Upon listening to the information that President Donald Trump had suspended army support to Ukraine, I sat down for some Russian must-see TV: white guys screaming about worldwide relations. Curious to grasp how Trump’s Kremlin-friendly transfer was enjoying within the motherland, I needed to match the response of Russian state information to that of American right-wing channels. Fairly quickly, I began eager about that meme from The Workplace through which Pam holds up two photographs, saying, “Company wants you to search out the variations between this image and this image,” earlier than the digicam cuts to her privately admitting, “They’re the identical image.”
Over the previous few days, Russian information discuss exhibits have consisted virtually solely of translated clips of Trump-administration officers and Trump surrogates—Vice President J. D. Vance, Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt, and Nationwide Safety Adviser Michael Waltz, amongst others—defending the president and attacking Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Fox Information. The interview clips have been interspersed with video of the fateful assembly between Trump and Zelensky within the Oval Workplace final week, together with readings, in Russian, of Trump’s posts on Reality Social and Elon Musk’s posts on X, which is funnier than it sounds.
Quickly after the Trump-Zelensky blowup, the Kremlin mentioned that America’s international coverage now “largely aligns with our imaginative and prescient.” Throughout three completely different information exhibits on the state-owned Channel One and Russia-1, which take their marching orders straight from Russian President Vladimir Putin, this cozy alignment was on full show. It appeared that Russian state TV, and Putin by extension, couldn’t be extra happy with what has been occurring. The exhibits I watched merely broadcast clips of Trump officers, after which their all-male panels of analysts—no DEI in Russia!—echoed their precise phrases, approvingly.
Even when the exhibits’ panelists admitted to some nervousness about Trump’s subsequent strikes, they mentioned his resolution to chop off support to Ukraine “raised our spirits,” as one visitor put it. At instances, they gave the impression of they have been discussing a problematic pal who everybody agrees is loopy however who inadvertently did one thing helpful.
Panelists repeatedly made reference to Ukraine drawing the world nearer to “World Battle III”—a direct quote from Trump, which has since been parroted in numerous U.S. media appearances by his loyalists. They fawned over Trump’s prowess and insulted Zelensky; one visitor known as the Ukrainian president “mud beneath the ft of Trump,” a good nastier tackle the person whom Trump known as “no angel” and “a dictator.”
On the present The Nice Recreation, panelists derided Zelensky as somebody who believes himself, wrongly, to be “the good chief of the West.” One panelist referred to Zelensky’s conduct throughout the Oval Workplace assembly as “hysterical diplomacy” and mentioned, “He couldn’t determine easy methods to behave himself within the curiosity of his personal nation.” The panelist declared that the showdown most likely “shortened the warfare by many months.” Presumably, he mentioned this as a result of he believes Russia will win.
On Night With Vladimir Solovyov, panelists mentioned how the affirmation of Elbridge Colby, Trump’s nominee for undersecretary of protection for coverage, “could be superb information for us, as a result of the a part of Trump’s staff that helps placing Ukraine on Europe’s shoulders could be strengthened significantly,” as one analyst put it. Solovyov famous favorably that Trump hit Europe and Zelensky “on the nostril.” The present performed a clip of Vance saying that america and Europe can’t assist Ukraine indefinitely, and one panelist heartily agreed. Really, all of them agreed—they aren’t allowed to disagree—and so they voiced this settlement at an eardrum-popping quantity. They sounded mad, however they have been very, very glad.
60 Minutes—Russia’s model—identified how affordable Trump was being, highlighting that Trump had praised Ukrainian troopers throughout the Oval Workplace assembly. Zelensky, nonetheless, known as Vance “J.D.,” “as if they’re schoolyard buddies,” and was “biting the hand that feeds him.” The present then performed clips of Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick saying that he wished Zelensky had mentioned “We love America,” and of Director of Nationwide Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard claiming on Fox Information Sunday that Zelensky’s authorities is canceling elections and silencing the opposition. (Elections there have been postponed due to the warfare.)
The panelist Spiridon Kilinkarov added that Zelensky “introduced not the pursuits of Ukraine however of the anti-Trump European globalists,” an almost verbatim echo of Republican Senator Tommy Tuberville’s declare that Zelensky has been “brainwashed by the globalist socialist group in Europe.” The present performed a clip of Tuberville saying on Newsmax that “Putin and President Trump and the folks on our aspect … will find yourself making this resolution for the way forward for Ukraine.” They favored the sound of that.
One other panelist jumped in with a declare that Zelensky as soon as campaigned for the Democrats in Pennsylvania—a deceptive assertion, initially made by Vance, that referred to a fall assembly between Zelensky and Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro at an ammunition plant. Then, in an ouroboros of surreality, the present performed a clip of The Every day Present, which itself featured a clip of that very same Russian present through which a bunch expressed pleasure on the crumbling of the U.S.-Ukraine alliance. Maybe DOGE could make the Russian information trade extra environment friendly by firing all its commentators and broadcasting a direct feed of One America Information as an alternative.
Lastly, the panelist Igor Korotchenko put a bow on every part by remarking with aid that “Biden financed this warfare, however the priorities of the brand new administration are completely different.” He recommended that the Trump administration ought to go additional than pausing army support, that it ought to have Elon Musk reduce Ukraine’s entry to the Starlink satellite-internet system—one thing the Trump administration has already threatened to do.
“If Trump is ready to take away Zelensky as a political determine from the worldwide chessboard,” Korotchenko added, “he needs to be eligible for the Nobel Peace Prize.” Darrell Issa, the Republican U.S. Consultant who nominated Trump for the award on Monday, couldn’t have mentioned it higher himself.
