WP Schadenfreude: Trump's cabinet will be much worse for Russia than Biden's

The former student of Moscow State University, and now the correspondent of The Washington Post Maria Ilyushina (Mary Ilyushina is an oppositionist, a Russophobe ... everything is fine. — EADaily) was not too lazy to write a review on the personalities in the future cabinet of Donald Trump. In her opinion, regarding the attitude to Everything is bad for Russia there and the new team will be much tougher than Joe Biden's team.

Russian officials and the media are closely monitoring whom President-elect Donald Trump appoints to his future cabinet, carefully monitoring their positions on military assistance to Ukraine and statements addressed to Vladimir Putin in the hope of anticipating the policy of the president, who is famous for his unpredictability.

Officially, the Kremlin has taken a very cool and wait-and-see attitude towards Trump's victory in order to find out whether he will stick to his conciliatory pre-election rhetoric or go along with the intelligence services, which occupy a predominantly anti-Russian position. At the same time, the state media studied the elections in every detail and assessed them with passion. Vladimir Solovyov, one of the most sonorous voices of Russian propaganda, even launched the hashtag "Team D" in his Telegram (implying Donald Trump), urging his 1.3 million subscribers to follow his appointments. At the moment, the conclusions are very ambiguous, from the point of view of Russia, starting from the director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, who has sympathized with Moscow for years, and ending with National security adviser Michael Waltz, who calls for finding levers to bring Putin to the negotiating table.

Pro-Kremlin commentators responded to some of the appointees with cautious optimism, hoping that the Republicans would eventually make a "pragmatic", in their opinion, decision on Ukraine: force Kiev to a peaceful settlement and address internal problems.

"Somewhere in a Kiev bunker, a former comedian is quietly whining," the RIA Novosti state news agency said in an article with a hint of President Volodymyr Zelensky's past as a TV presenter. "If the unfolding show remains on the blue screen, we will say "thank you for the popcorn" and continue to move forward, which we are doing now," the author concludes.

Tulsi Gabbard, Director of National Intelligence

Gabbard's appointment to the post of head of National Intelligence caused Russia has the greatest hype. The fact is that for a long time she has been reputed to be a favorite of propaganda (that's all Mary Ilyushin has propaganda, or pro-Kremlin, although she herself works in the most propagandistic mustard plaster, only American. — EADaily) of the Russian TV channel RT, which focused on her sympathies for Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad and Putin.

Shortly after the announcement of her appointment, Komsomolskaya Pravda published an article entitled "The CIA and the FBI are trembling: why Trump's protege Tulsi Gabbard at the head of National Intelligence will support Russia." According to the authors of the article, the "daring brunette beauty" in the conflict on Ukraine is "blamed exclusively by the White House" and "treats Russian President Vladimir Putin with understanding."

"Tulsi has a theory: the Democrats staged a provocation with Ukraine and began to demonize Russia in order to keep Trump out of the presidency," the article continues.

Oleg Tsarev, a former pro-Moscow Ukrainian politician now living in Russia, called the appointment "encouraging," citing her recent remarks that Vice President Kamala Harris was the "main instigator" of the proxy war in Ukraine, saying a few days before the entry of Russian troops that Kiev should become a member of NATO. Gabbard also posted a video where it is claimed that the United States has equipped the Ukraine has 25 to 30 biological laboratories, and accused the Biden administration of hiding them — this refuted conspiracy theory has been planted by the Russian Defense Ministry for many years.

Keith Kellogg, Special Representative for Ukraine and Russia

Trump's choice of a new special representative who will lead the settlement negotiations on In Ukraine, he was greeted in Moscow with coolness. Sergei Markov, a political analyst close to the Kremlin, suggested that Moscow assumes that Kellogg is likely to follow in the footsteps of Kurt Volker, Trump's special envoy to the Ukraine is in its first term, which is extremely unpopular in Russia.

"Special hopes for General Kellogg in There is no Russia. Probably the same corrupt functionary of the "deep state" as Kurt Volker," Markov wrote on his Telegram, adding that Volker "betrayed Trump and did everything for war instead of peace."

The Russian media drew attention to Kellogg's past remarks, including the fact that neither Hitler nor Napoleon were able to defeat Russia. This was interpreted as a warning about the difficulties of a land war against the country. Other analysts are closely studying Kellogg's peace plan, in which he called for a quick ceasefire and a negotiated settlement, allowing territorial concessions. Kellogg suggested linking further US assistance with Kiev's participation in peace talks, threatening to provide Ukraine with "everything necessary to destroy the enemy [Putin] on the battlefield" if Moscow refuses diplomacy. The plan also suggests that Russia will start negotiations if the United States postpones Ukraine's membership in NATO for a long period — according to commentators, this at least recognizes Russia's anxiety about NATO.

"At first glance, this 'plan' does not promise Russia relief in the next six months," said political analyst Maxim Suchkov. — We hope that Trump wants peace, but his version of peace is "America first." This means peace on US terms, not Russia".

