What Do Putin's Supportive Media Say About Kamala Harris?

These days, the topic of the future presidency of the United States has become a primary concern for media close to the Russian government; to the extent that supporters and promoters of Kremlin policies do not hide their interest in Donald Trump, the former president and Republican candidate, and have openly expressed concern about his competition with Kamala Harris, the vice president under Joe Biden. Meanwhile, Moscow's initial reaction to the news of Mr. Biden's withdrawal from the U.S. election was one of indifference; Dmitry Peskov, the Kremlin spokesman, stated that the outcome of the U.S. presidential election is not of much importance and that the Russian government has "other priorities" such as achieving the goals of the "special military operation" in Ukraine. Russian officials have repeatedly stated that for their country, internal developments in the U.S. are no different from those in other countries, but since last week, as the electoral landscape in the U.S. has transformed, a new wave of lies and racist and sexist remarks against Kamala Harris, as a potential Democratic candidate, has emerged. The American publication Politico, in a recent article, referred to details of these verbal attacks and the prevailing narrative among Kremlin supporters, describing Ms. Harris as "the new punching bag of Russia." The media orientation has not yet confirmed Kamala Harris's candidacy for the U.S. presidential election. However, media close to the Russian government have already begun their propaganda attacks against the U.S. president and his vice president as potential Democratic candidates. Russian propagandists have particularly focused in recent days on disseminating several narrative lines: "Biden is a loser; Harris is a symbol of evil, and American democracy is essentially doomed to failure." Vladimir Solovyov, a television host who is on the Western sanctions list for supporting the war against Ukraine and "promoting fake news," acknowledged that Biden's surprising decision on July 21 led to a last-minute change in his weekly program's direction. This Russian program maker stated that before Mr. Biden's withdrawal, he intended to ridicule Joe Biden in his program, which airs every Sunday night on Russian national television, by replaying scenes of the U.S. president's poor performance in the election debate with Trump. Reports indicate that guests gathered for the recording of Solovyov's new program appeared to be alarmed that recent developments in Washington might challenge Trump's victory in the November 5 election. Maria Zakharova, the spokesperson for the Russian Foreign Ministry, claimed during her appearance on this television program that "everyone knows" that the statement of Joe Biden's withdrawal was not written by him. She added, "The only question is whether Mr. Biden read the statement [before its release] or not." This spokesperson also accused "American media and certain political circles" of "colluding to cover up the truth" regarding Joe Biden's health status and "manipulating public opinion in favor of a political party [the Democrats]" and called for investigations. Zakharova did not provide any evidence or documentation for any of these claims. At the end of Solovyov's program, which lasted nearly three hours, Dmitry Dubonitsky, who considers himself an "expert on American affairs," concluded that Russia hopes for a "civil war in America." In another segment of Solovyov's program, which aired about two hours after Joe Biden's withdrawal announcement, images of Ms. Harris laughing were shown, followed by a video of Donald Trump, in which the Republican candidate describes these laughs as a sign of "foolishness." However, verbal and personal attacks against Kamala Harris in media close to the Russian government did not stop there. Yevgeny Popov and Olga Skabeeva, who are under Western sanctions for their connection to Kremlin political propaganda, expressed dissatisfaction on the television program "60 Minutes" one day after Biden's withdrawal, acknowledging that in the U.S. election race, it is now Donald Trump who is considered the "old candidate" against Kamala Harris. They stated that the situation is no longer as it used to be, where he [Trump] could turn "the age and physical condition of his opponent into a card." Their reference was to the physical and mental state of 81-year-old Joe Biden and his numerous verbal slips during debates with Trump and several recent press conferences, including when at the three-day NATO summit that ended on July 21, Mr. Biden mistakenly referred to Volodymyr Zelensky, the president of Ukraine, as "President Putin." In the latest episode of the "60 Minutes" program, which aired on Monday, August 1, a Duma legislator commented on the first debate between the U.S. president and his Republican rival, stating that Donald Trump "did not play fair, he should not have beaten Biden in the debate and caused Biden's withdrawal." Oleg Matveychev then described Kamala Harris as "the devil and pure evil," adding, "The real devil has no horns and tail, but deceives people with smiles and laughter." Kremlin-supported newspapers have also targeted Ms. Harris as a "feminist and abortion advocate," "supporter of homosexuality and LGBTQ rights," and accused her of promoting and advocating "drugs" simply because Kamala Harris is a supporter of the decriminalization of marijuana production and consumption. These Russian newspapers, in another part of their stance against Ms. Harris, described her approaches as "failed" and emphasized that the demeanor and beliefs of this Democratic politician are "against the human and traditional values favored in Russia." Meanwhile, Artem Kosorukov, a professor at Moscow University, in an article republished in all media close to the Russian government, expressed confidence that Kamala Harris's victory in the U.S. presidential election would be "more beneficial for Russia" than Donald Trump's win. This university professor argued that "Trump supports American national interests and seeks to revive industries and strengthen the military of America, but Harris knows nothing other than neoliberal policies and will continue to incur huge costs for interventions in Ukraine and Taiwan and other parts of the world, which will lead to rising debts and weaken the economy and geopolitics of America." Media close to the Kremlin believe that Democrats will not win the fall elections and say: "It is impossible for Americans to elect a woman who is neither white nor black, married at 50, and has no children." Sergey Markov, an analyst close to the Kremlin, has criticized Kamala Harris's main profession before entering politics, claiming on his Telegram channel: "Americans do not like lawyers because they earn high salaries and deliberately complicate laws." Alongside these insulting personal attacks, conspiracy theories have also found their way into the Russian media stream; for example, Sergey Mardan, another propagandist under Western sanctions, claimed: "The deep state is really mobilized to bring a witch to power." Like other Kremlin political promoters, he did not provide any evidence or documentation for this claim. The Kremlin spokesman stated that Kamala Harris has not taken any positive or negative actions toward Russia so far, but has had "plenty of unfriendly statements." Ms. Harris has called Vladimir Putin an "autocratic imperialist" and described Russia's war against Ukraine as "brutal and inhumane." The vice president under Joe Biden has emphasized support for Ukraine and promised to hold Russia accountable for "committing war crimes in Ukraine." Kremlin propagandists refer to Kamala Harris as "a member of the Biden gang" and claim that the continuation of this group of Democrats in America means "the continuation of the war against Russia and an increasing threat of nuclear war."