# A Russian President? **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [January 7, 2017, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-russian-president/776540 "2017-01-07T16:54:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![bucketybuck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/898d66/32.png) [@bucketybuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bucketybuck)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2017, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-russian-president/776540/1 "2017-01-07T16:54:52Z")
Something I have been wondering about since before your elections last year, why does it seem that Americans are suddenly so blase about the fact that your president seems to be completely under the thumb of Russia and Putin? Maybe it was an inaccurate picture from the media over the years, but when we hear about the Cold war and McCarthy Trials and domino theory and the red menace and all that, we always got the picture that America and Russia were not exactly best buddies, and that many Americans tended to view Russia with a little distrust. But here we have Donald Trump, not just being polite to Russia but actually going out of his way to defend Russia and to act in Russian interests, even to the extent of publically blaming fellow Americans for things that Russians did. It was obvious throughout the election that he was a Russian puppet, its obvious now that he is a Russian sympathiser and yet it seems that the average American doesn’t really care? So what has changed culturally that has allowed this, why does it seem such a non event that your president is such an obvious stooge for Vladimir Putin? ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2017, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-russian-president/776540/2 "2017-01-07T16:57:14Z")
Republicans are in power. Nothing else matters. ---
**Author:** ![QuickSilver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quicksilver/32/7832_2.png) [@QuickSilver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/QuickSilver)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2017, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-russian-president/776540/3 "2017-01-07T17:04:50Z")
I would characterize it as Trump supporters exhibiting a textbook case of _cognitive dissonance_. But very few of them can spell the words, let alone understand the meaning. ---
**Author:** ![Ravenman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ravenman/32/2929_2.png) [@Ravenman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ravenman)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2017, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-russian-president/776540/4 "2017-01-07T17:08:13Z")
I’m also at a loss to explain why Republicans as a whole support a repressive autocrat in Russia more than they do a fellow American who is aligned with the Democratic Party. It’s fucking bonkers. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2017, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-russian-president/776540/5 "2017-01-07T17:13:26Z")
> [@Ravenman](#): > > I’m also at a loss to explain why Republicans as a whole support a repressive autocrat in Russia more than they do a fellow American who is aligned with the Democratic Party. It’s fucking bonkers. They _approve_ of repressive autocrats. ---
**Author:** ![Evan\_Drake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b487fb/32.png) [@Evan\_Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evan_Drake)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2017, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-russian-president/776540/6 "2017-01-07T17:39:01Z")
> [@bucketybuck](#): > > Maybe it was an inaccurate picture from the media over the years, but when we hear about the Cold war and McCarthy Trials and domino theory and the red menace and all that, we always got the picture that America and Russia were not exactly best buddies, and that many Americans tended to view Russia with a little distrust. The Democrats were generally the biggest Cold War Warriors, from the Kennedys & LBJ to the present lot, back to Woodrow Wilson, Truman and people like Zbigniew Brzezinski and Adlai Stevenson; however sincere, and however awful sovietism, there’s always a suspicion of grandstanding and a frivolous attitude to mutual war in their opportunistic use of anti-russianism. And that mere economics is more of a cause than political theory — it’s not as if the United States hasn’t propped up more disgusting dictators than the politburo or those dictators once supported but then subject to regime change. Plus the fact the Bircher Republicans who were also going along with this general hatred were totally mad. And that sort of thing is less an influence in the modern Party, partially due to the libertarian oligarchs’ influence. It would be difficult to detail any way in which Trump has benefited Putin. Putin may have benefited Trump in unknown and unexplained ways — although only if one considers voters as too stupid to live — but that would be because Russia is inordinately frightened of WWIII. Many people _need_ Putin as the Big Bad, simply because there is no other for them in their lives at present. Until the Media creates a new terrifying bogyman to hate. Who presides over American teenagers torn to death by dogs in an arena or sumthin’ ---
