'An honest guy with a gangster's style': Trump and Ukraine through the Kaleidoscopic Lens of Russian Propaganda

• In Event: Framing War and Peace: Russian Rhetoric and Media in the Ukraine Conflict

Abstract

From the outset of Vladimir Putin's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Russian media has framed the war as a struggle between Russia and "the West," particularly NATO and the United States. Western leaders, including the Biden administration, have provided sufficient rhetorical fodder for Russian commentators to spin narratives of "Russophobia" and a crumbling unipolar world intent on breaking up the Russian Federation. But what happens when the U.S. elects a leader whose rhetoric aligns more closely with Russian media narratives? This paper employs critical discourse and frame analysis to examine the diverse and often contradictory responses to Donald Trump's political resurgence on Russia's leading primetime talk show, “Evening with Vladimir Solov’ev”, focusing specifically on the implications for the conflict with Ukraine.

Author

• Michael S. Gorham, U of Florida