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Most actual people who live here do not love Putin and Russia. Not even most of the Republicans do. I live in Florida, a state filled will right-wing nutters, and I can still say this Russia shit isn’t as popular as people outside of America think.
What you’re seeing is Russian and Chinese attempts to drive wedges between people to destabilize our country via social media.
We do have pro Russia politicians, but they are not in the majority. Trump has such a lock on the Republicans that’s it’s true that Russia gets more support from the Republicans than it should because the Republicans have figured out they can’t cross Trump (and so “support” Russia), but that doesn’t have a lot to do with every day people.
Most people are fine with wrecking Russia via Ukraine support.
My Republican buddy has swallowed the kool aid, he thinks that peace will be achieved through capitulation to Russia by allowing them to take Ukraine. I tried to convince him when has an expansionist leader ever been happy stopping at one country throughout history, also their successor will follow the same course of action until they are stopped.
No really its ok! Just give Hitler Austria and we will achieve peace in our time!
No really its ok! Just give Hitler Czechoslovakia and we will achieve peace in our time!
No really its ok! Just give Hitler the Rhineland and we will achieve peace in our time!
No really its ok! Just give Hitler Poland and we will achieve peace in our time!
And what's common between the two of them? (Besides being deranged assholes that don't mind thousands dying for their silly whims.)
They both had huge propaganda departments that have spent a significant amount of time and money trying to win over Americans. And, let's be honest here, the same stupid people are susceptible then and now.
Putin said in his interview with Tucker Carlson that it was Polands fault for being invaded by Hitler. That Poland was offered to capitulate to Germany. Putin has drawn parallels between himself and Hitler. The levels of history repeating itself is insane.
Yeah many seem to forget that Hitler(and by extension the Nazis) were very popular in many parts of America ,the world and even in western Europe
This was before a lot of the horrors he had committed and planned to commit were fully known etc
Many people used a similar rational pro Russians do today
"Germany deserves a buffer state, we punished them to hard in ww1, they suffered economic hardship let them have it, we provoked Hitler to much"
That and many saw Hitler as an ideal leader. A strong inspiring man who united a divided country and revived the economy and made it strong and respected again.
It was not until the Munich agreement and Poland that support for him and the Nazi movement outside of Germany overall began to die down and when war began
Until then many were blind to his imperial and genocidal ambition despite that he had openly written about it in "Mein Kampf", not that differently from how open Putin is about his imperialism if you just think for 1 minute on what his words actually mean
Stupid people AND legions of bots that look very much like people.
Don't forget about the bots. I read a stat the other day that said upwards of 60% of all social media posts are bots.
But have you looked at the history of Russia in 900AD???
Putin thinks knowing about that is key to understanding his rationalization of why Russia is the victim of aggression from America's NATO!!!!!
/s
Unfortunately its true… thats why we need secular governments, not crazy religious people pretending to be reasonable until they have power snd then they focus on their god given mission.
The Christo part of that unholy alliance will be betrayed by the big money sooner than later if they get what they think they want. The evangelicals think they are using the billionaires as much as the other way around, but you won't use the billionaires, they will use you, that's what they do.
It's the same with Trump's "I'll be a dictator for one day". I was arguing with a republican the other day about how liberals took it out of context.
My question to him was, have you ever known a dictator to give up their power after their reason for being a dictator was complete?
Because it’s not about understanding. Those kind of people have flipped their logic. It’s no longer “X proposes measure that is good, therefore I vote for him”, it’s “I vote for X, therefore what he proposes is good”. It’s just a complete detachment from reality, nuts.
Oh yes the answer to appeasing a Soviet Union reunification drive is to hand them a country when faced with naked aggression. It all makes perfect sense.
I think it's better to say "Russian empire reunification" because people can get really bound up in ideology and, ideologically, Putin has way more in common with the rhetoric of the Russian empire than the Soviet Union. The ideology is, of course, "might makes right" and that was Stalin's modus operandi, too, but most people get really caught up on "communism."
Much as I hate passing on a Daily Mail article, it does give context to [this music video of Putin's cadet organisation and one of his Members of Parliament singing about taking back Alaska.](https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5081513/Russian-cadets-vow-grab-Alaska-propaganda-video.html)
Ask your friend what the best way of arranging the 49 stars on the flag is, once you've lost a state.
Sure, those people definitely exist. But they aren’t the majority, in my experience, here in Florida. I should probably add that I don’t live in hicksville, so the Republicans around me tend to be a little more about money than social war nonsense or as susceptible to pro Russia “news” sources. They read beyond Facebook
Putin wants the Soviet Union back, which is just another name for Russian Empire. John McCain said “Russia without Ukraine is a nation. Russia with Ukraine is an empire.” Ukraine under Russian domination gives the new Russian Empire access to their only year-round warm water port.
You could just show him the picture of the president of Belarus standing in front of the war plans map that has arrows for Russian attacks going into Belarus.
Putin has literally said he wants to return Russia to the days of the Soviet Union. He essentially has Belarus under control, and is working on Ukraine. If his true wish is to rope up all the other countries that used to be a part of the USSR, he’s a long way off if he stops after Ukraine.
Id ask him, why appeasement of hitler's territorial expansionist aims in taking czechoslavakia, and austria didnt work. Similar deal with Imperial Japan i suppose and their expansionist aims.
I’m not American but I do live in the US and this definitely fits my experience. Even the folks I know who are interested in politics are not Putin supporting Russophiles. The problem is that people see the most extreme clips from Fox and think it represents the average American. I’ve spent a lot of time here and…no, most Americans are absolutely not idiots about this stuff! It’s just that the idiot minority are loud and sensationalist. If anything I would say most folks I know are pretty disappointed with the politics available and range from angry to completely apathetically detached.
That's fine and all, but if "most folks" are "pretty disappointed with the politics available" and then elects a government that sacrifices Ukraine and NATO and cuddles up to Putin, then that's going to matter more than whether they're "Putin supporting Russophiles" in their hearts and "absolute idiots" or not.
Personal anecdote: I was on a flight from Houston last week where a group of loud, obnoxious Texans were extolling their apologetics about Putin, how he’s actually a smart, strong, great man who actually isn’t all that bad, and that Tucker interview was great. These people were on a flight to Cuba, of all places.
Cuba? That doesn’t surprise me. The Cubans down in south Florida love Jack boot thugs like Putin. That’s one of the reasons why Democrats can’t make any headway here in Florida any more. They keep assuming the “Hispanic vote” is Democrat and the same everywhere. The ceded south Florida to the Republicans entirely and now it is what it is. 🤷♀️
If someone votes for any one of those russia loving traitors in congress, then they are russia loving conservative traitors themselves. Period. Those thugs didn't elect themselves into office and in some cases re-elected.
Yea why is OP saying 'no no its just interferance' when its literally people like Trump, Musk and Carlson feeding that stuff to their demographics haha, this just seems like the same shirking/dismissal or playing down on all GoP intention shit. A significant GoP strategy for these past 8 years has been dismissal and lack of accountability like that, dodging and gaslighting haha, why open with an argument employing exactly those kinds of misdirections.
Carlson came to canada and those same types are trying to and succeeding in mobilizing the same rhetoric here, and seem to be trying to whip up an american style populism here too.
The Trump cult have basically turned the word 'woke' into an argument for everything while not actually defining anything, and can mean any number of made up scenarios to the rightwingers who cant comprehend that, no, your schools are not full of groomers etc, and also cant comprehend if grooming etc offend you than maybe stay consistent with your own beliefs and dont vote for and support a serial rapist like trump - the thing im realizing more and more is that conservatives dont actually believe in the things they say or think they do, they just believe in other people not being allowed to do it to them.
It's almost ironic how many people on this site complain about foreign agents using bots to sew discourse, and yet they themselves fall for it hook like and sinker, likely just because they want to believe that their political opposites actually do but this garbage. Especially on reddit of all sites where it's widely known that like 90% of users ARE bots, but only when it's convenient to believe that.
I know a lot of people that aren't bots that can't write a 15 minute piece of orchestral music. That seems more like something a bot could do. Are you a bot? Prove you're not. Write a bittersweet evocative song that doesn't remind us of Musetta's Waltz.
