The Times of London has a brief vignette of life in rural Russia. It is unimaginably grim. Corruption and poor economic conditions have left large swaths of Russia as economic wastelands. They make Erie, PA look like Greenwich, CT.
And yet, the people in these blasted, blighted areas will trundle to the polls in a few weeks and vote for Vladimir Putin. He's their Big Dog. He appeals to their xenophobia and prejudices about the threat from modernity. He stigmatizes gays and leftists and liberals and European democratic socialism. And he will win 60% of the vote despite being an objectively poor leader on economics.
Russia is Trump's America. That's why they work together like hand in glove. It naturally lines up that way.
Meanwhile, in the 21st century....
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