People are tired
Russian MPs celebrate Donald Trump’s victory and the defeat of “Grandma Hillary”, as they put it. Click on the site of the Independent to watch it.
When the news broke that Donald Trump won the American presidential election, Russian MPs convening in the State Duma spontaneously applauded. What is behind this excitement?
A defeat of “aggressive liberalism”
A lengthy round of tweets from the chief editor of state outlet RT (Russia Today), Margarita Simonyan, during election night can serve as an indicator of the mixed feelings of Kremlin-loyal Russians.
Amidst hopes that “Trump recognizes Crimea as Russian, cancels the [economic] sanctions, comes to an agreement with us on Syria, and frees Assange”, Simonyan also clarified how to interpret the result from a more ideological perspective: “Corbyn. Brexit. Trump. Any questions? The world is sick of the establishment, of its lies, and its lying, arrogant media”, she said, and added: “When the media and the authorities spend years sowing values that society isn’t ready to accept, explaining to society that it’s too backward, Trump wins”. Accordingly, the American election result was not someone’s victory, but a defeat of “aggressive liberalism”:
For a comprehensive analysis of RT (Russia Today) chief editor Margarita Simonyan’s reactions, see this article on Global Voices. (This image and the below image: Global Voices)
“Maybe we helped a bit with WikiLeaks”
Although Russia’s political leaders had denied active Russian involvement in the American election campaign, Kremlin-loyal commentator Sergey Markov suggested that Russia could claim at least a part of the credit for an outcome that confirmed the Russian narrative about a deep crisis in Western societies. “Maybe we helped a bit with WikiLeaks,” he said.
Trump has hardened his language
Critical voices questioned how useful Donald Trump’s victory was for Russia after all.
Opposition leader Alexey Navalny published a video statement on his blog in which he focused on how Trump had hardened his language in the run-up to the election, overshadowing older statements about possibly reviewing US policy towards Russia’s illegal annexation of Crimea.
On Facebook, independent TV host Konstantin Eggert noted that there were more traditional hardliners than people known for soft spots for Russia among the first names rumored to feature in Trump’s administration and among his foreign policy advisers.