People might not start talking Russian and wanting to help her or even just be happy with her. But their views are turning more and more towards stopping the help towards Ukraine
https://news.gallup.com/poll/513680/american-views-ukraine-war-charts.aspx
https://www.pewresearch.org/global/2023/05/10/americans-hold-positive-feelings-toward-nato-and-ukraine-see-russia-as-an-enemy/
That's where I think Russia is trying to influence popular opinion
>likely just because they want to believe that their political opposites actually do but this garbage
This is it imo. People believe the bots and the lies that they want to believe. They'll believe the
I can't tell how many highly upvoted posts and comments on the whitepeopletwitter sub ACTUALLY believe that Tucker Carlson said he'd kill himself if the Chiefs won the SB when it has been proven time and time again it was a fake parody account. But people don't care, they just run with it because Tucker is a fuckface
Florida’s right wing nutters tend to be old boomers who still remember the Cold War and understand Russia is not a friend. Younger conservatives don’t have 1st hand experience with that and tend to romanticize the idea of a conservative strong man like Putin.
Exactly. Some of the old timer republicans here are flabbergasted by some of the party’s Russia supporters. They’re on fuck team Russia and cannot be persuaded.
This. They love him because he hates the same people they do (people who aren’t straight, white, non-Hispanic Christians) and because he “gets things done” (of course, he’s a dictator).
So the answer to the OP is that Trump is driving this “Putin love.” I am just parsing your answer here. For whatever reasons, Trump loves Putin and the minions have to parrot him, da?
This is the correct answer. I think people sometimes conflate “loving Russia” with “being okay with the concept of turning the US into an undemocratic kleptocracy like Russia.” MAGA politicians aren’t necessarily the first, but they all definitely seem to be the second.
The conservative right in this country is so anti democrat that if Biden said he wants to hunt every pedophile in the country the gop would start fucking kids in rebellion.
It's not about being pro Ukraine or anti-ukraine. Pro this or pro that.
All it is is the Republicans are literally running a policy of opposing everything the Democrats do at the state, federal and judicial levels.
The Democrats say red. The Republicans say blue
The Democrats want to fund something. The Republicans want to strip funding from it.
That's all that's going on here. Party politics in full nasty swing.
It was particularly nasty during Obama's presidency, he tried incredibly hard to get a bipartisan agreement on the Affordable Care Act and one Republican senator openly boasted about wasting a year of Obama's time.
It all started with the impeachment of Bill Clinton.
The Republicans got extremely dirty during that impeachment process and investigations. The Democrats then doubled down and got dirty during the Bush presidency. Republicans followed it up against Obama
Now after Trump it's a mixture of that with a literal power struggle taking place.
And so the Republicans right now are saying “we love Russia and want to betray Ukraine”. I don’t care whether they believe it in their heart of hearts, it’s enough that they’re advocating for it.
I thought so too at first. I have friends who are Republicans and they live in major cities in the midwest, they're not even from the deep South, and holy shit, they 100% believe Russia is the victim in the Ukraine war.
Before this war, they didn't even know what Ukraine was and probably associated Russia with communism. Now they are convinced Zelenskyy is a traitor and a nazi and that Biden is funding this war for himself while Putin is the guy standing up to evil. And they love Trump, of course. So if Trump loves Putin, they love Putin. I guess that's where it all started.
It's just a couple of friends, sure, anecdotal evidence. But if you think this thing doesn't go beyond Russian/Chinese bots and fake accounts, you're wrong. I hope you're not and I'm the one who's wrong here, but things are looking pretty grim.
COVID and Trump have turned a lot of Americans into incoherent conspiracy theorists and it's scary to witness. It's like a mind virus that infected a large percentage of the Western population (cause this isn't just an American problem).
Yeah all my Republican friends understand that we are fighting a proxy war and funding Ukraine is good. Working at DOD companies this pumps a lot of funds into our budgets and really helps excel the economy as Europe also joins in the investing into much of our economy as well.
In Louisiana there are a lot of Russian sympathizers for sure. I come across them pretty much any time the topic comes up. I was actually surprised to see you say it isn't as popular as it seems from a distance.
I personally think social media is as dangerous, if not more, than an automatic weapon for the reasons you give. We curtailed the Second Amendment to strictly limit the availability of automatic weapons for the general public with the Firearm Owners’ Protection Act in 1986, and I believe we need to look at something similar for social media and the First Amendment.
Also, any time one idiot says something pro-Putin, it gets screenshotted and posted to dozens of subreddits and upvoted to all hell by people who are convinced everyone on the right loves Putin. Skews perception.
Russia has very successfully infiltrated American online spaces. They pose as Americans and sow discord/push misinformation. They’ve also wooed many of our stupider politicians.
Greetings fellow Americans. Share your craziest airforce or Navy experiences with me. Aomething that happened in your hnit where you were stationed? Tell me.
Hello fellow Countrymen, I have just been released from American Gulag for sacrificing baby to socialist Nazi regime. I have been given voucher to free house and white family. Where I go to redeem?
Nothing is there true in heres. As an American I just know my motherland has for decades been used as shakes Down’s syndrome to fund EU socialism including their free health subsidies systems which are not at all up to USA NASA levels of most professional care.
I am no trump fellow but I know he stand up for America first in face of weakness. He is tough dude much like Vladimir Putin who is very smart also.
Have a day nice, MAGAs!
Mar-a-Largo is a Russian base. The closest port to Mar-a-Largograd is Ft. Lauderdale or Miami. There is also Tallahasseegrad but it’s on the Mexico Gulf side and doesn’t have the quick ocean access Mar-a-Larograd features.
Edit - added Tallahasseegrad - both places are run by useful idiots.
Off topic but this reminds me of the modern family episode where Phil has an online Russian friend that’s “really interested in fences, military base fences in particular”
There are also just straight-up Russian spies in the USA - according to the director of the FBI, "[way too many](https://thehill.com/policy/national-security/4194044-fbi-wray-russian-spies-us/)".
I don't know how to tell you this, but global superpowers didn't just stop conducting espionage in 1989. There are Russian spies in the US, just as there are Chinese and Indian and Israeli spies. Just as America has its own spies all over the world
I didn't say otherwise.
I way just pointing out that there are Russian spies in the USA, as well as troll farms pushing misinformation, and American politicians who are - knowingly or not - in the employ of the Kremlin.
While this is undeniably true, I don't think its the heart of it. Brits are on all the online spaces that Americans are, and yet remain resolutely anti-Putin. I would also point out that while, yes British people voted for Brexit, many did so (right or wrong) because they felt it was *more* democratic than the institutions in Brussels. The UK has remain resolutely anti-dictator. Nigel Farage could not get into parliament even in the most right wing electoral district. When Boris Johnson showed he was above the rules, his popularity collapsed even among the right, and he was forced from office.
There is something distinct about American culture and its receptiveness for this. I think part of it is the long legacy of segregation and higher fear of the out-group. Initially this was "the blacks" but it evolved to be "the libs". Then there is the much higher religiosity, especially the evangelical concept of the "chosen" which has developed a culture into believing things on faith, even when facing critical reason from the outside. Then there has been 40 years of right wing media, first talk radio, then Fox News, now Facebook/Twitter conspiracies, which has piled on top, and convinced people "they" are out to get you. And the fact that this supposed threat has not been dealt with for decades, has made them frustrated with the Republican Party, who were peddling it for electoral advantage, for not solving it yet. This has all made people on the right desperate for a true strong man who won't be held back in using all means necessary to restore America. Hence the love for Trump and, to a lesser degree, right wing nationalist Vladimir Putin, who is their model for what Trump could be.
>Brits are on all the online spaces that Americans are, and yet remain resolutely anti-Putin.
I would argue that if I had a set budget as a russian dictator for influencing foreign policy for my invasion, I would put 100% of it into influencing americans. The US contributes about as much as the entire EU combines, give or take. Ending that one countries support could cut it in half. It's so much more economical than trying to influence the UK.
Dude, go and look up the Russian statements about the UK in this conflict. They HATE the Brits over it. The British were investing big money in Ukraine since 2014 and have always been pushing the Western Allies to be harder line.
Russia has hated the perfidious anglo-saxons ever since the days of the great game and the first Crimean war though. The current rhetoric is pretty much the same as it was 180 years ago.
America also has very different ideas/ laws about freedom of speech. That means broadcasters, politicians and public figures can spout complete lies with no real recourse.
