Russian propagandists are hoping for 'a political Halloween' if Republicans win the midterms: report

08 November 2022

When Joe Biden defeated Donald Trump in 2020’s presidential election, many world leaders were quick to congratulate him — from French President Emmanuel Macron to then-U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson. But Russian President Vladimir Putin and his allies in the Kremlin were clearly disappointed in that election’s outcome, and according to Daily Beast reporter Julia Davis, Russian officials are closely observing the United States’ 2022 midterms and hoping for a major red wave.

“Russian state media is following the midterm elections in the United States with great interest, but the mood in Moscow’s studios had noticeably soured in comparison to the fun-filled episodes of the years preceding Russia’s invasion of Ukraine,” Davis observes in an article published on November 8. “While the experts and the hosts are still rooting for the Republicans, they stop short of promising the audience total salvation even with the GOP back in charge. Even the most seasoned propagandists can’t hide the fact that Russia’s war against Ukraine — and the global fallout that followed — is only going from bad to worse.”

Davis reports that Sergei Luzyanin, a professor at the Moscow State Institute of International Relations under the Russian Foreign Ministry, is hoping that Republicans will win big on Election Night — and that there will be considerable animosity between the Biden Administration and a GOP-controlled Congress in 2023.

On the state-operated Russian show “60 Minutes” (not to be confused with the CBS News program in the U.S.), Luzyanin commented, “A potential victory of the Republicans in the Congress and perhaps in the Senate will mark the beginning of a political Halloween…. After the midterm elections, we’ll see a glass jar full of poisonous American spiders tearing each other up. Go ahead and eat one another! It will be a frightening political process... It may also lead to tactical or strategic changes in their foreign policy…. Get lots of popcorn, and let’s watch.”

As some Russian media pundits see it, a GOP-controlled Congress will be better for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine than a Congress that remains in Democratic hands.

Olga Skabeeva, a Russian media host, commented that she hopes Democrats and Republicans tear each other to pieces but wasn’t sure it will happen as much as she would like. And while Skabeeva prefers Republicans over Democrats, she isn’t counting on any direct military help from the GOP.

Skabeeva told viewers, “We keep hoping it happens, but they’re yet to destroy each other…. The situation won’t change for the better, and we have to rely solely upon ourselves, on the Russian Army. Republicans can’t help us to hold on to Kherson.”

One clip that has been played on Russian TV, according to Davis, is a clip of Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene promising that “not another penny will go to Ukraine.” Skabeeva obviously likes what the Georgia congresswoman had to say.

Skabeeva commented, “There aren’t many chances that the magnitude of the funding (for Ukraine) will change, but an everyday Russian keeps on hoping and believing. They’ve never followed the midterm elections so closely.... We trust and believe in the Republicans. Do we even have any other allies?”

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