**Author:** ![Ike\_Witt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ike_witt/32/283_2.png) [@Ike\_Witt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ike_Witt)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2017, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-russian-president/776540/7 "2017-01-07T17:51:06Z")
Ronald Reagan must be spinning in his grave. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2017, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-russian-president/776540/8 "2017-01-07T17:56:45Z")
There’s a _lot_ that’s alarming and disturbing about the Trump presidency and about the fact that so many Americans are not alarmed and disturbed about the Trump presidency. But I suspect that _part_ of the answer to the OP’s specific question is that, during the Cold War, the enemy was Communism and the Soviet Union (aka the Evil Communist Empire); and that enemy no longer exists in that form. ---
**Author:** ![Count\_Blucher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Count\_Blucher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Count_Blucher)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2017, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-russian-president/776540/9 "2017-01-07T18:01:42Z")
> [@Ike\_Witt](#): > > Ronald Reagan must be spinning in his grave. “Mr. Gorbachev…! Tear Down Th-” ~Aid whispers in his ear~ “Never mind.” ---
**Author:** ![Snarky\_Kong](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a183cd/32.png) [@Snarky\_Kong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snarky_Kong)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2017, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-russian-president/776540/10 "2017-01-07T18:02:24Z")
> [@Ravenman](#): > > I’m also at a loss to explain why Republicans as a whole support a repressive autocrat in Russia more than they do a fellow American who is aligned with the Democratic Party. It’s fucking bonkers. 20 years of Limbaugh and Fox News telling them that Democrats are everything wrong in the world. ---
**Author:** ![Aspenglow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aspenglow/32/76_2.png) [@Aspenglow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspenglow)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2017, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-russian-president/776540/11 "2017-01-07T18:15:06Z")
> [@Snarky\_Kong](#): > > 20 years of Limbaugh and Fox News telling them that Democrats are everything wrong in the world. I completely agree, but don’t forget Alex Jones and his Infowars, Zerohedge, Drudge, Coulter, Breitbart, The Blaze… many of these have become practically mainstream nowadays, and among a certain faction are considered completely legitimate sources for their news. In truth, they’re batshit nuts, and in my opinion one of the greatest threats to our democracy. They are much more deeply entrenched than a lot of Americans actually realize. ---
**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2017, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-russian-president/776540/12 "2017-01-07T18:32:06Z")
One thing this foreigner has learnt in this election cycle. The average American sees Russia as the enemy. The way they seem to have taken this personally. The Chinese are also hacking. Response seem to be “meh, that’s what great powers do”. In case of Russia? “How dare they”! ---
**Author:** ![Snarky\_Kong](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a183cd/32.png) [@Snarky\_Kong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snarky_Kong)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2017, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-russian-president/776540/13 "2017-01-07T18:48:42Z")
> [@AK84](#): > > One thing this foreigner has learnt in this election cycle. The average American sees Russia as the enemy. The way they seem to have taken this personally. The Chinese are also hacking. Response seem to be “meh, that’s what great powers do”. In case of Russia? “How dare they”! I don’t think that’s true. We don’t want anyone to hack. Yes, it’s what they (and we) do, however, the difference is that the president-elect asked for them to do it, and then defended them over his fellow Americans. He also changed American policy to be favorable towards them in what very much looks like a quid pro quo arrangement. If Clinton had won and Trump was with everyone else in denouncing it, there would be the same sort of reaction as there has been against China. I very much think the difference in reactions is due to the results of the hacking and not who did it. ---
**Author:** ![Lance\_Turbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lance_turbo/32/6156_2.png) [@Lance\_Turbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lance_Turbo)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2017, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-russian-president/776540/14 "2017-01-07T18:49:27Z")
> [@bucketybuck](#): > > It was obvious throughout the election that he was a Russian puppet, [No puppet. No puppet. You’re the puppet.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=luI4sodKT3k) ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2017, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-russian-president/776540/15 "2017-01-07T18:49:50Z")