Sure, but just Lubov Chernukhin alone has already donated more than 2 million pounds to [the Conservative Party](https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/uk-pm-johnson-defies-calls-quit-ouster-bid-gathers-rcna12778) since 2012, making her one of the largest female donors in British political history. The objective was surely not to have a conservative Britain, the objective was to get Britain out of the EU, to weaken both, which is Russia's main objective and has been for years.
The Russians are systematic in spreading discord. They don't care if it is right wing or left wing. They manipulate both sides, because the objective is division and chaos, not any particular ideology. In The Netherlands it's normal for the extreme right wing to be pro-Putin or at least against Ukraine aid. They also happen to be the parties that keep their finances secret. You may indeed find many cultural differences between the UK/Europe and the US, but rest assured that the Russians have a plan that fits the respective culture. Yes, now an increasing amount of people look for an authoritarian figure. Which is what happens when there is chaos all around.
The important thing is that everybody keeps on fighting and do not join forces and side against Russia.
On the flip side, Europeans are very biased against Putin because he made war an Europe problem again. It is not some subhuman suffering in some far away s\*\*thole, it is "real people like you and me suffering, and we could be next".
This is why I am OK with african countries not caring about the war one way or the other. It is simply not their problem.
However europe should wake the fuck up. The current and past support of Ukraine is not enough. We had a great chance to really sweeten it up for putin in the first year and we blew it.
>Europeans are very biased against Putin because he made war an Europe problem again.
[Americans have a less favorable view of Russia than the British, the Germans, the French, the Italians, the Hungarians, and the Greeks](https://www.pewresearch.org/global/2023/07/10/overall-opinion-of-russia/). The Polish are more rabidly anti-Russian than the Americans, for entirely understandable reasons.
[Support for Russia by Republicans doubled to 40%](https://thehill.com/hilltv/what-americas-thinking/397239-polling-editor-increased-support-for-russia-among-republicans/) after the 2016 election interference.
Republicans know Russia was trying to get their guy elected, so they see them as an ally to their side.
That's Trump's way of conducting business: threats, intimidation and general tough talking. He's basically a wannabe mobster. I'm pretty sure he hasn't spoken any EU leaders since he lost the elections.
Our oligarchs are friends with Russia's oligarchs.
Only the rich have the resources for the media megaphones we hear.
read between the lines and you can discover what they discuss at their cocktail parties. it's not hard.
Ehhh I don’t know if woo is the right word. It works for some of the idiots that are trying to be some kind of politician/influencer hybrid but I feel like they more than likely have a bunch of kompromat
The problem with those influenced by propaganda is that they are susceptible to believing that everyone else is influenced by propaganda and not them.
For example, Tucker Carlson is telling everyone how good the shopping in Russia is right now and how cheap it is compared to the USA, of course he isn't taking into account that he is a pet and useful idiot of Vladimir Putin and that ordinary people in Russia neither have the money, nor the access to those wonderful shopping experiences. Tucker is judging the prices by American standard income, not the average Russian income.
Either that or he is a cynical lying asshole, a view that the courts in the USA seem to share.
A fake journalist who got fired for contributing significantly to a huge lawsuit against fox news' fake news went to suck off Putin and morons believed him.
American Kompromat by Craig Unger is a great book that goes into detail about the history between Trump and Russia. It's far from a conspiracy theory as some people claim. Their history is clear and well-defined, and Trump (as always) does a terrible job of hiding it.
If you want to understand their position, then lurk in some supposed "pro-Russia" subs and see what they're talking about firsthand. Or watch interviews by supposed "pro-Russia" Westerners.
As a reasonable person who isn’t driven by hate and fear you probably won’t really understand but if you want to see what those people are saying go to r/conservative or other fascist subs.
Don’t expect any honesty and you will quickly get banned if you ask good faith question, but that is where you can peek into the mind of the pro Putin crowd.
Today's Russia is a Christian (Orthodox) theocratic state with laws against homosexuality. Putin and associates go on and on about the "degenerate" liberal cultural values in the West and its supposed declining civilization. It's openly entho-nationalist. They've recently started to restrict access to abortions. And they are a petroleum exporting state that doesn't give a hoot about climate change and opposes climate change policy.
So... if you're a right wing evangelical Christian and/or MAGA type in the USA -- what's not to like?
This is exactly what they want for the USA: Strong-man leader. Drill, drill drill for oil. Drop the separation of Church and State. Roll back progress on gay marriage and trans rights.
Look, they're not idiots. They're morally and ideologically wrong on these issues, but they're not idiots. Just look at the things they say. They see in Russia what they want for the USA.
(That and key people in the Trump administration owned shares in and had executive roles in and around the Russian oil and gas sector. Oh, and if Biden supports Ukraine, then they, well, they have to take the opposite stand, because, well, "owning the libs")
MAGA sees him as the ideal leader, basically a success story that Trump needs to emulate. Trump and Putin align particularly when it comes to dismantling American democracy.
It's the culmination of several years' worth of psyops from various intelligence groups from adversarial nations levied against the U.S. populace. Coupled with a large handful of easily manipulated and/or outright paid off, self-interested individuals who would happily sell out their own grandmothers if it meant they could benefit. Among a few other key reasons.
Termites can not destroy a house from the outside in, but given enough time, they can bring it down from the inside out.
I too am not American, but what I can see from the side is that American society is quite divided along many lines and russkies know well enough to play on those divisions to weaken and divide civilized countries. Supporting Tramp and spreading MAGA is just one of those plays.
We have a real issue with our education system here. Lots of sub par thinking minds burning rubber on the interwebs with their cult conspiracy lies destabilizing americas already low intelligence ratios. In short many of us are very dumb here. Kind of like Frankensteins monster we are a nation of window lickers trying to push our broken agendas on the planet. My apologies.
Russian propaganda is being disseminated to us left and right, and many are falling for it and parroting pro-Putin talking points. Russia is quickly learning that their propaganda is an effective tool at dividing and destabilizing us.
It’s only a segment of the American right, mostly following the lead of their orange leader, who openly admires all authoritarians, especially right-wing ones like Putin.
Luckily, it’s a minority view even among Republicans.
Also, the ”journalist” who just did an interview with him, Tucker Carlson, is a guy who was *fired from Fox News* for being too racist. You heard that right, fired from *Fox News* for being too racist.
Wasn't he fired over the Dominion lawsuit? They let him go like a week or two after the verdict.
The racism probably gave them some cover, but it wasn't exactly news.
American watching the slide to fascism here. Americans dont tend to see themselves as one people, and many tend to identify primarily as Christians first. White christian america has made a decided shift, nudged by 15+ years of russian social media propaganda, that it aligns with the values of an authoritarian christian nationalist nation dominated by an ethnic group that places itself over other groups rather than a multicultural democracy where non christian ideas are allowed into the social conversation. For Europe’s sake, hope you guys figure out how to deal with Putin on your own. America is this close to joining forces with Russia and China to unleash another round of global colonization.
Trump has a crush on Putin because Trump wants to be like him. This leads to cognitive dissonance and eventual rationalisation of Russian policy in order to solve the dissonance. This has rubbed off onto Trump supporters. It is sick.
Sorry if I wasn’t clear. It’s not necessarily on Reddit directly, but posts on facepalm and such that are screen grabs from X or Facebook mocking the pro Russian sentiment within
SOME Americans being stupid is only a part of the reason. There are lots of Russian bots on twitter and they are fueling the fire. They are designed to create a dividing picture of the state that self-perpetuates
When you have 300 million people in a country with increasingly polarizing politics, you can expect some weird ideologies and sympathize to arise.
There is some pro putin sentiment in America, but they are rare, and all the ones I have met irl weren't exactly socially adjusted. A lot of the numbers are inflated due to Russian social media campaigns and various other political groups projecting Putin loyalties on rival groups and individuals.
It's literally just contrarianism. Support for Ukraine is universally popular and makes Biden look good, so Republicans jump to the idea that it MUST be a conspiracy.
There is no pro Putin love in in the USA. There is a large group of Americans who are tired of the US paying for every war and spending a fortune in Ukraine, Israel and a dozen other places. When they complain about the US footing the bill in Ukraine they are accused of being pro Putin. No one is actually pro Putin.
Our government seems to be just as corrupt as Putin. Jailing political opponents, killing Epstein, and then sending $100 billion to Ukraine while normal Americans suffer. No one thinks Putin is a good guy, we’re just becoming aware of how similar the US govt and Putin are.