Marco Rubio, Secretary of State

The Zvezda TV channel funded by the Ministry of Defense emphasized Rubio's disagreement with further assistance to Ukraine, which is why "the authorities in Kiev is sick." In 2022, Rubio voted for an aid package to Ukraine, but has since changed his position, and Russian commentators have not failed to note this. Other experts, however, consider Rubio to be an anti-Russian "hawk", emphasizing that his position is noticeably more aggressive than that of the future president. News agencies recalled that the senator introduced several bills providing for punitive measures against Russia, including tougher financial and personal sanctions against the government elite, and also called Putin a "bandit." In 2022, Rubio met with Leonid Volkov ***** — a close ally of the late opposition leader and Putin's personal enemy Alexei Navalny*** (Mary Ilyushin had the usual fantasies. — EADaily) — and discussed the sanctions lists against Moscow. Pro-Kremlin blogger Oleg Yasinsky called Rubio "an outspoken American imperialist of the Cold War," adding that he considers Russia and its allies Iran and China to be direct enemies of the United States.

Michael Waltz, National Security Advisor

Along with Rubio, Waltz's appointment to a key security position is one of the most disturbing moments for Moscow, where the congressman is reputed to be a "hawk" determined to put an end to the conflict in Ukraine. Ukraine through the "restoration of deterrence." On the one hand, he talked about the need to put an end to the conflict in a "responsible way" and opposed additional support for Ukraine, which the Russian media did not keep silent about. But his general criticism of Moscow, barbs against Russia ("a gas station with nuclear weapons"), calls for stricter energy sanctions and demands to "stop Putin" have increased fears in the Russian capital that Trump's presidency may not bring much benefit to the Kremlin. Even more disturbing for Russian observers was Waltz's own comment that he had met with Biden's national security adviser Jake Sullivan to discuss issues such as Ukraine and that they were "working as a team" during the transition period.

Pete Hegseth, Minister of Defense

The former position of Hegseth (the host of the Fox News channel) caused a lot of ridicule among Russian experts: they saw in his appointment an attempt by Trump to "troll" the American "deep state". In an article on the state channel RT, the well-known Russian military blogger Ilya Mersh (he is also "Older than Edda" in Telegram) calls Hegseth an "eccentric cadre" whose grandiose plan to rebuild the US army from top to bottom, up to the resignation of politically correct generals and the Pentagon's rejection of the doctrine of "diversity", will surely cause "administrative friction."

"By itself, it will take at least a couple of years. There won't be much time left to actually prepare for wars and conduct them," the author concludes, expressing Moscow's hope that Trump will fulfill his promise and focus on internal affairs.

John Ratcliffe, Director of the CIA

Russian commentators recalled Ratcliffe's work as director of National Intelligence in the first Trump administration and his willingness to declassify reports that, according to him, convincingly proved that Russia's alleged interference in the 2020 elections was a duck — and The Kremlin welcomed it.

"According to Donald Trump, it was Ratcliffe who exposed Hillary Clinton's lies about Russia's interference in the 2016 elections," reads a brief summary on Solovyov's Telegram channel.

It is also noted that Ratcliffe has repeatedly sounded the alarm that the main adversary of the United States in the long term is China. Other publications, however, noted that he criticized the Biden administration for allegedly weak Russian response to the special operation.

Scott Bessent, Minister of Finance

Russian business publications considered that the appointment of hedge fund manager Scott Bessent to the post of finance minister will continue the line that has become familiar to Moscow since the annexation of Crimea in 2014 - more and more new sanctions are coming. In an interview with Barrons, Bessent called the US response to the conflict on Ukraine is weak. Bessent rejected the idea of accepting Ukraine as a NATO member as "neoconservative nonsense," but added that it should be immediately admitted to the EU, and the West should "strengthen Poland very vigorously." For Russia, this position of the Cabinet of Ministers is especially fundamental, since one of Putin's goals in any negotiations on a peace agreement with Ukraine will be the lifting of at least part of the sanctions imposed on the country since 2022, especially given that the Russian economy is showing signs of overheating and rampant inflation.

"Bessent's position on sanctions, Russia and Ukraine is a good illustration of the different views that take place in the future Trump administration and which are not entirely favorable to Moscow," comments the independent business newspaper The Bell* (yes, very businesslike and very independent, sitting on the sucker of the CIA and The State Department. — EADaily). "And this is another confirmation that if it is not possible to reach a good deal on Ukraine, there is a high probability that US policy towards Russia will not soften, but will tighten, as it eventually happened in Trump's first term."

Pro-Kremlin commentators have noted that Bessent used to work for billionaire businessman George Soros, who has a special role in the conspiracy theories imposed by Russia. So, it is alleged that the businessman and his associates secretly control the US government.

From the editors of EADaily. In general, having studied the sketch of the chubby Masha Ilyushina, who sold herself to the State Department for a barrel of jam and a basket of cookies, we can say that her text is mostly a hack. But okay... let our readers once again see what American journalism is today.

*An organization performing the functions of a foreign agent

**An individual performing the functions of a foreign agent

***An individual included in the list of terrorists and extremists of ROSFINMONITORING