№ 2 (9), 2025. Trump, Russia and a Narrow Window of Opportunity

Donald Trump’s victory in the recent U.S. presidential election came out of the blue for many experts, including those who saw more pros than cons in his candidacy. The portrait of the president-elect is painted very differently in the Russian and European media. In Europe, the epithets used to describe him range the somewhat narrow gamut from “unpredictable” to “terrible”. In Russia, however, the media – especially television – sometimes view him as a Santa Claus lugging a sack full of gifts for Russia. Superimposing these two very different views gives us the figure of a Santa dressed up for Halloween, with unnerving implications for the contents of the sack.