Russia’s new punching bag: Kamala Harris

From the moment U.S. President Joe Biden dropped out of the race for president and backed Kamala Harris as his replacement on Sunday, Russia’s propagandists have whipped up a cacophony of unbridled racism, sexism and conspiracies.

Faced with political turmoil in Washington, Russia’s main geopolitical foe, the Kremlin itself has put on a show of restraint. 

But its foot soldiers in the Russian-language disinformation sphere have more than made up for that.

“Kamala with the nuclear button is worse than a monkey with a grenade,” Andrei Sidorov, the dean of the global politics department at Moscow State University (a once highly respected institution) said Sunday evening on state television’s prime weekly talk show. 

The show’s host, Vladimir Solovyov, made his own feelings known by showing a clip of Republican candidate Donald Trump commenting on Harris’ laugh as a sign she was “crazy” followed by a compilation of clips showing Harris, well, laughing.

The caustic tone from Sidorov and Solovyov provided a stark contrast with that of Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov that same evening, who had personified cool aloofness, saying that, with four months to go until the election, “much could still change.”

“The priority for us is to achieve the aims of the special military operation,” he added, using a Kremlin euphemism for the war. 

Russian President Vladimir Putin, Peskov has often suggested, has bigger things on his mind than the fracas among his political enemies overseas.   

Maria Zakharova, a spokesperson for Russia’s Foreign Ministry, called for an investigation into “collusion between the American media and certain political circles.” | Olga Maltseva/Getty Images

But despite putting on an air of neutrality and insisting time and time again that Moscow does not intervene in countries’ domestic affairs (flying in the face of evidence of Russian meddling in the 2016 election), Russian propagandists tell a very different, and very biased, story. 

With Moscow in its third year of war against Ukraine, they have jumped on the chaos in the United States as an opportunity to frame Russia as superior to the West and distract from domestic problems. 

Broadcasts on state media and countless posts by pro-Kremlin commentators on social media offered iterations of the same one-two-three punch: Biden is a loser; Harris is evil; And American democracy is fundamentally screwed (a point also argued by Trump). 

Maria Zakharova, a spokesperson for Russia’s Foreign Ministry who often acts as the Kremlin’s attack dog, on Sunday called for an investigation into “collusion between the American media and certain political circles to cover up the truth about [Biden’s] mental condition, manipulating public opinion to the benefit of one political party [the Democrats].”

Appearing on Solovyov’s show later that evening, she took another jab at American democracy saying “everyone knows” Biden did not write the statement announcing he would be pulling out. “The only thing that is still a guessing matter is whether he actually read it or not.” 

But the sharpest vitriol has been reserved for Harris.

Although the Kremlin said on Monday that Harris never had any direct contact with Putin, she has called Russia’s war “barbaric and inhumane” and Putin an “authoritarian imperialist.”

Without specifying which remarks he was referring to, Peskov on Monday accused Harris of “unfriendly rhetoric.”

The Kremlin itself has put on a show of restraint. | Pool Photo by Alexander Kazakov via Getty Images

Despite not having been officially nominated, Harris appears to have already been designated a prime target by Russia’s overwhelmingly white male propagandists.

“The entire deep state will be backing Harris,” Sergei Markov, an analyst with Kremlin ties wrote on his Telegram channel. “All of the allies, above all Europe, will be supporting Harris.”

“This might become important in the case the vote is falsified,” as it was in 2020, he went on to falsely claim, when “European countries immediately recognized the result, thereby helping dismiss claims of rigging.” 

Russian propagandist Sergei Mardan also chimed in, writing: “The deep state really is planning to elect a baba for president,” using a derogatory Russian term for an older woman. “I think Zelenskyy is really scared now.”

None of those comments, however, made it to the front page of TASS. 

Instead, the state news agency ran with a comment from the aide of Dmitry Medvedev, the deputy chairman of Russia’s Security Council who loves threatening the West with nuclear annihilation.

In a Telegram post late on Sunday, Medvedev had written: “Biden’s done … We wish him good health. The aims of the special military operation will be achieved.”

Explaining his boss’ comments, Medvedev’s aide told TASS that even though Medvedev had not enjoyed a good relationship with Biden, he is Russian, “and Russians can never wish death upon the elderly.” 

Elderly Ukrainians would seem to be the exception to that rule.