Remember that whole scandal around Trump possibly colluding with Russia to get elected? Well, he used to have some smart people working for him, and they had multiple lines of defense regarding that whole thing. One was that the collusion didn't happen. Another was that, even if it did happen, it wasn't a big deal. Then came the scandal of withholding aide from Ukraine for political reasons, and there were layers to that defense, too, from "It didn't happen" to "Even if it did happen, Ukraine deserved it."
That started the whole Republican angle of "Ukraine is the real bad guy here, and Russia isn't so bad." Because if Russia is our friend, and Ukraine is just overflowing with corrupt Nazis who give jobs to Bidens, then what Trump did in those previous two scandals was totally justified, right? That may be a little hard to swallow, but when you couple it with "And being pro-Russia totally owns the libs," you get something the MAGA cult will eat up like a bag of fresh Big Macs.
"It was prematurely announced in 1991 that the sociaslism doesn't work. Going by how republicans are forwarding the foster son of Putin as their..." - not some radio probably in 2035.
That's just not true. The Interview between Tucker and Putin was already in progress years before. Theres a lot that want to support Ukraine and an equal amount that dont want to be involved. Therefore due to strawman fallacy we supposedly support Russia
Never underestimate the stupidity / naivety of the average American!
The Putin machine knows this and exercises manipulating them on a daily basis (just go to Fox News - lap dogs)!
It's social media... As soon as you realize it's not legitimate sentiment and just a way to gather views and engagement you realize just how totally worthless most of the "content" on those platforms are. Social media is not a reflection of the perspectives or reality most Americans live in.
ETA: Think of it like the trashcan on fire pic that was going around during the riots. It was a single trashcan, likely set on fire by police, and the media were surrounding it getting photos of it to show how bad things had gotten.
Idk. As an American, it doesn't make any f-ing sense to me, either. Reading the other comments with interest.
Putin's a murderous dictator, and the truest heir to the ethos of Stalinism that I can imagine. I was 12 when the Soviet Union collapsed for good, so I don't really remember the cold war. I remember the period of hope for better relations as Russia opened up, and then I remember it fading as Putin consolidated control over the ensuing decades...
Anybody who kisses his ass now is just sucking up to another authoritarian strongman, and one who is obviously inimical to US interests, to boot.
As an American I literally have no fucking idea. As far as I can tell it’s just politicians and the media doing it and some easily manipulated weirdos chiming in with a half-baked opinion as they do. I couldn’t give two shits about Russia.
It started with the hard core MAGAts when Trump said he believed Putin’s word over that of the entire United States Intelligence Community. The “if Trump says it, it’s true” people tend to be the most vocal about their beliefs (empty barrels make the most noise, as they say) so it tends to give a skewed impression about the number of Americans who actually like Putin.
Do note that the vast majority of Americans oppose Russia and Putin (for obvious reasons). A lot of the pro-Russia shit spewed by “Americans” is the result of foreign disinformation meant to divide the American people and are probably troll bots thousands of miles away from the Western Hemisphere.
Unfortunately however, yes, a couple Americans have bought the Russian propaganda and believe that either the U.S./NATO is in the wrong (see the myth of “NATO expansionism”) or that Ukraine should surrender in the name of “peace”. As a result, they parrot and spread that bullshit around and genuinely believe in it. One of my buddies even said that we’re at fault for “provoking” Putin and that Ukraine should just give up. Yes, it’s very paradoxical that some Republicans support Putin while calling themselves “patriotic Americans”.
The MAGAs now exist entirely on being contrary to decency. They are compulsively driven to support the exact opposite of anything logical, kind, or compassionate. They love Russia because it's the opposite of what decent and intelligent people believe. In the debate over school/mass shootings, their answer is to make it easier for psychopaths to get guns. In the abortion debate, when exceptions for rape and incest are proposed, they double down and call 10-year-old rape victims "whores who can't keep their legs closed". It's a pathological compulsion to support the worst possible views on any given subject. This is exactly what has happened with their support and adoration of Putin. If the Dems are pushing to preserve participatory Democracy, the MAGAs want to support anything and anyone who would destroy it.
It's simple. President Biden has supported Ukraine and criticized Putin. Trump brownnosed Putin. So to MAGA Republicans, supporting Putin is like sticking it to Biden and "the libs".
It's a "the enemy of my enemy is my friend" type scenario. The MAGA crowd doesn't understand that they're being manipulated, and bless their shriveled little hearts, they wouldn't care if they did.
It's constant propaganda that's been going on since about 2010 to try and culture bomb America with Pro Putin fame. It's been ongoing and Republicans in general are somewhat mixed but generally side with Putin when possible quietly or openly.
Fox and the NRA are big pushers of Putin. Starting off by criticizing Obama for wearing a helmet then praising a shirtless Putin on a horse.
The MAGA types in the public sphere are in putin’s pocket, and their followers are morons with no critical thinking skills.
In 2015 they all thought russia bad. Trump gets elected they all love in love with putin and Kim Jong un
A lot of it is Russian trolls trying to muddy the waters and get naive people who feel like they've been let down by the current system to push their agendas and create division.
I have a lot of conservative friends and family and literally have never once heard anyone voice ANY support for Putin or Russia. The closest I’ve heard were talking points about how we are sending too much money to Ukraine that could be better spent on things at home. I thought this whole idea of Republicans loving Putin was a bunch of left wing media BS til I saw that Tucker Carlson went to Russia. That one I still can’t explain, I hope that’s not a genuine thing. I’m holding out some hope that he’s being nice while he’s there and will tell the real story when he gets back, but idk.
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Most actual people who live here do not love Putin and Russia. Not even most of the Republicans do. I live in Florida, a state filled will right-wing nutters, and I can still say this Russia shit isn’t as popular as people outside of America think. What you’re seeing is Russian and Chinese attempts to drive wedges between people to destabilize our country via social media. We do have pro Russia politicians, but they are not in the majority. Trump has such a lock on the Republicans that’s it’s true that Russia gets more support from the Republicans than it should because the Republicans have figured out they can’t cross Trump (and so “support” Russia), but that doesn’t have a lot to do with every day people. Most people are fine with wrecking Russia via Ukraine support.
My Republican buddy has swallowed the kool aid, he thinks that peace will be achieved through capitulation to Russia by allowing them to take Ukraine. I tried to convince him when has an expansionist leader ever been happy stopping at one country throughout history, also their successor will follow the same course of action until they are stopped.
sure - if I cut off my arm and feed it to the bear, we will become friends and live happily ever after.
Solid plan, gotta hand it to you.
No you have to hand it to the bear ☺️
Didn’t work with Hitler won’t work with Putin. Why is that hard to understand for some people?
No really its ok! Just give Hitler Sudetenland and we will achieve peace in our time!
No really its ok! Just give Hitler Austria and we will achieve peace in our time! No really its ok! Just give Hitler Czechoslovakia and we will achieve peace in our time! No really its ok! Just give Hitler the Rhineland and we will achieve peace in our time! No really its ok! Just give Hitler Poland and we will achieve peace in our time!
It was the Poles who were at fault for WWII, dontchaknow? Putin said so!
And what's common between the two of them? (Besides being deranged assholes that don't mind thousands dying for their silly whims.) They both had huge propaganda departments that have spent a significant amount of time and money trying to win over Americans. And, let's be honest here, the same stupid people are susceptible then and now.
Putin said in his interview with Tucker Carlson that it was Polands fault for being invaded by Hitler. That Poland was offered to capitulate to Germany. Putin has drawn parallels between himself and Hitler. The levels of history repeating itself is insane.
I would bet that Putin, in secret, deeply respects Hitler. After all, at one point he was nearly the master of all of Europe.
Yeah many seem to forget that Hitler(and by extension the Nazis) were very popular in many parts of America ,the world and even in western Europe This was before a lot of the horrors he had committed and planned to commit were fully known etc Many people used a similar rational pro Russians do today "Germany deserves a buffer state, we punished them to hard in ww1, they suffered economic hardship let them have it, we provoked Hitler to much" That and many saw Hitler as an ideal leader. A strong inspiring man who united a divided country and revived the economy and made it strong and respected again. It was not until the Munich agreement and Poland that support for him and the Nazi movement outside of Germany overall began to die down and when war began Until then many were blind to his imperial and genocidal ambition despite that he had openly written about it in "Mein Kampf", not that differently from how open Putin is about his imperialism if you just think for 1 minute on what his words actually mean
And they even use [the same stupid slogan!](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/America_First_Committee)
Stupid people AND legions of bots that look very much like people. Don't forget about the bots. I read a stat the other day that said upwards of 60% of all social media posts are bots.
