What Does Russian State Media Really Say About Trump and Americans?

In January, Russian leader Vladimir Putin described his relationship with Trump as “pragmatic and trusting,” and echoed Trump’s claim that the 2020 US presidential election was stolen from him. Putin also praised Trump’s reaction to a 2023 assassination attempt, calling him a “real man.”

Trump, in turn, has repeatedly called Putin a “strong” and “smart” leader, and often boasted about how well they got along during his first term in office. Yet despite these gestures of mutual admiration, Russian state media has regularly ridiculed Trump and the United States.

Most of the Russian media’s mockery of Americans is aimed at domestic audiences, meaning that Americans rarely see how Russians truly talk about them. In Russian-language broadcasts, the criticism is often far more direct than anything said in English.

We’ve compiled a selection of broadcasts and posts that shed light on how the Kremlin really sees America.

“The world sees the US as a mammoth”

Pro-Kremlin presenter Vladimir Solovyov made remarks claiming the United States' diminishing global influence during a June 2025 broadcast of his show Evening with Vladimir Solovyov.

“If you [Americans] suddenly vanish from the global economic map, some people will simply breathe more freely,” Solovyov said. “What do you even make where it could be said: ‘No, this exists only in America’?”

“Even famed MAGA hats are made in China or Mexico. It’s over, just calm down. You don’t even understand it yet. You still exist, but the world sees you as a mammoth. You just don’t realize it yet, and you’re not going to like it.”

Calling Trump supporters not very smart “villagers”

During a segment of the Mesto Vstrechi (“Meeting Place”) program on the NTV channel on February 16, 2024, host Andrey Norkin and his guests mocked Trump’s supporters, describing them as “not very smart,” “rednecks,” and “primitive people” who, they claimed, could only be addressed using clichés and simplistic slogans. The remarks were met with laughter in the studio.

“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,” said Journalist Maxim Yusin, who was among the guests on the show.

Journalist Abbas Juma added: “He says, yes, for those rednecks, for the villagers, as they say, who cry out, where is our money?”

Presenter Norkin then chimed in: “He [Trump] shuffles around the same 10 words, such a bastard, that’s all,” Norkin said. “And this man is planning to be president again!”

Questioning Trump’s mental fitness

“Donald Trump is suspected of being unfit because of his advanced age,” anchor Olga Skabeyeva said during a broadcast of Russia-1’s 60 Minutes, questioning Trump’s mental health following his town hall event in Pennsylvania on October 14, 2024. The segment, which aired around October 17, 2024, came shortly after the event where audience members fainted and Trump unexpectedly broke into dance during the Q&A.

“We can’t show the whole thing,” she said, “But as you may have noticed, Donald went from song to song. In total, he danced for all of 39 minutes.”

During the same segment, US-based journalist Igor Naimushin gave a commentary, noting that Trump does repeat himself and displays erratic behavior.

“I have to acknowledge that the former US president, and possibly a future one, often keeps repeating himself during his speeches, saying quite weird things,” he said. “He indeed gives a cause to doubt his mental abilities.”

“Washington is doing Moscow’s job”

During the broadcast of the Russian state TV show 60 Minutes on February 12, 2025, Skabeyeva’s co-host Evgeny Popov claimed that the Trump administration was essentially doing Moscow’s job—undermining Western alliances and dividing Europe.

During the episode, Sergey Luzyanin, a permanent member of Russia’s Security Council academic board, reacted to remarks made by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth at that day’s Defense Contact Group meeting. Hegseth had stated that the US was stepping back from its leadership role and shifting the responsibility for European security onto European nations.

“He’s taking our bread and butter,” Popov said in an interaction with Luzyanin. “We wanted to break the Western world apart, but he’s doing it himself.”

RT state media mocks the US president

Trump accused Putin of delaying peace negotiations with Ukraine. In a post on Truth Social on May 27, Trump warned that Putin is “playing with fire.” According to Trump, “lots of really bad things would have already happened to Russia” without his influence.

The US president’s comments came after Russia launched a massive drone and missile attack on Ukraine, with a barrage of bombs hitting the capital Kyiv.

The Russian state media outlet RT did not shy away from ridiculing Trump, suggesting that his stance was unreliable, waiting for him to “post the opposite” the following day.

Additionally, pro-Kremlin presenter Solovyov dismissed the idea of an immediate ceasefire, asking, “Why would we stop? The enemy is strong and cunning, and we are winning.”

From the dismissive remarks made by Solovyov, who derides the US as a “mammoth” on the global stage, to the mocking of Trump’s supporters as “primitive” and “not very smart,” Russian media has crafted a narrative aimed at undermining the credibility of American leadership. But sometimes, that narrative has to bend.

Julia Davis, founder of the Russian Media Monitor , highlighted how Russian state media selectively shapes its narratives to fit the moment. When Trump criticized Putin on May 25, calling him “absolutely CRAZY” and accusing him of “needlessly killing a lot of people” in response to Russia’s large-scale attacks on Ukraine from May 24 to 26, the Kremlin media downplayed the remarks for domestic audiences.

The remarks posed a challenge for propagandists, who had to portray Trump as a friendly figure while simultaneously avoiding any negative portrayal of Putin. Russian media downplaying Trump’s statements may have been aimed at avoiding provoking Washington and delaying the imposition of new US sanctions.

Russian state media chose to edit Trump’s comments for domestic audiences, omitting the word “crazy” and focusing instead on his milder statement that “something has happened” to Putin. Trump’s statement was reframed as “rude” but excusable, blamed on misinformation from US intelligence or pressure from Western media.

This calculated response reflects a broader tactic: tolerating and censoring hostile rhetoric from Trump so long as his actions continue to align with Russia’s strategic interests, while mocking the US whenever it helps project strength and maintain the illusion of control at home.

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