The Pro-Trump Right and the Pro-Russia Far-Right May Be Parting Ways

By Robert Harris

Sunday 21 June 2026

In the 1990s, there was a movie called "Street Fighter," based on the video game of the same name. Near its climactic battle, one of the antagonists, a bear wrestler of immense courage and dim intelligence named Zangief, tells one of his comrades in a rather dubious East European accent, "ze enemies of peace and fr-r-reedom are at our valls!" and asks why said comrade is out of uniform, to which the comrade in question incredulously reveals that their own leader, known as "General M. Bison," is in fact the enemy of freedom and peace. The bear wrestler, in almost cartoon fashion, seems to struggle with this concept. "General Bison... is a... b... bad guy?" The following three lines of dialogue provide a moment of hilarity that almost, ALMOST, makes the rest of the film worth watching just to reach it, and a suddenly enlightened Zangief shows up in dramatic fashion to help the heroes escape death at the last minute.

However, I'm not here to comment on B-movies (or give spoilers).

I mentioned this because it is the origin of the American millennial slang phrase, "Zangief moment," which refers to a moment when someone (often, but not always, of questionable mental faculties) who has been on the wrong side of a conflict for some time finally has their revelation, similar to what fans of British comedy would call an "'are we the baddies?' moment."

And for Americans—especially Conservatives—who have been unhappy with (and baffled by) the current Administration's stance on Ukraine's war of resistance against Russian aggression (which has been at best anemic and at worst openly pro-Russian), there appears to be reason for tentative celebration, because there are signs that Donald Trump may finally be approaching his Zangief Moment regarding Russian dictator Vladimir Putin.

It's no secret that the Trump administration's position on the war resulting from Russia's invasion of Crimea has been decidedly favorable to Russia. When Ukrainian president Zelensky went to the White House he was accosted by Vice-President Vance and goaded into saying exactly what Trump didn't want to hear, and an aging Trump (likely unaware that he was little more than a cat responding to Vance's laser which was pointed at Zelensky) launched into a tirade and berated Zelensky before unceremoniously throwing him out of the White House, on camera.

When Russian dictator Vladimir Putin (who, at that point, was wanted by the ICC) went to Alaska, by contrast, he was given a red-carpet welcome that even included uniformed American military personnel crawling on all fours (under the watchful eyes of Putin's security detail) to make sure said carpet was securely fastened under the stairs leading down from Putin's plane. There truly is little that can be said to spin the contrast as anything other than a disgrace. It is not as though Trump has tried to hide this either. In addition to rather obtusely echoing Russian narratives regarding the war (and Ukraine's history), he has repeatedly spoken of his admiration for Putin, calling him a "good friend" and "a really smart guy."

And of course, there was the moment when his vice-president (who seems to have been selected primarily as impeachment insurance, by means of being so volatile and offensive that every time he opens his mouth Donald Trump's rivals are reminded "if we remove him we are stuck with this guy) bragged that stopping US aid to Ukraine was the proudest moment of his vice-presidency so far. There's not really a spin that can be put on it to deny that Donald Trump has been pro-Russia up until this point. In fact, he hasn't even been really trying to hide it.

And of course, this has led to the rather predictable theory that the Kremlin has kompromat on Donald Trump and is blackmailing him to cooperate. This seems logical at a glance, but when the question comes to "and what would a man who likely has less than a decade left to live fear that the Kremlin would reveal about him?" no answer seems forthcoming. In all bluntness, the reason Donald Trump has been so accommodating toward Vladimir Putin is far simpler (and, if this writer may say so, a lot more embarrassing, both to Americans for having to face it and to Europeans for not seeing it sooner). Donald Trump likes Vladimir Putin, because Vladimir Putin flatters Donald Trump.

Think about it: who, and what, is Donald Trump? An aging real estate mogul who craves only one thing more than money: attention. What is the first thing Donald Trump does to every development property he buys (which he seems to think includes Capitol Hill)? He puts his name on it in ostentatious gold letters. He puts his face on it. He does something that leaves an indelible, unmistakable "this is mine" mark. He is a man who is absolutely obsessed with being adored. And what do such men think of in their waning years? Legacy, of course. What Donald Trump craves is to spend his last few years believing he will be hailed as a "Great American Hero" long after he is gone.

So is it any surprise that when Vladimir Putin, who is known for cultivating his own cult of personality in a style not all that different from what Trump himself would be likely to do if he'd spent his career rising through the KGB rather than living in the lap of luxury, writes speeches fawning over the "Greatness" of Trump, the man whose entire life has been spent putting his name in gold letters on everything he touches decides "I like this guy?"

Russia has known from the moment Trump announced his 2024 campaign that the way into his good graces was through his pride, and every pro-Russian influencer (whether bought or simply aligned out of convenience) has made it a point to sing Trump's praises, adding to the chorus of Russia-friendly voices appealing to the president's ego. And as long as this remained the case, the Kremlin's grip on the Trump Administration's endearment was, in a word, ironclad.

Now that's changing.

Because influencers who are pro-Russian, tend to also be pro-Iranian, pro-Chinese, and generally in favor of whoever wants to see America (or at least the American government, the so-called "Deep State," whoever they are purported to be this week) collapse. So when Donald Trump began to move against Maduro (a Russian ally), then Khamenei (a Russian ally), while strengthening South Korea against North Korean dictator Kim (a Russian ally) and taking thunderous steps in the backyard of Xi Jinping (Vladimir Putin's senior patron), these influencers began to find that their script of "all these guys we have been taught to hate are not really our enemies" suddenly put them as much in opposition to the Trump Administration as it did with every previous administration.

Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor-Greene was probably the first to find that she could not serve two masters as soon as the Trump administration's refusal to abandon long-time US ally Israel conflicted with her rather open anti-semitism, and she found herself at odds with Trump, who she formerly referred to as "our king" in repeated social media posts. Tucker Carlson, who at this point was too deep in Russia's thrall to shift gears (as Laura Loomer successfully managed to do later on), was the next to go. And now, a raft of formerly die-hard Trumpers including Candace Owens and Andrew Tate, all of whom appeared at the St. Petersburg summit to much fanfare, have come out rather unabashedly tongue-lashing Donald Trump for daring to lift his hand against Russia's ally, Iran.

The result has been something that would have sounded like a parallel universe even a short year ago: the loudest and most anti-Trump voices on the American Right, are the ones who are the most obviously under Russian influence.

And for a man like Donald Trump, who considers sycophancy to be equivalent with competence, this can only be described in one word: betrayal. Even if he did not notice when Russia openly helped Iran in the war, he cannot help but notice the attacks on his all-important "image." And he has indeed begun to notice, as can be seen with his change of tone from "the Ukrainians need to make a deal" to "Putin needs to make a deal," and his sudden reversal of a year-long "no weapons for Ukraine" policy. Donald Trump, whose principle motivation is to be... worshiped (and I'm not even sure at this point that word is a hyperbole; recall that image he posted on Truth Social depicting himself as Christ?), has begun to see "Vladimir Putin doesn't respect me or like me. He says mean things about me and the people he likes don't like me."

It's not going to make him a friend of Ukraine, by any means.

It's not going to make him a friend of NATO. Or of democracy, or of Western Liberalism, or of the rules-based-international order... or even of America for that matter.

But we're approaching the point where it can easily make him an enemy of Russia.

And frankly, at this point I'll take that.

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Robert Harris is a teacher in Lviv and the author of Smells like BULL-Shevik to ME! - A Conservative Talks to Conservatives About Russian Lies.