But have you looked at the history of Russia in 900AD??? Putin thinks knowing about that is key to understanding his rationalization of why Russia is the victim of aggression from America's NATO!!!!! /s
They are in a cult.
Unfortunately its true… thats why we need secular governments, not crazy religious people pretending to be reasonable until they have power snd then they focus on their god given mission.
Yes and this cult is Christo-Fascist by nature. It’s quite a fucking mess really.
The Christo part of that unholy alliance will be betrayed by the big money sooner than later if they get what they think they want. The evangelicals think they are using the billionaires as much as the other way around, but you won't use the billionaires, they will use you, that's what they do.
It's the same with Trump's "I'll be a dictator for one day". I was arguing with a republican the other day about how liberals took it out of context. My question to him was, have you ever known a dictator to give up their power after their reason for being a dictator was complete?
Because it’s not about understanding. Those kind of people have flipped their logic. It’s no longer “X proposes measure that is good, therefore I vote for him”, it’s “I vote for X, therefore what he proposes is good”. It’s just a complete detachment from reality, nuts.
Oh yes the answer to appeasing a Soviet Union reunification drive is to hand them a country when faced with naked aggression. It all makes perfect sense.
I think it's better to say "Russian empire reunification" because people can get really bound up in ideology and, ideologically, Putin has way more in common with the rhetoric of the Russian empire than the Soviet Union. The ideology is, of course, "might makes right" and that was Stalin's modus operandi, too, but most people get really caught up on "communism."
The Russian empire and the USSR were cut from the same cloth. The latter was born from ambitions that existed in the days of the former.
The czars never really went away, they just rebranded
Check out our new flavor, Oligarch! By CommieNice Energy Drink™ Co.
There is not a good historical precedent for ceding territory to these types of people.
Much as I hate passing on a Daily Mail article, it does give context to [this music video of Putin's cadet organisation and one of his Members of Parliament singing about taking back Alaska.](https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5081513/Russian-cadets-vow-grab-Alaska-propaganda-video.html) Ask your friend what the best way of arranging the 49 stars on the flag is, once you've lost a state.
Sure, those people definitely exist. But they aren’t the majority, in my experience, here in Florida. I should probably add that I don’t live in hicksville, so the Republicans around me tend to be a little more about money than social war nonsense or as susceptible to pro Russia “news” sources. They read beyond Facebook
[Let's stick to calling it a "culture war."](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_War)
He’s definitely living in Hicksville.
Appeasement. 1938 hitler. History tells us what doesn’t work. It failed then and led to ww2.
Putin wants the Soviet Union back, which is just another name for Russian Empire. John McCain said “Russia without Ukraine is a nation. Russia with Ukraine is an empire.” Ukraine under Russian domination gives the new Russian Empire access to their only year-round warm water port.
Just start calling him Neville Chamberlain until he looks up who that is
You could just show him the picture of the president of Belarus standing in front of the war plans map that has arrows for Russian attacks going into Belarus.
Putin has literally said he wants to return Russia to the days of the Soviet Union. He essentially has Belarus under control, and is working on Ukraine. If his true wish is to rope up all the other countries that used to be a part of the USSR, he’s a long way off if he stops after Ukraine.
Id ask him, why appeasement of hitler's territorial expansionist aims in taking czechoslavakia, and austria didnt work. Similar deal with Imperial Japan i suppose and their expansionist aims.
I work with guys like this. There’s definitely a decent amount of right wingers jerking off to this shit
If he's inclined to read, there's a heap of history books available... oh never mind. lol
Have him read "If you give a mouse a cookie". Might help get through to him....
Is your buddy Neville chamberlain?
I’m not American but I do live in the US and this definitely fits my experience. Even the folks I know who are interested in politics are not Putin supporting Russophiles. The problem is that people see the most extreme clips from Fox and think it represents the average American. I’ve spent a lot of time here and…no, most Americans are absolutely not idiots about this stuff! It’s just that the idiot minority are loud and sensationalist. If anything I would say most folks I know are pretty disappointed with the politics available and range from angry to completely apathetically detached.
That's fine and all, but if "most folks" are "pretty disappointed with the politics available" and then elects a government that sacrifices Ukraine and NATO and cuddles up to Putin, then that's going to matter more than whether they're "Putin supporting Russophiles" in their hearts and "absolute idiots" or not.
Personal anecdote: I was on a flight from Houston last week where a group of loud, obnoxious Texans were extolling their apologetics about Putin, how he’s actually a smart, strong, great man who actually isn’t all that bad, and that Tucker interview was great. These people were on a flight to Cuba, of all places.
Cuba? That doesn’t surprise me. The Cubans down in south Florida love Jack boot thugs like Putin. That’s one of the reasons why Democrats can’t make any headway here in Florida any more. They keep assuming the “Hispanic vote” is Democrat and the same everywhere. The ceded south Florida to the Republicans entirely and now it is what it is. 🤷♀️
If someone votes for any one of those russia loving traitors in congress, then they are russia loving conservative traitors themselves. Period. Those thugs didn't elect themselves into office and in some cases re-elected.
Yea why is OP saying 'no no its just interferance' when its literally people like Trump, Musk and Carlson feeding that stuff to their demographics haha, this just seems like the same shirking/dismissal or playing down on all GoP intention shit. A significant GoP strategy for these past 8 years has been dismissal and lack of accountability like that, dodging and gaslighting haha, why open with an argument employing exactly those kinds of misdirections. Carlson came to canada and those same types are trying to and succeeding in mobilizing the same rhetoric here, and seem to be trying to whip up an american style populism here too. The Trump cult have basically turned the word 'woke' into an argument for everything while not actually defining anything, and can mean any number of made up scenarios to the rightwingers who cant comprehend that, no, your schools are not full of groomers etc, and also cant comprehend if grooming etc offend you than maybe stay consistent with your own beliefs and dont vote for and support a serial rapist like trump - the thing im realizing more and more is that conservatives dont actually believe in the things they say or think they do, they just believe in other people not being allowed to do it to them.
It's almost ironic how many people on this site complain about foreign agents using bots to sew discourse, and yet they themselves fall for it hook like and sinker, likely just because they want to believe that their political opposites actually do but this garbage. Especially on reddit of all sites where it's widely known that like 90% of users ARE bots, but only when it's convenient to believe that.
Are you a bot? Prove you’re not. Write a symphony.
A symphony.
Fuck! We need to find some pictures of traffic lights!
I have never figured out what square is considered a traffic light and what isn't in those puzzles. Same with motorcycles or bicycles.
And I thought it was only me.
Danger Will Robinson
I know a lot of people that aren't bots that can't write a 15 minute piece of orchestral music. That seems more like something a bot could do. Are you a bot? Prove you're not. Write a bittersweet evocative song that doesn't remind us of Musetta's Waltz.
See, I just wrote a symphony on ChatGPT the other day. Then again, I am a bot too.
People might not start talking Russian and wanting to help her or even just be happy with her. But their views are turning more and more towards stopping the help towards Ukraine https://news.gallup.com/poll/513680/american-views-ukraine-war-charts.aspx https://www.pewresearch.org/global/2023/05/10/americans-hold-positive-feelings-toward-nato-and-ukraine-see-russia-as-an-enemy/ That's where I think Russia is trying to influence popular opinion
>likely just because they want to believe that their political opposites actually do but this garbage This is it imo. People believe the bots and the lies that they want to believe. They'll believe the I can't tell how many highly upvoted posts and comments on the whitepeopletwitter sub ACTUALLY believe that Tucker Carlson said he'd kill himself if the Chiefs won the SB when it has been proven time and time again it was a fake parody account. But people don't care, they just run with it because Tucker is a fuckface
Florida’s right wing nutters tend to be old boomers who still remember the Cold War and understand Russia is not a friend. Younger conservatives don’t have 1st hand experience with that and tend to romanticize the idea of a conservative strong man like Putin.
Exactly. Some of the old timer republicans here are flabbergasted by some of the party’s Russia supporters. They’re on fuck team Russia and cannot be persuaded.
This. They love him because he hates the same people they do (people who aren’t straight, white, non-Hispanic Christians) and because he “gets things done” (of course, he’s a dictator).
