Russian Kremlin-controlled state media have set out to tickle the fragile ego of the US president amid falling ratings after his staggering appearance on Mount Rushmore on Friday.
Mentioning that the American head of state had previously toyed with the idea that he could appear alongside Washington, Jefferson, Teddy Roosevelt and Lincoln, Russia’s main state media channel Rossiya-1 released a chart of the Trump Cup just on the mountain next to them. .
Given the frequent allusions in the Russian state media to Trump as Moscow’s friend, even Moscow’s “agent” in the White House, perhaps the Kremlin would like to see the massive monument renamed Mount Russia-More.
But there were signs on Saturday, July 4, that for now, Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin are trying to keep their long-standing bromance under control, at least as far as the official record is concerned.
Putin sent a telegram congratulating US President Donald J. Trump on United States Independence Day. Interesting move. By avoiding a phone call, Putin also avoided any direct pressure to tackle reports about the Kremlin by paying rewards to the Taliban for killing US soldiers and coalition forces in Afghanistan.
Before the reward leaks that were flooding the US intelligence community, calls between Trump and Putin had become unusually frequent, but those revelations put a brake on the presidential conversation.
Trump, who is at least as reluctant as Putin to discuss the matter, also avoided calling him to congratulate him on Russia’s national vote on constitutional amendments that ensure Putin the Russian presidency for life.
The Kremlin described the vote as a “triumphant referendum” that demonstrates Putin’s national confidence. But only a handful of foreign leaders congratulated him, and when they called from the presidents of Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Azerbaijan, and South Ossetia, Putin’s impression as a lifetime pariah only increased.
“Evgeny Popov, 60, from Russia, lovingly described Tucker Carlson as “practically our co-host.”“
While Trump likely received a “Don’t Congratulate” contribution from his national security advisers, old Chekist Putin can certainly read between the lines. After all, Trump notoriously took Putin’s side in Helsinki, denied Russia’s proven interference in the US elections, essentially abandoned American bases in Syria for the benefit of the Russians, publicly and divisively toyed with the idea of readmitting Russia to the G8, and threatened to withdraw nearly a third of US troops from Germany, a Midsummer Night’s Dream for Putin.
Fox News, centered on Trump, and the Republican Party follow the example of the most pro-Russian president in the United States, producing topics of conversation that increasingly benefit the Kremlin. Russian state media has issued so many comments on Tucker Carlson that the host of Russia’s state television show 60 minutes Evgeny Popov lovingly described Carlson as “practically our co-host”.
Similarly, instead of inventing your own divisive propaganda, TASS simply quotes Devin Nunes and Mike Pompeo, who sought to find and punish the leakers who exposed the alleged Kremlin murder cash program, instead of punishing Russia for putting a price on the heads of American soldiers.
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