Russian State TV Mocks Donald Trump Supporters

People attend a “Get Out the Vote” Rally for former US President and 2024 presidential hopeful Donald Trump in Conway, South Carolina, on February 10, 2024. Trump supporters were branded “not very smart primitive people” by a commentator on Russian state controlled TV.

Donald Trump supporters have been brutally mocked on Russian state-controlled TV, with one commentator branding them “not very smart primitive people.”

The comments were made during Friday’s edition of the primetime Meeting Point show which is broadcast by NTV, a network owned by state-controlled energy giant Gazprom. Newsweek emailed representatives of Donald Trump’s presidential campaign for comment on Saturday. The former president remains by far the frontrunner in the race to be the GOP candidate for the White House.

A 52-second clip, complete with English-language translation, was shared on X on Saturday by Ron Filipkowski, editor-in-chief of self-styled ‘pro-democracy’ media outlet Meidas Touch. So far, it has received more than 913,000 views.

In the video, Maxim Yusin, a Russian journalist and political commentator, says: “The majority of people who vote for Trump are not very smart primitive people with whom you need to talk like this, with cliches and dumb slogans.”

The remark triggers laughter from other members of the panel, one of whom goes on to describe Trump supporters as “rednecks” and compares them to villagers who cry out for money.

Referring to Trump’s rhetoric at campaign rallies, a third commentator adds: “He shuffles around the same 10 words, such a b******, that’s all… This man is planning to be president again.” This sparks laughter from other panel members, to which he jokingly responds: “Enough, stop laughing! Idiotic idiots!”

Yusin then says that this is Trump’s way of communicating before adding that Ukraine should get nothing from the United States in terms of military aid.

On Tuesday, the Senate voted to approve a $95 billion foreign aid package, including an additional $60 billion in military assistance for Ukraine, which has been battling a full-scale Russian invasion since February 2022.

Before President Biden can sign it into law, the legislation must also be approved by the House of Representatives, but Republican Speaker Mike Johnson is refusing to say whether he will bring the bill to a vote.

A bipartisan package had been agreed by Democrats and Republicans in the Senate. It would have provided aid to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan and tightened border security. However, this was rejected by GOP hardliners, including Johnson, who said it was insufficient to tackle illegal immigration.

On Saturday, the Ukrainian military said it had withdrawn its forces from the small Donbas city of Avdiivka, which Russian forces have been trying to capture for months. Ukraine said the withdrawal was to avoid unnecessary casualties. The fall of Avdiivka is Russia’s biggest territorial gain since it seized the city of Bakhmut in May 2023, with Ukrainian defenders complaining of ammunition shortages since U.S. aid dried up.

On Friday, Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny died in the prison he was being held, at an Arctic penal colony, according to Moscow authorities. Navalny had been jailed on corruption charges, which he insisted were politically motivated, after returning to Russia in 2021.

The previous year, Navalny had been poisoned by nerve agent Novichok, with a joint investigation by Russian news website The Insider and Netherlands-based investigative journalism group Bellingcat blaming the attack on Russian intelligence agents. The Kremlin denied having anything to do with Navalny’s poisoning.

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