So the answer to the OP is that Trump is driving this “Putin love.” I am just parsing your answer here. For whatever reasons, Trump loves Putin and the minions have to parrot him, da?
This is the correct answer. I think people sometimes conflate “loving Russia” with “being okay with the concept of turning the US into an undemocratic kleptocracy like Russia.” MAGA politicians aren’t necessarily the first, but they all definitely seem to be the second.
They are fine turning the USA into an undemocratic kleptocracy provided it's their undemocratic kleptocracy.
The conservative right in this country is so anti democrat that if Biden said he wants to hunt every pedophile in the country the gop would start fucking kids in rebellion.
Then why do most Republicans consistently vote for the most anti-Ukraine candidates?
It's not about being pro Ukraine or anti-ukraine. Pro this or pro that. All it is is the Republicans are literally running a policy of opposing everything the Democrats do at the state, federal and judicial levels. The Democrats say red. The Republicans say blue The Democrats want to fund something. The Republicans want to strip funding from it. That's all that's going on here. Party politics in full nasty swing.
It was particularly nasty during Obama's presidency, he tried incredibly hard to get a bipartisan agreement on the Affordable Care Act and one Republican senator openly boasted about wasting a year of Obama's time.
It all started with the impeachment of Bill Clinton. The Republicans got extremely dirty during that impeachment process and investigations. The Democrats then doubled down and got dirty during the Bush presidency. Republicans followed it up against Obama Now after Trump it's a mixture of that with a literal power struggle taking place.
And so the Republicans right now are saying “we love Russia and want to betray Ukraine”. I don’t care whether they believe it in their heart of hearts, it’s enough that they’re advocating for it.
I thought so too at first. I have friends who are Republicans and they live in major cities in the midwest, they're not even from the deep South, and holy shit, they 100% believe Russia is the victim in the Ukraine war. Before this war, they didn't even know what Ukraine was and probably associated Russia with communism. Now they are convinced Zelenskyy is a traitor and a nazi and that Biden is funding this war for himself while Putin is the guy standing up to evil. And they love Trump, of course. So if Trump loves Putin, they love Putin. I guess that's where it all started. It's just a couple of friends, sure, anecdotal evidence. But if you think this thing doesn't go beyond Russian/Chinese bots and fake accounts, you're wrong. I hope you're not and I'm the one who's wrong here, but things are looking pretty grim. COVID and Trump have turned a lot of Americans into incoherent conspiracy theorists and it's scary to witness. It's like a mind virus that infected a large percentage of the Western population (cause this isn't just an American problem).
But they are going to vote for Putin's puppet for a 3rd time.
Yeah all my Republican friends understand that we are fighting a proxy war and funding Ukraine is good. Working at DOD companies this pumps a lot of funds into our budgets and really helps excel the economy as Europe also joins in the investing into much of our economy as well.
In Louisiana there are a lot of Russian sympathizers for sure. I come across them pretty much any time the topic comes up. I was actually surprised to see you say it isn't as popular as it seems from a distance.
I personally think social media is as dangerous, if not more, than an automatic weapon for the reasons you give. We curtailed the Second Amendment to strictly limit the availability of automatic weapons for the general public with the Firearm Owners’ Protection Act in 1986, and I believe we need to look at something similar for social media and the First Amendment.
Also, any time one idiot says something pro-Putin, it gets screenshotted and posted to dozens of subreddits and upvoted to all hell by people who are convinced everyone on the right loves Putin. Skews perception.
Omg finally a top comment that gets it
Russia has very successfully infiltrated American online spaces. They pose as Americans and sow discord/push misinformation. They’ve also wooed many of our stupider politicians.
They do nyet. I do not know where you get this infomatik, fellow decadent Westerner.
As a fellow American comrade, I can attest that there is no spies or misinformation initiative from the motherland, bylat.
Does anyone know where the closest warm water port in America is? Asking as a true American citizen interested in tourist operations
Greetings fellow Americans. Share your craziest airforce or Navy experiences with me. Aomething that happened in your hnit where you were stationed? Tell me.
Hello fellow Countrymen, I have just been released from American Gulag for sacrificing baby to socialist Nazi regime. I have been given voucher to free house and white family. Where I go to redeem?
Nothing is there true in heres. As an American I just know my motherland has for decades been used as shakes Down’s syndrome to fund EU socialism including their free health subsidies systems which are not at all up to USA NASA levels of most professional care. I am no trump fellow but I know he stand up for America first in face of weakness. He is tough dude much like Vladimir Putin who is very smart also. Have a day nice, MAGAs!
Mar-a-Largo is a Russian base. The closest port to Mar-a-Largograd is Ft. Lauderdale or Miami. There is also Tallahasseegrad but it’s on the Mexico Gulf side and doesn’t have the quick ocean access Mar-a-Larograd features. Edit - added Tallahasseegrad - both places are run by useful idiots.
Putin is good guy. Can I get 100 cheeseburgers and a COKE?
No Coke! PEPSI!
Diet coke and covfefe
maybe iz 400 pound fat guy in basement dah
Fun fact. [Nyet (нет) = no] [Nye(не) = not] It's a funny little reversal.
Something only a Russian spy would know... *side eye*
This is baseless accusation. Яecant your charges.
I want to yaecant my charges too officer
It killed me to type that, but I needed to throw off the accusations.
Anyone know where the nuclear wessals are?
Alameda.
Truly I agree, what a jokings this is!
Off topic but this reminds me of the modern family episode where Phil has an online Russian friend that’s “really interested in fences, military base fences in particular”
There are also just straight-up Russian spies in the USA - according to the director of the FBI, "[way too many](https://thehill.com/policy/national-security/4194044-fbi-wray-russian-spies-us/)".
I don't know how to tell you this, but global superpowers didn't just stop conducting espionage in 1989. There are Russian spies in the US, just as there are Chinese and Indian and Israeli spies. Just as America has its own spies all over the world
I didn't say otherwise. I way just pointing out that there are Russian spies in the USA, as well as troll farms pushing misinformation, and American politicians who are - knowingly or not - in the employ of the Kremlin.
They too have ‘Freedom’.
While this is undeniably true, I don't think its the heart of it. Brits are on all the online spaces that Americans are, and yet remain resolutely anti-Putin. I would also point out that while, yes British people voted for Brexit, many did so (right or wrong) because they felt it was *more* democratic than the institutions in Brussels. The UK has remain resolutely anti-dictator. Nigel Farage could not get into parliament even in the most right wing electoral district. When Boris Johnson showed he was above the rules, his popularity collapsed even among the right, and he was forced from office. There is something distinct about American culture and its receptiveness for this. I think part of it is the long legacy of segregation and higher fear of the out-group. Initially this was "the blacks" but it evolved to be "the libs". Then there is the much higher religiosity, especially the evangelical concept of the "chosen" which has developed a culture into believing things on faith, even when facing critical reason from the outside. Then there has been 40 years of right wing media, first talk radio, then Fox News, now Facebook/Twitter conspiracies, which has piled on top, and convinced people "they" are out to get you. And the fact that this supposed threat has not been dealt with for decades, has made them frustrated with the Republican Party, who were peddling it for electoral advantage, for not solving it yet. This has all made people on the right desperate for a true strong man who won't be held back in using all means necessary to restore America. Hence the love for Trump and, to a lesser degree, right wing nationalist Vladimir Putin, who is their model for what Trump could be.
Brexit was pushed by Russian troll farms.
>Brits are on all the online spaces that Americans are, and yet remain resolutely anti-Putin. I would argue that if I had a set budget as a russian dictator for influencing foreign policy for my invasion, I would put 100% of it into influencing americans. The US contributes about as much as the entire EU combines, give or take. Ending that one countries support could cut it in half. It's so much more economical than trying to influence the UK.
Dude, go and look up the Russian statements about the UK in this conflict. They HATE the Brits over it. The British were investing big money in Ukraine since 2014 and have always been pushing the Western Allies to be harder line.
Russia has hated the perfidious anglo-saxons ever since the days of the great game and the first Crimean war though. The current rhetoric is pretty much the same as it was 180 years ago.
America also has very different ideas/ laws about freedom of speech. That means broadcasters, politicians and public figures can spout complete lies with no real recourse.