Perhaps the OP can understand why folks believe crazy things if he thinks for a few minutes why he believes that Trump is “a Russian puppet”. Trump has a strong authoritarian streak that runs thru him and that lets him see more eye-to-eye with someone like Putin that most any other US politician. But that does’t make him a Russian puppet. Trump is all about winning, and he doesn’t seem to care much how or why he wins. But again, that doesn’t make him a Russian puppet, nor does that make him “completely under the thumb of Russia and Putin”. He’ll use Russia and Putin as long as they are useful, and drop them as soon as they are not. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2017, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-russian-president/776540/16 "2017-01-07T18:55:01Z")
> [@Evan\_Drake](#): > > Many people _need_ Putin as the Big Bad, simply because there is no other for them in their lives at present. Until the Media creates a new terrifying bogyman to hate. Who presides over American teenagers torn to death by dogs in an arena or sumthin’ Uh, doesn’t the media already talk up a perfectly good terrifying bogyman? Just picture the sales pitch: America and Russia, together again, united in common cause against the sort of folks who carry out spectacular attacks against the French and hate Jews and operate in North Africa and – I dunno, somebody else can maybe WWII up the metaphor; but just make sure to toss in something about the Boston Marathon bombers being Muslims from Chechnya, or whatever? Something with an easy ‘Putin’ hook? ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2017, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-russian-president/776540/17 "2017-01-07T18:55:02Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > Perhaps the OP can understand why folks believe crazy things if he thinks for a few minutes why he believes that Trump is “a Russian puppet”. Trump has a strong authoritarian streak that runs thru him and that lets him see more eye-to-eye with someone like Putin that most any other US politician. But that does’t make him a Russian puppet. > > Trump is all about winning, and he doesn’t seem to care much how or why he wins. But again, that doesn’t make him a Russian puppet, nor does that make him “completely under the thumb of Russia and Putin”. **He’ll use Russia and Putin as long as they are useful, and drop them as soon as they are not.** You so funny. ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2017, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-russian-president/776540/18 "2017-01-07T19:20:45Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > Trump is all about winning, and he doesn’t seem to care much how or why he wins. But again, that doesn’t make him a Russian puppet, nor does that make him “completely under the thumb of Russia and Putin”. He’ll use Russia and Putin as long as they are useful, and drop them as soon as they are not. “He who would ride the tiger must first learn to dismount.” ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Krupe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ebca7d/32.png) [@Leo\_Krupe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Krupe)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2017, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-russian-president/776540/19 "2017-01-07T19:29:57Z")
> [@Lance\_Turbo](#): > > [No puppet. No puppet. You’re the puppet.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=luI4sodKT3k) With any luck, that phrase will be his version of Nixon’s “I’m not a crook”. ---
**Author:** ![QuickSilver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quicksilver/32/7832_2.png) [@QuickSilver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/QuickSilver)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2017, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-russian-president/776540/20 "2017-01-07T19:47:27Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > Perhaps the OP can understand why folks believe crazy things if he thinks for a few minutes why he believes that Trump is “a Russian puppet”. Trump has a strong authoritarian streak that runs thru him and that lets him see more eye-to-eye with someone like Putin that most any other US politician. But that does’t make him a Russian puppet. Potayto/potahto : puppet/useful idiot: > [@John\_Mace](#): > > Trump is all about winning, and he doesn’t seem to care much how or why he wins. But again, that doesn’t make him a Russian puppet, nor does that make him “completely under the thumb of Russia and Putin”. He’ll use Russia and Putin as long as they are useful, and drop them as soon as they are not. You can make the case that Trump may not make a very reliable, even somewhat volatile useful idiot for Putin. Trump may not be the kind of puppet that Putin can control as predictably as he’d like. But he’s already done more for Putin than any other candidate for POTUS (R or D) likely would have done. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-russian-president/776540.md?page=2)