Russian media has enjoyed President Trump’s love affair with Vladimir Putin, with one host saying on the country’s’ state-controlled television network that Trump appeared to be an operative for their country.
“When Trump says our relations are bad because of American foolishness and stupidity, he really smells like an agent of the Kremlin,” said Olga Skabeeva, a host of the Russian program “60 Minutes.”
The news was first brought to wide attention by Julia Davis, one of the closest English-language Russia media watchers on Twitter.
#Russia's state TV host:
"It is very bizarre, you can't bash your own country like that – especially when you're the President."
Female host: "When Trump says our relations are bad because of American foolishness and stupidity, he really smells like an agent of the Kremlin." ©️ pic.twitter.com/8fRLrZbUul— Julia Davis (@JuliaDavisNews) July 18, 2018
Davis also pointed to another time when the same program said that Trump was “licking Putin’s boots” and made light of criticism by Arnold Schwarzenegger, who called Trump a “wet noodle” in a viral Twitter video but declined to hit Putin for his crimes.
“Let’s analyze Trump’s performance at the presser. At which point in time could you say he was licking Putin’s boots? Why did @Schwarzenegger describe him as a wet noodle?” said a host.
“He said nothing about the annexation, [Russian] aggression or #Skripal.” which was in reference to the former Russian spy poisoned in Britain with a deadly nerve agent in an attack widely believed to be ordered by the Russian government.
#Russia's state TV:
The host: "Let's analyze Trump's performance at the presser. At which point in time could you say he was licking Putin's boots? Why did @Schwarzenegger describe him as a wet noodle?… He said nothing about the annexation, [Russian] aggression or #Skripal."©️ pic.twitter.com/dPCJkgVGRt— Julia Davis (@JuliaDavisNews) July 17, 2018
The Russian media has echoed the bipartisan condemnation that President Trump has received for his joint press conference with Putin in Helsinki. Critics have hit back at Trump for publicly disparaging the conclusions of American intelligence agencies and appearing to side with the Russian autocrat. Joe Scarborough said Trump acted like a “dopey stooge,” while on “Fox & Friends” Brian Kilmeade explained to Trump directly why he had erred in the summit.
“In a key sentence in my remarks, I said the word ‘would’ instead of ‘wouldn’t,’” said Trump on Tuesday, clarifying an initial claim which cast doubt on Russia’s involvement in the 2016 hacking campaign.
“The sentence should’ve been, ‘I don’t see any reason why it wouldn’t be Russia.’ Sort of a double-negative.”