Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump have a lot in common. But here’s one similarity you probably haven’t thought of: A lot of their supporters trust Putin and Trump more than they trust their own families.
Let’s start with Vlad. In case you missed it, Sunday’s New York Times reported that some Ukrainians are facing “backlash from family members in Russia, who refuse to believe that Russian soldiers could bomb innocent people, or even that a war is taking place at all.”
One Russian father told his son, who actually lives in Ukraine, “There are Russian soldiers there helping people. They give them warm clothes and food.” And one Russian woman told her sister, who lives in Ukraine, that “No one is bombing Kyiv, and you should actually be afraid of the Nazis, whom your father fought against.”
Right-Wing Ultra-Nationalists Are Putin’s Useful Idiots
Who are you going to believe: Something your dad saw on Putin’s state TV or your own lying eyes?
For Ukrainians fighting for their lives, these are not esoteric political disagreements between two family members with a similar claim to the truth. In this case, one group is getting its news from Russian propaganda outlets, while the other group is getting news firsthand—in the form of bombs, bullets, and rockets.
But hey, gotta hear both sides, right?
Of course, for American readers, the elephant in the room has orange hair and a comb-over. At the risk of conflating an authoritarian…
