MAGA Is In Bed With Russia

If the thought weren’t so frightening, the concept might be something from an Ian Fleming novel. He is a handsome, conservative man with a penchant for bending the rules to his favor and a Russian spy promising to hand him the keys to world domination while secretly setting him up for murder. We’ve either read that book or watched that movie, maybe both. In post-WWII America, the idea was preposterous; only a traitor would align themselves with Russia for personal gain. Yet, here we are, looking at a set of facts that are damn-near incontrovertible: MAGA loves Russia.

The plot involves a Russian named Alexander Dugin, a prominent, anti-liberal Russian thinker, and the American journalists pushing Dugin’s ideas, such as Glenn Greenwald and Tucker Carlson, both of whom seem to have gone head-over-heels in love with the Russian.

This isn’t normal. American journalists have long held Russian oligarchs at arm’s length, using them for reference as need be, trying to get a clue of what Putin might be thinking, but never getting close enough to be swayed by their philosophies. In fact, there have been times when Russians who talked to American reporters suddenly disappeared and were never heard from again. The mistrust is there for a reason: Russia cannot be trusted.

To understand all this, we need to take a look back at Russian history. You’ve likely heard of Grigori Rasputin (1869-1916). He was a religious leader and mystic who managed to hold the entire court of Tzar Nicholas II in his power. The very name ‘Rasputin’ means “debauched one” if that tells you anything. Dugin is often referred to in the Russian press as Putin’s Rasputin. When we saw that, we started digging and looking at the similarities between not only Dugin and MAGA but Rasputin and MAGA. Turns out, the reference is deadly accurate. This is so not good.

Let’s start with the similarities between Rasputin and MAGA. Rasputin gained power by exploiting Tsarina Alexandra’s deep religious faith and her desperation to help her hemophiliac son, Alexei. He presented himself as a divinely appointed healer and advisor. MAGA claims to be deeply Christian, so much so that they enjoy portraying President Felonious Punk as the second coming of Christ. They even frame political opponents as “enemies of God” and label them as ‘evil.’

How is this dangerous? Blind faith in Punk makes it difficult for followers to question their actions or motives, even when those actions are harmful or unethical. It also leads to the marginalization or persecution of those who don’t share the same religious beliefs. This should be making people deeply uncomfortable already.

Rasputin’s influence led to the appointment of incompetent officials and the rejection of sound advice from experienced advisors, contributing to the downfall of the Romanov dynasty. Oh geeze, have you taken a look at the list of idiots sitting on Punk’s cabinet? None of them have any experience doing what they’ve been tasked to do. They position themselves as an “outsider” who knows the “real truth” that the “elites” are hiding. They dismiss scientific evidence or expert opinions that contradict their agenda. They promote conspiracy theories and misinformation. They encourage followers to rely on intuition, faith, or Punk’s pronouncements instead of rational analysis. See where this is going?

Rasputin’s influence contributed to the weakening of the already fragile Russian government and the erosion of public trust in the monarchy. MAGA exhibits authoritarian tendencies, a desire for a strong leader, and a willingness to bypass democratic norms in pursuit of their goals. Punk uses this to his advantage by acting unilaterally, ignoring the legislature or judiciary. He insists that the ends justify the means, even if those means are undemocratic. His list of ‘enemies’ is long and he’s not hiding the fact that he’s going after them with a vengeance. He hates the mainstream press and oppresses any kind of dissent, and the level of authoritarianism is rising.

Wait, we’re not done. Rasputin’s rise coincided with a period of intense Russian nationalism. To be fair, nationalism was a big problem all across Europe during this period. The entire Romantic era is underscored by this disturbing fact. But nationalism has always been one of MAGA’s big causes. We see the president promoting a narrative of national victimhood and blaming external enemies (e.g., immigrants, and other countries) for the nation’s problems. His tariffs promote isolationist policies and undermine international cooperation. In the past two months, we’ve seen increased social tensions, discrimination, violence against minority groups, and damage to international relations.

Rasputin was known for a level of debauchery, corruption, and abuse of power that should make any American’s stomach turn. His influence created a climate of impunity for himself and his allies. From the moment SCOTUS determined that the President’s actions taken in the course of fulfilling the duties of his office were immune from prosecution, they opened that door and Punk boldly stepped right through it. He’s demanding absolute loyalty and suppressing any criticism, using his influence for personal enrichment and to reward his allies, and creating a climate of fear and intimidation.

Fortunately for us, Rasputin is long dead. However, we see much of his thoughts and tactics on display through Dugin, and that should be enough to cause severe concern. The most obvious alignment is over geopolitics, especially the position of Ukraine. Dugin’s hate for Ukraine runs deep.  In 1997, he published a book, “The Foundations of Geopolitics”, which advocates for “Eurasianism”—the idea of a restored, great new Russia that straddles both Asia and Europe. He argued that Ukraine was a “huge danger” to this project. He elaborated: “Ukraine as a state has no geopolitical meaning. It has neither a special cultural message of universal significance, nor geographic uniqueness, nor ethnic exclusivity.” This resulted in an assassination attempt in 2022—via a car bomb, believed to be planted by agents of Ukraine, which killed his daughter.

Beyond geopolitics, though, the international coalition of nationalist conservatives, stretching from Trumpism in America to bolsonarismo in Brazil to Orbanism in Hungary, rejects the basic precepts of enlightenment liberalism, like individualism and the universality of human rights. Both Punk and Putin drive this point hard in both their rhetoric and their policies.

Dugin recently wrote: “Each day it becomes more and more evident that USA and Russia are on the same wave, but EU-globalists are on the opposite one.” He’s also written, “Should we not recognize autocracy, patriarchy and the authoritarian system not only de facto but also de jure? Shouldn’t the Church and the institutions of traditional society regain their dominant position in society?” And MAGA is eating it all up, applying it as fast as they can. So much so, that we double-checked to make sure Dugin wasn’t one of the authors of Project 2025. He wasn’t, but one can see his influence quite strongly.

Steve Bannon, a former adviser to Punk who ended up getting himself imprisoned in the last administration, met with Dugin all the way back in 2018. Bannon has been espousing Duganism ever since, especially the concept that “all that is anti-liberal is good.”

As Punk’s war on education, immigration, and the balance of powers continues, the American people need to be aware that his are not original ideas. We’ve seen this all before and the outcome is never good. Rasputin was blamed for Russia’s poor performance in World War I and the growing instability within the country. With that, the general public, facing hardship and suffering from the war, increasingly saw Rasputin as a symbol of the corruption and incompetence of the Tsarist regime. The next thing you know, Rasputin’s body was discovered having been shot multiple times, beaten, and possibly drowned. There are other details to the story, but they’re off-point.

We cannot control Russia and Putin’s association with Dugin. We can pull the plug on this love affair between Russia and MAGA.

Come to think of it, those Bond girls often ended up dead, didn’t they?