He surmised, “This will be a serious problem for Trump from the standpoint of the campaign of the Democrats.”
Americanist Dmitry Drobnitsky described the Biden administration as a failure. “This administration failed at everything!” he said. “Name one project where they’ve succeeded. There aren’t any. They couldn’t even kill or imprison Trump.”
The unspoken truth that could be read between the lines is that Russian President Vladimir Putin never failed to imprison and/or kill his opponents—and his propagandists apparently consider it to be one of his virtues.
Another contrast with Putin is Biden’s decision to step away from power voluntarily, something few ever expect to happen with the Russian president.
As usual, state TV pundits shared their hope that a civil war in America is imminent.
Pundit Vadim Gigin said that after Trump “ate the entire Republican party” it became a religious movement with Trump at the helm—and this maniacal devotion to the irreplaceable leader might lead to unpredictable consequences.
Solovyov described Trump’s delivery to that of a televangelist and said that according to his friend Steven Seagal, Trump no longer considers himself God’s messenger, but believes he is God himself.
