Russian state-controlled media apparatus closely followed the legal troubles of former U.S. President Donald J. Trump, spicing up most of their coverage with pro-Trump clips from Fox News and Tucker Carlson. Russian propagandists were openly hoping for a hung jury and were visibly disappointed when Trump became a convicted felon on all 34 charges he was facing.
On Friday morning, Dmitry Kulikov, host of Solovyov Live, the self-described “most patriotic channel” in Russia, said on-air, “They wronged our Donald Trump!” Malek Dudakov, a political scientist who specializes in America, said that the hope for a miracle—meaning a hung jury—was extinguished. He said, with Russia’s affectionate middle name usage, “The miracle did not happen. Our Donald Fredovych was found guilty on all 34 counts.” For that, Dudakov blamed the judge and the jury and baselessly claimed that all of them were prejudiced against Trump. “Now, he is a felon,” he surmised, while also noting that the former president’s incarceration as a result of this conviction is unlikely.
Dudakov expressed hope that despite his legal troubles, Trump would still win in the upcoming presidential election. Kulikov and Dudakov jointly echoed Tucker Carlson’s assertions that their preferred candidate will prevail, “unless desperately panicked Democrats will organize an assassination of Donald Fredovych.” They expressed hope that Biden—not Trump—would die before the elections.
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Similar reactions reverberated across Russian media outlets. Appearing on a state TV show 60 Minutes Friday morning, State Duma member Aleksei Zhuravlyov opted to discuss Trump’s conviction before addressing other bad news Russia is facing, with Western governments broadly signing off on Ukraine’s right to defend itself by striking Russia on its own turf. Zhuravlyov said he would address this “escalation” later and started with his rant against America for turning Trump into a felon.
Mischaracterizing the prosecution by describing it as “a lawsuit brought by Stormy Daniels,” host Olga Skabeeva chimed in and described Trump as “a former and potentially future U.S. president.” She surmised that the situation is too ridiculous for words and keeps escalating on every front. Skabeeva complained that earlier predictions of a hung jury did not come true, bitterly adding in perfect English, “Shit happens.”
Zhuravlyov angrily asserted, “There are idiots in every country, but this is the only instance where idiots have their own country. This is something new in history.” The state lawmaker complained that in supporting Ukraine’s right to defend itself by striking Russia’s territory, Americans are not even afraid of retaliatory nuclear strikes by Russia. Skabeeva scornfully added, “Our universally beloved Donald Trump thinks they can sit it out across the pond.”
Even Trump’s alleged suggestion that he would have bombed Moscow in response to Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine and attacked Beijing if China invaded Taiwan on his watch was not enough to dampen the support for the former U.S. president by his Russian cheerleaders. Describing Trump as Russia’s “useful idiot,” state TV propagandists repeatedly insisted that he remains Moscow’s preferred candidate.
Appearing on 60 Minutes, State Duma member Oleg Matveychev said that unless Trump’s conviction leads to civil war, America should be officially considered “a fascist country.” The same hope was expressed one night earlier by state TV host Vladimir Solovyov, who urged Republicans and Democrats to take up arms and violently confront each other. Solovyov also volunteered to host the upcoming debate between Trump and U.S. President Joe Biden.
During Thursday’s broadcast of 60 Minutes, Dmitry Abzalov, Director of the Center for Strategic Communications, explained that Trump’s potential re-election would benefit Russia and assured the viewers that the former American president didn’t mean it when he said he would bomb Moscow. Abzalov predicted that if Trump returns to the Oval Office, he would treat China—not Russia—as America’s main enemy. Skabeeva surmised, “The Chinese are hoping that Americans will fight the Russians and want Biden to remain in power. We are secretly hoping that Americans will start to fight China and want Trump to come to power, because he is more predisposed to confront Beijing.”