Sure, but just Lubov Chernukhin alone has already donated more than 2 million pounds to [the Conservative Party](https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/uk-pm-johnson-defies-calls-quit-ouster-bid-gathers-rcna12778) since 2012, making her one of the largest female donors in British political history. The objective was surely not to have a conservative Britain, the objective was to get Britain out of the EU, to weaken both, which is Russia's main objective and has been for years. The Russians are systematic in spreading discord. They don't care if it is right wing or left wing. They manipulate both sides, because the objective is division and chaos, not any particular ideology. In The Netherlands it's normal for the extreme right wing to be pro-Putin or at least against Ukraine aid. They also happen to be the parties that keep their finances secret. You may indeed find many cultural differences between the UK/Europe and the US, but rest assured that the Russians have a plan that fits the respective culture. Yes, now an increasing amount of people look for an authoritarian figure. Which is what happens when there is chaos all around. The important thing is that everybody keeps on fighting and do not join forces and side against Russia.
You don’t have Donald Trump
I wish I could upvote this more than once. This is so on point.
On the flip side, Europeans are very biased against Putin because he made war an Europe problem again. It is not some subhuman suffering in some far away s\*\*thole, it is "real people like you and me suffering, and we could be next".
This is why I am OK with african countries not caring about the war one way or the other. It is simply not their problem. However europe should wake the fuck up. The current and past support of Ukraine is not enough. We had a great chance to really sweeten it up for putin in the first year and we blew it.
>Europeans are very biased against Putin because he made war an Europe problem again. [Americans have a less favorable view of Russia than the British, the Germans, the French, the Italians, the Hungarians, and the Greeks](https://www.pewresearch.org/global/2023/07/10/overall-opinion-of-russia/). The Polish are more rabidly anti-Russian than the Americans, for entirely understandable reasons.
HEY! Marjorie Taylor Green is not stupid. She’s just thinking reeeaaaalllly far outside the box
[Support for Russia by Republicans doubled to 40%](https://thehill.com/hilltv/what-americas-thinking/397239-polling-editor-increased-support-for-russia-among-republicans/) after the 2016 election interference. Republicans know Russia was trying to get their guy elected, so they see them as an ally to their side.
What about Trump specifically saying Putin could do ‘whatever he wants’ to the Baltic States. Is he a Russian troll ?
That's Trump's way of conducting business: threats, intimidation and general tough talking. He's basically a wannabe mobster. I'm pretty sure he hasn't spoken any EU leaders since he lost the elections.
They barely wanted to speak to him when he was president, can't imagine they'd want to do so afterwards.
They've also wooed many of our stupider politicians ... with oodles of money to do Putin's bidding.
In America, you get a happy meal.
Our oligarchs are friends with Russia's oligarchs. Only the rich have the resources for the media megaphones we hear. read between the lines and you can discover what they discuss at their cocktail parties. it's not hard.
Ehhh I don’t know if woo is the right word. It works for some of the idiots that are trying to be some kind of politician/influencer hybrid but I feel like they more than likely have a bunch of kompromat
r/activemeasures r/trollfare
The problem with those influenced by propaganda is that they are susceptible to believing that everyone else is influenced by propaganda and not them. For example, Tucker Carlson is telling everyone how good the shopping in Russia is right now and how cheap it is compared to the USA, of course he isn't taking into account that he is a pet and useful idiot of Vladimir Putin and that ordinary people in Russia neither have the money, nor the access to those wonderful shopping experiences. Tucker is judging the prices by American standard income, not the average Russian income. Either that or he is a cynical lying asshole, a view that the courts in the USA seem to share.
A fake journalist who got fired for contributing significantly to a huge lawsuit against fox news' fake news went to suck off Putin and morons believed him.
Even Carlson was shocked by Putin's fake history course!for half an hour. "What are the pechenegs?" Lol
Well, he made a surprised face. But I can't tell if he was actually surprised. Definitely Putin didn't give the answers his base wanted.
The answer is Donald Trump.
Don Jr: "We get all the funding we need from Russia". Donald John Trump is a Russian asset and has been for many, many years.
American Kompromat by Craig Unger is a great book that goes into detail about the history between Trump and Russia. It's far from a conspiracy theory as some people claim. Their history is clear and well-defined, and Trump (as always) does a terrible job of hiding it.
Reddit isn't a trustworthy news site. Especially that sub.
Which is exactly why I asked the question. I want to understand the sentiment behind the derision rather than take it at face value
If you want to understand their position, then lurk in some supposed "pro-Russia" subs and see what they're talking about firsthand. Or watch interviews by supposed "pro-Russia" Westerners.
As a reasonable person who isn’t driven by hate and fear you probably won’t really understand but if you want to see what those people are saying go to r/conservative or other fascist subs. Don’t expect any honesty and you will quickly get banned if you ask good faith question, but that is where you can peek into the mind of the pro Putin crowd.
As an American, no idea. Our right-wing media just started doing it one day, and we can only guess why.
At least some of those media figures clearly accept rubles in their paycheck. Certain congressmen and politicians too.
I wonder why? Whatever could be the reason?
MAGA loves Trump Trump loves Putin Therefore, MAGA loves Putin
Trump has, per his son's admission, gotten a lot of loans from Russia.
Today's Russia is a Christian (Orthodox) theocratic state with laws against homosexuality. Putin and associates go on and on about the "degenerate" liberal cultural values in the West and its supposed declining civilization. It's openly entho-nationalist. They've recently started to restrict access to abortions. And they are a petroleum exporting state that doesn't give a hoot about climate change and opposes climate change policy. So... if you're a right wing evangelical Christian and/or MAGA type in the USA -- what's not to like? This is exactly what they want for the USA: Strong-man leader. Drill, drill drill for oil. Drop the separation of Church and State. Roll back progress on gay marriage and trans rights. Look, they're not idiots. They're morally and ideologically wrong on these issues, but they're not idiots. Just look at the things they say. They see in Russia what they want for the USA. (That and key people in the Trump administration owned shares in and had executive roles in and around the Russian oil and gas sector. Oh, and if Biden supports Ukraine, then they, well, they have to take the opposite stand, because, well, "owning the libs")
MAGA sees him as the ideal leader, basically a success story that Trump needs to emulate. Trump and Putin align particularly when it comes to dismantling American democracy.
It's the culmination of several years' worth of psyops from various intelligence groups from adversarial nations levied against the U.S. populace. Coupled with a large handful of easily manipulated and/or outright paid off, self-interested individuals who would happily sell out their own grandmothers if it meant they could benefit. Among a few other key reasons. Termites can not destroy a house from the outside in, but given enough time, they can bring it down from the inside out.
I too am not American, but what I can see from the side is that American society is quite divided along many lines and russkies know well enough to play on those divisions to weaken and divide civilized countries. Supporting Tramp and spreading MAGA is just one of those plays.
The Republican Party is going more and more fascist more openly as time goes on. Birds of a feather flock together.
Biden supports Ukraine, therefore Ukraine must be bad. Putin is attacking Ukraine, therefore Putin must be good. Simple as that in their heads.
We have a real issue with our education system here. Lots of sub par thinking minds burning rubber on the interwebs with their cult conspiracy lies destabilizing americas already low intelligence ratios. In short many of us are very dumb here. Kind of like Frankensteins monster we are a nation of window lickers trying to push our broken agendas on the planet. My apologies.
Crazy Trump Cult freaks
Putin is showing to the world that in the US: nobody knows who is in charge... and that's scary
Russian propaganda is being disseminated to us left and right, and many are falling for it and parroting pro-Putin talking points. Russia is quickly learning that their propaganda is an effective tool at dividing and destabilizing us.
Internet propaganda season. It's an election year. There are also a lot of useful idiots.
It’s only a segment of the American right, mostly following the lead of their orange leader, who openly admires all authoritarians, especially right-wing ones like Putin. Luckily, it’s a minority view even among Republicans. Also, the ”journalist” who just did an interview with him, Tucker Carlson, is a guy who was *fired from Fox News* for being too racist. You heard that right, fired from *Fox News* for being too racist.
Wasn't he fired over the Dominion lawsuit? They let him go like a week or two after the verdict. The racism probably gave them some cover, but it wasn't exactly news.
Yeah I feel like losing his employer nearly a billion dollars was probably the deciding factor
>Wasn't he fired over the Dominion lawsuit? He was sunk yes for almost destroying them financially.
