By ELIZABETH GELBAUGH
Donald Trump, who is quickly becoming one of the most controversial presidential candidates to date, is not always represented in a positive light in American news media. However, the Russian news media seem enamored with Trump’s outrageous behavior and unprecedented campaign strategy.
Trump’s policies are often overpowered by his cult of personality and American news media end up dedicating more time to covering his contentious antics and rowdy yet fiercely loyal supporters.
With the exception of Fox News, most major news organizations condemn his attitudes toward women, foreigners and Muslims. Since accusations of Trump sexually assaulting women hit the press, U.S. news media have had a difficult time focusing on anything else.
Even student news media at American universities, which typically ensure both liberal and conservative views are equally represented, are swaying from their neutral positions and writing critical pieces on Trump’s bizarre and offensive outbursts.
The Yale Record published a satire, You Dumb Motherfuckers, By James Madison, referring to Trump as a “misogynistic turkey leg that somehow escaped the state fair, fell into a bale of hay, and inexplicably managed to bankrupt six companies,” and shuns the American public for dismantling the safeguards put in place to protect against an “insane demagogue [who] might incite a populist rebellion.”
Even The Miami Hurricane has made the editorial move to officially endorse Hillary Clinton because of Trump’s inability to serve the generation about to enter the job market and shortcomings that are “dangerous, indisputable and increasingly evident.”
“Trump promises to create jobs but built his own career by destroying others’,” TMH editorial board wrote. “He promises to bring jobs back to America, yet his businesses shipped them overseas.”
Russian media, however, praises Trump, particularly his pro-Russia stance. Russian government paper Rossiskaya Gazeta apparently finds his outbursts and offensive dialogue refreshing compared to Clinton’s socially conscious statements, as Steve Rosenberg of BBC News pointed out in Russian media’s love affair with Trump.
“The political coup against him has failed,” Rossiskaya Gazeta wrote. “Trump’s speeches are unpretentious, without the kind of hypocritical political correctness of the conservative establishment.”
In stark contrast to American news media, Russian media presents Trump as the far more sensible candidate in this year’s election.
“I officially declare that Clinton is a cursed witch,” Russian MP Vitaly Milonov said in Komsomolskaya Pravda. “That’s why even a funny guy like Trump looks more reasonable in comparison.”
When public opinion is heavily reliant upon the picture the news media paint of the candidates, this discrepancy could turn into a diplomatic relations disaster, depending on the results of the election.