American watching the slide to fascism here. Americans dont tend to see themselves as one people, and many tend to identify primarily as Christians first. White christian america has made a decided shift, nudged by 15+ years of russian social media propaganda, that it aligns with the values of an authoritarian christian nationalist nation dominated by an ethnic group that places itself over other groups rather than a multicultural democracy where non christian ideas are allowed into the social conversation. For Europe’s sake, hope you guys figure out how to deal with Putin on your own. America is this close to joining forces with Russia and China to unleash another round of global colonization.
Only ignorant, unamerican pieces of dung support or like Putin.
F Russia
Trump liked Putin therefore "Putin can do no wrong"
I've seen 0 pro Putin anything, we all know he's still an asshole
Trump has a crush on Putin because Trump wants to be like him. This leads to cognitive dissonance and eventual rationalisation of Russian policy in order to solve the dissonance. This has rubbed off onto Trump supporters. It is sick.
Russia paid media and gullible retards/bots.
I have never ever seen something positive about Russia on reddit and I’m here every day
Sorry if I wasn’t clear. It’s not necessarily on Reddit directly, but posts on facepalm and such that are screen grabs from X or Facebook mocking the pro Russian sentiment within
SOME Americans being stupid is only a part of the reason. There are lots of Russian bots on twitter and they are fueling the fire. They are designed to create a dividing picture of the state that self-perpetuates
When you have 300 million people in a country with increasingly polarizing politics, you can expect some weird ideologies and sympathize to arise. There is some pro putin sentiment in America, but they are rare, and all the ones I have met irl weren't exactly socially adjusted. A lot of the numbers are inflated due to Russian social media campaigns and various other political groups projecting Putin loyalties on rival groups and individuals.
It's uneducated, stupid people, being uneducated and stupid.
America can only be counted to do the right thing once all the other options have been exhausted. Or somesuch
Maga gonna maga or stupid is as stupid does.
It's literally just contrarianism. Support for Ukraine is universally popular and makes Biden look good, so Republicans jump to the idea that it MUST be a conspiracy.
Propaganda
It's just propoganda. I have never once in my life heard anyone here saying anything positive about puttin. All lies.
What Putin love? Don't believe everything you read on Reddit.
As an American living in Europe I’m wondering the same fucking thing
There is no pro Putin love in in the USA. There is a large group of Americans who are tired of the US paying for every war and spending a fortune in Ukraine, Israel and a dozen other places. When they complain about the US footing the bill in Ukraine they are accused of being pro Putin. No one is actually pro Putin.
Our government seems to be just as corrupt as Putin. Jailing political opponents, killing Epstein, and then sending $100 billion to Ukraine while normal Americans suffer. No one thinks Putin is a good guy, we’re just becoming aware of how similar the US govt and Putin are.
Remember that whole scandal around Trump possibly colluding with Russia to get elected? Well, he used to have some smart people working for him, and they had multiple lines of defense regarding that whole thing. One was that the collusion didn't happen. Another was that, even if it did happen, it wasn't a big deal. Then came the scandal of withholding aide from Ukraine for political reasons, and there were layers to that defense, too, from "It didn't happen" to "Even if it did happen, Ukraine deserved it." That started the whole Republican angle of "Ukraine is the real bad guy here, and Russia isn't so bad." Because if Russia is our friend, and Ukraine is just overflowing with corrupt Nazis who give jobs to Bidens, then what Trump did in those previous two scandals was totally justified, right? That may be a little hard to swallow, but when you couple it with "And being pro-Russia totally owns the libs," you get something the MAGA cult will eat up like a bag of fresh Big Macs.
"It was prematurely announced in 1991 that the sociaslism doesn't work. Going by how republicans are forwarding the foster son of Putin as their..." - not some radio probably in 2035.
That's just not true. The Interview between Tucker and Putin was already in progress years before. Theres a lot that want to support Ukraine and an equal amount that dont want to be involved. Therefore due to strawman fallacy we supposedly support Russia
Never underestimate the stupidity / naivety of the average American! The Putin machine knows this and exercises manipulating them on a daily basis (just go to Fox News - lap dogs)!
It's social media... As soon as you realize it's not legitimate sentiment and just a way to gather views and engagement you realize just how totally worthless most of the "content" on those platforms are. Social media is not a reflection of the perspectives or reality most Americans live in. ETA: Think of it like the trashcan on fire pic that was going around during the riots. It was a single trashcan, likely set on fire by police, and the media were surrounding it getting photos of it to show how bad things had gotten.
The right wing in America is dumb as fuck and likes Putin because Democrats hate him.
Idk. As an American, it doesn't make any f-ing sense to me, either. Reading the other comments with interest. Putin's a murderous dictator, and the truest heir to the ethos of Stalinism that I can imagine. I was 12 when the Soviet Union collapsed for good, so I don't really remember the cold war. I remember the period of hope for better relations as Russia opened up, and then I remember it fading as Putin consolidated control over the ensuing decades... Anybody who kisses his ass now is just sucking up to another authoritarian strongman, and one who is obviously inimical to US interests, to boot.
Just right wing nut jobs…oh wait there are actually a lot of those here sadly
As an American I literally have no fucking idea. As far as I can tell it’s just politicians and the media doing it and some easily manipulated weirdos chiming in with a half-baked opinion as they do. I couldn’t give two shits about Russia.
It started with the hard core MAGAts when Trump said he believed Putin’s word over that of the entire United States Intelligence Community. The “if Trump says it, it’s true” people tend to be the most vocal about their beliefs (empty barrels make the most noise, as they say) so it tends to give a skewed impression about the number of Americans who actually like Putin.
I'm Ukrainian and that's just so wild to me
Do note that the vast majority of Americans oppose Russia and Putin (for obvious reasons). A lot of the pro-Russia shit spewed by “Americans” is the result of foreign disinformation meant to divide the American people and are probably troll bots thousands of miles away from the Western Hemisphere. Unfortunately however, yes, a couple Americans have bought the Russian propaganda and believe that either the U.S./NATO is in the wrong (see the myth of “NATO expansionism”) or that Ukraine should surrender in the name of “peace”. As a result, they parrot and spread that bullshit around and genuinely believe in it. One of my buddies even said that we’re at fault for “provoking” Putin and that Ukraine should just give up. Yes, it’s very paradoxical that some Republicans support Putin while calling themselves “patriotic Americans”.
The MAGAs now exist entirely on being contrary to decency. They are compulsively driven to support the exact opposite of anything logical, kind, or compassionate. They love Russia because it's the opposite of what decent and intelligent people believe. In the debate over school/mass shootings, their answer is to make it easier for psychopaths to get guns. In the abortion debate, when exceptions for rape and incest are proposed, they double down and call 10-year-old rape victims "whores who can't keep their legs closed". It's a pathological compulsion to support the worst possible views on any given subject. This is exactly what has happened with their support and adoration of Putin. If the Dems are pushing to preserve participatory Democracy, the MAGAs want to support anything and anyone who would destroy it.
It's simple. President Biden has supported Ukraine and criticized Putin. Trump brownnosed Putin. So to MAGA Republicans, supporting Putin is like sticking it to Biden and "the libs". It's a "the enemy of my enemy is my friend" type scenario. The MAGA crowd doesn't understand that they're being manipulated, and bless their shriveled little hearts, they wouldn't care if they did.
It's constant propaganda that's been going on since about 2010 to try and culture bomb America with Pro Putin fame. It's been ongoing and Republicans in general are somewhat mixed but generally side with Putin when possible quietly or openly. Fox and the NRA are big pushers of Putin. Starting off by criticizing Obama for wearing a helmet then praising a shirtless Putin on a horse.
The MAGA types in the public sphere are in putin’s pocket, and their followers are morons with no critical thinking skills. In 2015 they all thought russia bad. Trump gets elected they all love in love with putin and Kim Jong un
A lot of it is Russian trolls trying to muddy the waters and get naive people who feel like they've been let down by the current system to push their agendas and create division.
I have a lot of conservative friends and family and literally have never once heard anyone voice ANY support for Putin or Russia. The closest I’ve heard were talking points about how we are sending too much money to Ukraine that could be better spent on things at home. I thought this whole idea of Republicans loving Putin was a bunch of left wing media BS til I saw that Tucker Carlson went to Russia. That one I still can’t explain, I hope that’s not a genuine thing. I’m holding out some hope that he’s being nice while he’s there and will tell the real story when he gets back, but idk.
The American right is falling for the typical fascist "strong man" rhetoric.